Protecting Your Joints and Boosting Your Mood: The Benefits of Drinking Water

More and more people are discussing the importance of drinking plenty of water. What are the true effects of water on our body?

Drink More – Think Faster

The brain is composed of 85% water. Only if the brain has sufficient water can it function properly. Water helps the brain produce neurotransmitters, hormones, and chemicals that aid its function. When the brain is dehydrated, thinking becomes slow and foggy. Studies show that drinking 8 cups of water a day improves cognitive ability by 30%. Each cup of water increases the brain's processing speed by 14%. Conversely, dehydration actually causes the brain to shrink. Research examining the effect of water loss on the brain found that during an hour and a half of sweating (which causes water loss, of course), the brain shrinks as if it aged a whole year. However, this is not irreversible: drinking a glass of water returns the brain to its normal function.

Maintain a Good Mood

Water affects a person's mood. Studies show a significant correlation between mild dehydration and states of confusion, anger, concentration problems, and a bad mood. Adequate hydration creates a sense of refreshment and happiness, and as mentioned, allows the brain to think more clearly.

Detoxification

Toxins accumulate in everyone's body throughout the day—regardless of diet. These toxins are released from the body through urine and sweat. A person who does not drink enough does not let these toxins drain out via fluids. Dirt that is not released in sweat and urine accumulates instead in the body, reaching the digestive system, kidneys, and other organs, where it can cause inflammation and infections.

Protect Your Joints

The body's joints—hips, knees, elbows, wrists, and so on—are wrapped in moist, soft, and flexible cartilage. The cartilage keeps the joints flexible and strong, preventing pain during movement. Quite a few people suffer from chronic joint pain. These people consume medication and dietary supplements to alleviate the pain. These medications work in a special way: they encourage the cartilage to absorb more water. But for the cartilage to have something to absorb, one must first drink water.

Metabolism

Water allows the body to maintain a fast metabolism rate. Chronic dehydration can lead to kidney stones, as they need moisture to function correctly and remove toxins from the body. In other cases, dehydration causes constipation and other similar phenomena. Even mild dehydration slows metabolism by 3%.

(Photo: shutterstock)

Maintain Your Diet

Metabolism rate is the primary way in which water consumption aids dieting. But there's more. Drinking water helps create a feeling of fullness in the body, meaning that when we drink more water, we eat less. Often, the body confuses thirst with hunger, so when we actually need a glass of water, we search for a snack. Therefore, if you want to lose weight, be sure to drink as much as possible.

Maintain Youthful Skin

A lack of water intake also affects the skin. When the body lacks fluids, the skin becomes dry and loses vitality. When the skin dries, most of us tend to use moisturizer or other cosmetic products, but many times, all of this can be avoided with a simple action: drinking water. Drinking keeps the entire body hydrated. The skin also absorbs the water, resulting in fewer wrinkles and a healthy and radiant appearance for the skin, especially in the facial area.