Hydration is an area that is widely underestimated and hardly considered amongst many people. Many people go about their business in a dehydrated state and don’t even realise it. Many people feel thirsty and turn to fizzy drinks, alcohol, tea, and coffee which contain caffeine to satisfy their thirst, but they fail to realise the potential detrimental impact it can have on their bodies.
CONSEQUENCES OF DEHYDRATION
When the body is dehydrated a kind of a water rationing system kicks in to ensure that our cells and organs get a share of what’s available. This means that if our cells and organs have to operate on a reduced capacity of water, then they cannot function normally which must have a detrimental effect on our health in some way shape, or form.
Even mild dehydration stresses every system in your body and can lead to fatigue, feeling groggy, irritability, loss of focus, impaired memory, headaches, muscle cramps/weakness, pain, poor digestion, nausea, constipation, increased allergy reactions and asthma symptoms, bad breath, sugar cravings, and false hunger increased heart rate and a higher risk of heart attack and stroke, and very dry skin.
Drinking enough water should make you urinate about once every two hours during the day, and, except for first-morning urine, it should be colourless to very pale yellow (unless you’ve just taken vitamin B2, which turns urine bright yellow). If your urine colour is dark yellow, you have a dry mouth, eyes, throat or nose, and chapped lips, then you’re not drinking enough and you need to do something about it.
WHY IS WATER IMPORTANT?
We can go for weeks without food, but only a few days without water. It plays a vital role in nearly every vital bodily function we have, so it is vitally important that we manage our intake of water to ensure that every cell gets what it needs. As mentioned above, if your body doesn’t get enough water, it becomes dehydrated, and for people with eczema dehydration can lead to extremely dry skin, which leads to scratching, which leads to tears in the skin, which can lead to infection and so on.
Water makes up about three-quarters of your body, it’s the body’s transportation and sanitation system. It maintains blood volume, hydrates our cells and organs, regulates body temperature, and keeps the tissues in the eyes and mouth functioning properly. It dissolves waste products and carries them out of your body, and it delivers nutrients from food to all the cells in the body.
BENEFITS OF DRINKING WATER
Pay close attention to this, drinking a good intake of water cleanses toxins inside your body. By drinking a good amount of water daily, it helps to flush out bacteria and toxins that are trapped within your system. Studies show that by drinking more water, the kidneys get rid of the waste and toxins that pass through the liver. If your skin is dehydrated or stressed, water can definitely help clear your skin.
Drinking water helps to hydrate your skin barrier and flush out the bacteria underneath the surface of your skin that causes rashes. It ensures that your blood will carry plenty of oxygen throughout the cells in your body. Your immune system uses something called lymph to carry water and nutrients to your blood cells.
Additional benefits of drinking water are increased energy levels, it maintains pH balance in the body, promotes regularity and helps digestion, helps to regulate your internal body temperature, and boosts your immune system. It helps in replenishing the skin tissue, increasing elasticity, and enhances the natural glow of your skin
HOW MUCH WATER SHOULD YOU DRINK?
There are a few different opinions on how much water people should drink, including drinking 8-10 glasses every day. Another is 1 litre per 20kg of your bodyweight which I am more inclined towards. So, if you weigh 60kg you’re looking at drink 3ltrs per day. I believe that if you want to experience the skin health benefits of drinking water that are outlined above you really need to drink a good amount of water on a daily basis, the minimum being 1ltr per 20kg of your body weight.
Now this may seem a lot to someone who barely drinks 200ml of water per day, but it really isn’t when you spread say 3ltrs over the full day, so that could be 500lm when you wake up, 500ml mid-morning, 500ml early afternoon, 500ml late afternoon, 500ml early evening, and then 500ml later in the evening, total intake for the day = 3ltrs (3000ml), how easy was that! Obviously, this is something you would need to work up to, and you may need to visit the bathroom often initially but the benefit you will gain in your skin will be amazing!
When you get into the habit of drinking water you will find that your body will crave the water because it needs it and will be so much easier to keep up with the habit.
An analogy I like to make is, when the earth is starved of water it becomes dry, hard lifeless, and baron, it’s so dry you see cracks appear. When the rain falls in abundance, the same earth becomes moist, soft, full of life, grass and flowers grow so it’s lush with greenery. Our skin is like the earth so give it an abundance of water so it thrives.