The Benefits of Drinking Water Go Beyond Quenching Thirst

One year, it was an MP3 play­er. Anoth­er year, it was $100 ear­buds. This year, the acces­so­ry you can’t be seen with­out is a top-of-the-line over­sized stain­less steel cup. This par­tic­u­lar craze may come with some health ben­e­fits — accord­ing to cus­tomers, they’re stay­ing hydrat­ed more than ever before. 

With this new trend, it’s a great time to vis­it the ben­e­fits of drink­ing water. Here are 5 things to know about drink­ing H2O and how it affects your body: 

1. You might not need 8 glass­es a day. 

How much water do you need? The answer is, well, a lit­tle watery. Many peo­ple have heard the ​“rule” that they should drink eight 8‑ounce glass­es of water per day, but that’s actu­al­ly an old myth that has been debunked. 

For some peo­ple, 8 glass­es is a rea­son­able and achiev­able goal. How­ev­er, every­one is dif­fer­ent, and so are everyone’s needs. 

Peo­ple who are in over­all good health can typ­i­cal­ly get by on 4 to 6 cups a day. Your indi­vid­ual water needs depend on sev­er­al dif­fer­ent fac­tors, such as: 

• How much phys­i­cal activ­i­ty you get 
• Out­side temperature 
• Age
• Oth­er health conditions 
• Weight
• If you’re preg­nant or breastfeeding 

There isn’t nec­es­sar­i­ly a way to cal­cu­late how much water you need, but it’s impor­tant to at least get enough that you don’t get dehy­drat­ed. If you become severe­ly dehy­drat­ed, your body can’t func­tion nor­mal­ly. Know the warn­ing signs — dark urine, low blood pres­sure, dizzi­ness, weak­ness, and con­fu­sion — and drink more water right away if they occur. 

Also read: Wake-Up Your Metab­o­lism

2. If you don’t love plain water, you’re in luck. 

Drink­ing water might be the most straight­for­ward way of get­ting in your water in, but it’s not the only way. Oth­er bev­er­ages, like herbal tea, milk, and juice, can count toward your dai­ly water intake. 

And it’s not just drinks — there are plen­ty of foods that are high in water con­tent and can keep you hydrated. 

Just be care­ful about how much sug­ar you’re con­sum­ing. While sports drinks and juices can be hydrat­ing, they can also be filled with sug­ar and high in calories.

To learn more about healthy eat­ing habits like drink­ing more water, sched­ule an appoint­ment with a Duly Health and Care pri­ma­ry care provider.

3. The myths about water being bad for diges­tion are just that — myths. 

In the past few years, a myth has been cir­cu­lat­ing (much thanks to a 2020 Insta­gram post) that drink­ing water while eat­ing pre­vents you from absorb­ing nutri­ents, caus­es bloat­ing, and increas­es your risk of fat build­ing up in your body. 

These claims have been debunked by the experts who reit­er­ate what they’ve known for years: Water is crit­i­cal for diges­tion. Your body relies on the water that you drink dur­ing or after a meal to break down and process food. Drink­ing water dur­ing a meal can also pre­vent bloat­ing and, if sipped slow­ly, can help peo­ple avoid overeating. 

Also read: Small Changes for Healthy Eat­ing

4. More water can mean less joint pain. 

Water helps your body make syn­ovial flu­id, which is a lay­er of liq­uid that cush­ions your joints, low­er­ing fric­tion when you move them. Water also makes up about 65 to 80% of your car­ti­lage, which is tis­sue that cov­ers the ends of your bones. Car­ti­lage reduces fric­tion when you move, and helps your bones glide over one anoth­er with­out rub­bing against each other. 

If you have a prob­lem like arthri­tis that caus­es joint pain, your body relies on syn­ovial flu­id and car­ti­lage to act as a cush­ion and keep aches and pains at bay. And if you don’t stay hydrat­ed, you might not make enough syn­ovial flu­id or have car­ti­lage that func­tions as it should. 

5. Your heart will thank you for drink­ing water. 

Your heart pumps about 2,000 gal­lons of blood every day. It does the most phys­i­cal work of any organ in your body, which means it needs to be as strong as pos­si­ble. Water makes it eas­i­er for your heart to pump blood through­out your body and improves your mus­cles’ effi­cien­cy. With enough water, your heart’s job is eas­i­er. On the oth­er hand, not get­ting enough water can lead to heart prob­lems such as dan­ger­ous­ly low or high spikes in blood pres­sure and an irreg­u­lar heart­beat, like heart pal­pi­ta­tions (the feel­ing that your heart is flut­ter­ing in your chest).Your whole body will ben­e­fit from stay­ing hydrat­ed, so make sure that you’re get­ting enough water every day — whether it’s from a giant steel cup or a good old-fash­ioned glass.