7 Reasons You Need to Drink More Water

The need for water is so often overlooked, yet the effects of inadequate water intake are some of the most detrimental you can experience.

Here are 7 reasons you need to drink more water:

1. Your body needs water to flush out toxins.

2. Dehydration can cause your body to produce excess histamine, which can trigger allergies.

3. Lack of hydration causes blood volume to drop, making the heart work harder to supply the skin and muscles with oxygen and nutrients.  The harder your heart has to work, the more fatigued you feel.

4. When your body does not have enough water, it will pull water from your colon, causing you to become constipated.

5. Without enough water, your brain cannot function properly, resulting in mental fog, poor short term memory, dizziness, and headaches. Depression, fear, anxiety, anger and other emotional turmoil can also occur as a result of water deficiency in the brain.

6.  Too little water restricts blood flow, causing muscle aches and pains.

7. Dehydration causes you to be more susceptible to infections.

Perhaps you feel that you do a good job of drinking enough liquids and that you are likely not dehydrated. It is actually very easy to become dehydrated if you are drinking beverages besides water. Other beverages like tea, coffee, fruit juices, and soft drinks may contain water, but they also contain other ingredients like sugar, caffeine, or artificial sweeteners which can contribute to dehydration. Even though you are consuming water within these beverages, the more you consume, the more you are dehydrating yourself. For example, in the case of caffeine, your body must relinquish up to three cups of water for every cup of caffeinated beverages you consume in order to flush the caffeine from your system. You may think you are drinking plenty of water in addition to the caffeine, but you would have to drink three times as much water as caffeinated beverages just to “break even”.

You may also assume that because you do not feel thirsty that you are not dehydrated. When your cells are a little low on water, the brain receives a signal in the form of thirst. When your cells become dehydrated, however, they are no longer able to function properly and send the brain the “thirst” signal.

Once you begin to rehydrate yourself, your cells may have hardened to the point that they do not absorb or retain water very well. You may find yourself needing to use the bathroom frequently. Many people make the mistake at this point of thinking that they are now drinking too much water and begin to scale back again. If you will continue to power through this phase with drinking the recommended amounts of water, your cells will become more efficient at absorbing water and you will begin to feel more energetic.

You should be drinking at least half your body weight in ounces of water each day. A good way to start the day is to drink a solution of water concentrated with mineral-rich salt, such as Himalayan sea salt or Celtic sea salt (I personally use Redmond Real Salt.) Add ½ teaspoon salt to 2 ounces of water, drink, and follow with another 8 ounces of pure water. The salt water will help balance the pH of your cells as well as to encourage the cells to absorb water more efficiently.   You can tell if you are properly hydrated if your urine is a pale yellow color. Darker urine indicates a greater concentration of waste products due to the kidneys’ efforts to conserve water.

How do you rate?  Are you drinking enough water every day?

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