6 health benefits of water

By now we’ve all heard how important it is to drink water, but why?

Water makes up roughly 60% of your body and pretty much all of it is used to keep you functioning properly on a daily basis. It’s highly important to maintain this 60% balance, but that’s easier said than done. While you may be trying your best to take on water, your body has a variety of ways to lose water just as quickly, from sweating and going to the toilet to simply even breathing.

There are many different theories out there on exactly how much water you should drink each day. But a good option is to drink between half an ounce to an ounce of water for each pound of body weight.

But why is water so good for you?

1. Circulation

Around half of our blood contain plasma - a substance that carries blood cells around our body, helps maintain a healthy blood pressure and keeps your body temperature under control. Let's just say, it's quite important...

Plasma is roughly 90% water, so if you're dehydrated, it will do a pretty poor job at circulating your blood. Without enough water, your blood will become thicker and more concentrated, making it harder for your heart to deliver blood where it needs to be.

As a result you may experience stiff joints as your body draws as much water as it can towards the organs needed to keep you alive. With the cartilage in your joints consisting of up to 85% water, they can greatly suffer when you're dehydrated.

2. Athletic performance

Dehydration has a terrible impact on your muscles. Without a good amount of water, they can't contract properly which means you can't perform to your highest level. Furthermore, your muscles wont be able to recover as well after exercise, as water is key to sports recovery.

Besides prepping for exercise by hydrating before you work-out, your body loses a lot of water through sweat while you're exercising. This means you'll need to rehydrate regularly in order to keep your muscles working properly.

Without good hydration, your muscles will more easily go into cramp, which tends to stop you exercising altogether.

3. Digestion

One of the worst things for your digestive system is being dehydrated. Drinking water regularly throughout the day will greatly lower the chances of constipation. When you're low on fluids, your digestive system is one of the areas that has to sacrifice water levels for the greater good of the rest of your body.

Keeping hydrated will ensure regular bowl movements and any discomfort you may feel, will usually be helped by taking on water.

4. Dry skin

One of the places your body will draw fluids from to hydrate vital organs and your blood cells is your skin. This can lead to dry skin and speed up the development of wrinkles. There's no quick fix to this problem. You need to maintain a regular, healthy intake of water and fluids to keep your skin from drying out.

5. Disease

Studies have shown that poor hydration can be a contributing factor against an array of diseases and ailments. With your water levels affecting vital organs like your liver, heart and kidneys - severe dehydration can have devastating effects on them

Besides that, there's also heat exhaustion and heat-stroke, which occurs more specifically on hot days when you haven't had enough to drink.

Your kidneys play a huge role in preventing disease and your body uses water to flush out toxins with their help. Without enough water in your system, your kidneys will fail to work properly.

Prevention is certainly better than cure!

6. Focus and concentration

Studies suggest that dehydration can slightly shrink your brain cells, which leaves your brain functioning worse than usual.

This translates to difficulty concentrating, and taking a little longer to solve problems that you could normally do in your sleep. The extra brain strain can also make you irritable, so a glass of water even has the potential to improve your mood.