Keeping your hydration levels up is an important part of creating a healthy lifestyle. Staying hydrated helps with improving digestion, your skin’s health, and maintaining your energy levels. In order to reap the benefits that come with staying hydrated, it is important to find ways to stay consistent with drinking water.
Specifically during the digestive process, the water in your body is responsible for helping to dissolve the nutrients in the foods you consume, and prepare them to be absorbed into your bloodstream. Also, if you are not drinking enough water it could lead to stools that are hard to pass as well as constipation. In order to avoid these adverse effects, one must learn how best to incorporate consuming water into their daily routine.
How To Increase Your Intake of Water Throughout the Day
Even though drinking water sounds fairly easy to remember, sometimes trying to find the time to do so can be quite challenging. If you are someone who dislikes the taste of water, this can also become a barrier to achieving hydration. In order to improve the taste, some people find that adding fruits such as strawberries, cucumbers, or lemon can be a great way to spice up your water, making it more enjoyable to drink.
Another thing to keep in mind is that water is not the only source of hydration. While it should still be your main source to stay hydrated, you can also raise your hydration levels by eating foods that have a high water content. Some of the foods that have a high water content include watermelon, celery, peaches, and lettuce. Adding these foods into your meals is a great way to give your body that added boost of support.
If you are someone who struggles with remembering to drink water, you should consider tying it into another one of your daily acts to give you a small reminder. For example, if you start requiring yourself to drink a glass of water whenever you take a break from your work schedule, you might find yourself reaching for that glass of water more consistently. You would be forming a healthy habit of associating a certain action throughout your day with drinking another glass of water. Eventually, you might find that it becomes a subconscious action.
Another great time to promote drinking water, is when you are taking your supplements that help with bloating and other ailments. This would be especially beneficial if you take your supplements to reduce bloating in the morning, because it will be a great reminder to start your day off with. Instead of simply taking a sip or two, push yourself to drink a certain amount during this time.
It is important to remember that during hotter months of the year, you are more likely to sweat out the water in your body leading to faster dehydration. During these months, it is important to stay on top of drinking your water. The same can be said for those who work out regularly and tend to build up more of a sweat.
Older adults are at higher risk of becoming dehydrated, because bodies tend to lose their awareness of when they become thirsty, and they also lose the ability to hold higher levels of water. As we age it is important that we take these factors into consideration when we are thinking about how best to maintain our health.
Benefits From Staying Consistently Hydrated
While we have always heard the importance of staying hydrated, there are some benefits from it that you might be unfamiliar with. Aside from the digestive health benefits we mentioned earlier, we have gathered a list of some other potentially unfamiliar benefits that you can gain from staying hydrated.
Improves Your Skin’s Health
Your skin is the biggest organ in your body so maintaining it is an important part of living a healthy lifestyle. Drinking water helps to ensure the tightening of your skin and helps to give a boost of life to your skin when it is feeling extra dull. Water also helps to maintain a healthy pH balance in your skin. When your pH balance is off it could lead to inflammation or extremely dry skin. Hydrated skin also helps with avoiding extreme episodes of acne, because water helps to reduce the amount of clogged pores you might experience.
Helps To Regulate Your Body Temperature
The water in our body holds great power over our body’s temperature. When our bodies are overheating, it uses the water it has to bring down the temperature by expelling it through sweat. However if you are dehydrated it becomes harder for your body to be able to expel the heat through sweating leading to potentially harmful effects as it is now harder for your body to bring down its own temperature. This is why it is especially important to keep an eye on your hydration levels when you have fallen ill.
Helps To Reduce Calorie Intake
If you are someone who is looking to lose weight or simply wants to maintain the weight they are at right now, drinking water is a great way to promote reduced calorie intake. Water contains zero calories so if you are substituting your normal types of drink such as soda with water it can lead to a smaller calorie intake throughout the day. Water is a great substitute for any drink, because other drinks you might choose tend to be high in calories and high in processed sugars which are also damaging to your digestive process/healthy journey.
The Importance of Electrolytes In Staying Hydrated
Drinking water is not the only aspect of staying hydrated. One must also ensure their electrolyte levels are maintained. Electrolytes are minerals that are essential in maintaining a healthy body by maintaining the fluids in and outside of your body.
Sodium and potassium are two of the most important types of electrolytes needed in order to maintain the levels of water in your system. In order to ensure you are getting enough electrolytes it is essential to consider adding some of the following foods to your diet: bananas, white meat, and avocados. Staying hydrated requires both dedication and an awareness of one's own diet and bodily symptoms, but with the proper amount of both drinking water can become second nature.