You know that not eating enough can affect your level of energy, but did you know that not drinking water can do so, too? Eating well is just one way your body gets the energy it needs to perform at its best. Another part of the equation is staying hydrated, especially by hitting your daily target fluid intake.
Hydration and energy levels are linked, so before you reach for that can of sugary soda or energy drink, here’s why you should swap it out for water instead.
What Is Hydration?
On average, the human body’s water content hovers around 60 percent water to help it perform essential functions. However, this number can be higher or lower depending on age, sex, activity level, and other factors.
Getting in your daily water intake and replacing the fluids you lose each day is how you hydrate. You lose two to three quarts daily through normal bodily functions like sweating, removing waste, and simply exhaling.
Hydrating is drinking enough water to cover these losses so your body can continue performing all of its background functions, like stabilizing your temperature, removing waste, and lubricating your joints for easy movement. Water has many responsibilities, which is why it is so important to your overall health.
Why Is Hydration Important for Energy Levels?
So, water is essential to proper body functioning, but how does water give you energy? For starters, adequate hydration enhances brain function. Mild dehydration, just as little as a two percent water loss, can affect cognitive function, memory, and mood.
Dehydration can also cause your reaction time to slow down and athletic performance to decrease. If any of these things ring a bell, consider adding a few more glasses of water to your current intake to give your brain a boost.
When you don’t get enough water, your circulation slows down, which can affect how oxygen reaches your brain. Your heart has to work harder to move oxygen, resulting in you feeling more tired, fatigued, and less focused (NCOA).
Your muscles will also feel more tired without enough water since cells that don’t have enough water can cause electrolytes to shrink. Drinking enough water, especially during physical activity, can give both your brain and body an energetic boost.
How Does Hydration Affect the Body?
People lose more water in hot environments and when they exercise because the human body sweats to stay cool. If you don’t drink more water to replace what you lose, your body temperature goes up. In this example, hydration and energy go hand-in-hand since you tend to feel tired and sluggish when your body temp is too hot.
Water also helps create saliva so that you can chew food better. After you swallow, it helps with the digestive process so that your body can absorb all of the essential nutrients it needs from your food. Later, water helps remove the waste products that your body doesn’t need. At the same time, drinking enough water helps to prevent constipation and keeps your kidneys healthy by removing harmful bacteria.
Research shows that hitting the right water intake can help you lose weight or maintain weight loss. It can temporarily suppress your appetite while boosting your metabolism. Since water lubricates your joints, it makes movement easier. Hydration also increases your focus, so you may also notice that staying hydrated makes your workouts smoother and more effective.
Can Water Give You Energy?
So, to sum things up, does being hydrated give you energy? Severe dehydration depletes the water in your body, which can often lead to fatigue and lower levels of energy. Drinking water can help correct how hard your heart has to work to pump your blood effectively, increasing your overall energy.
Water has no nutritional value alone, but it helps to carry essential nutrients through your entire body. These are the vitamins and minerals that can give you a boost of energy.
You can increase your energy with hydrogen water even more than with regular water. In fact, hydrogen water is an antioxidant-rich drink that penetrates your cells for deep hydration.
How To Stay Hydrated and Drink Enough Water
To keep your water and energy levels in a perfect balance, you should know how much water to drink each day. Eight glasses a day was the advice back in the day, but this number isn’t so simple.
How much water your body needs depends on several factors, including the climate where you live, how active you are, and your overall level of health. Let’s take a look at how much water you should be drinking.
The Recommended Amount of Water Each Day
As a rule, healthy adults should aim to drink 35 mL of water per kilogram of body weight. However, this is just a starting point, as you might need to adjust for all the factors mentioned above.
Hot weather and exercise will deplete your fluids faster than if you’re in a cool climate and not as active. To help you keep track of how much water you drink each day, carry a water bottle with you that has volume markers and set reminders to drink throughout the day. Many apps now have alerts and allow you to easily track your fluids.
If you want to go more low-tech, an easy way to monitor your hydration is to look in the toilet. You want your urine to be light yellow. Dark yellow or little urine when you use the bathroom is a sign that you’re dehydrated. You can step up your hydration with hydrogen water, a revitalizing elixir with plenty of benefits.
Hydrogen Water & Hydration
Water is the ultimate power drink for your body, but between regular and hydrogen water, the latter may provide more benefits. Various studies have shown that the antioxidant properties of hydrogen water work against oxidative stress, promote energy, and boost athletic performance.
Elevate hydration with Piurify using our hydrogenator solutions that allow you to have hydrogen-rich water at home or on the go so you always stay hydrated and energized. Check out Piurify’s line of hydrogen water products to find the best one for you on your quest for pure hydration.