Water As A Tool: 7 Benefits Of Drinking Water To Your WellBeing (infographic)

Did you know that 60% of your body is Water?

Did you know that 73% of your Brain and Heart is Water?

Did you know that 83% of your Lungs is Water?

Did you know that 64% of your Skin is Water?

Did you know that 79% of your Kidney is Water?

Did you know that 31% of your Bones is Water?

Now you have 6 reasons to learn and know these 7 main benefits of drinking water and the benefits it has on your WellBeing.

Drinking Water and WellBeing

The benefits of drinking water have to do mainly with the physical wellbeing, and to a lesser extent with the mental wellbeing as we’ll see below

How much water to drink to have these benefits

There is no one size fit all number when it comes to drinking water. It varies according to your health, work, food, and needs.

The general rule of the thumb is that around 2 liters or 6-8 glasses of water a day should be about right to reap the benefits.

It’s not an exact number, it’s a range. Some days fewer cups can still be sufficient as you may have the water you need from other sources like fruits and vegetables or in winter, and other days you may need more cups if you’re in summer or working out.

If you have any doubt about the right number for YOU, then you should speak with your physician or A physician about this and identify the right number for YOU.

Now let’s check the benefits of Drinking water before we talk about the disadvantages.

(1) General Benefits of Drinking Water (Physical WellBeing)

1.1 Regulating body temperature

Sweat loses water in hot whether to maintain your body temperature, and without it your temperature will rise.

On the other hand, when someone has fever, what we do as physicians, is to give plenty of fluids (oral or intravenous) to lower the temperature.

1.2 Carrying nutrients and oxygen to your cells

Water is your body’s Uber that transport Oxygen, nutrients, and minerals to all cells for FREE 😀

Without enough Uber cars, not enough Oxygen and nutrients will reach their destination and you’ll lose their effect.

1.3 Normalizing blood pressure

Flushing sodium out of your system is one of mechanisms used by your body to moderate blood pressure and it needs Water for that flush.

1.4 Stabilizing the heartbeat

A hydrated heart is able to pump blood more easily, allowing the muscles in your body to work even better.

1.5 Protecting organs and tissues

As we mentioned in the introduction, water forms the high % of your body as well as the main organs like brain, heart, and lungs

1.6 Reduces headaches and migraines

They are mainly caused by dehydration, and according to the level of dehydration, the severity of your headache and migraine will be determined, the more dehydration, the worse your headache will be.

(2) Benefits of Drinking Water for Losing Weight (Physical WellBeing)

A study done on the relationship between plain water and energy intake and dietary quality found that the participants who drank the most plain water in their daily diet consumed fewer total calories, drank fewer sweetened beverages, and took in less total fat, saturated fat, sugar, salt, and cholesterol.

They also found out that drinking more plain water, by one to three cups a day could decrease calorie intake by 68 to 205 calories a day. That’s easy 205 calories lost by utilizing this simple benefit of drinking water

2.1 Suppresses your appetite

Water passes fast to your stomach causing it to stretch which tells the brain that you’re full.

A study in 2016 found out that people who drank 2 glasses of water immediately before a meal ate 22% less than those who didn’t drink any water prior to the meal.

2.2 Accurate Eating:

Your brain is a magnificent machine indeed, yet it can get confused when it comes to hunger and thirst. Or maybe it’s us who are not yet able to tell the difference, but this what happens..

Sometimes when you feel “hungry”, it’s not actually about eating, rather it’s a signal for “thirst”.

So drinking water each time you feel hungry may actually be the correct answer to that feeling and you’ll save yourself an unnecessary meal.

2.3 Burning Fat

The process of metabolizing your storage of fat needs water as the initial component for that process. And you usually start to metabolize your fat storage after few hours of fasting, or anaerobic exercise.

That’s why many trainers’ advise to lose weight is to exercise first thing in the morning with only drinking water (to facilitate your fat metabolism, and compensate for water lost through sweat)

2.4 Facilitates Exercise

Another benefit of drinking water for weight loss is that it supports you when you exercise through the following:

• Helps muscles, connective tissues, and joints to move correctly.
• Helps the lungs, heart, and other organs to work effectively as they ramp up activity during exercise.
• Reducing the risk of muscle cramps and fatigue.

(3) Benefits of Drinking Water for the Digestive System (Physical WellBeing)

3.1 Improves digestion

Saliva is composed mainly of water that has digestive enzymes to break down food you just put into your mouth into smaller and easily digested particles before entering the stomach

(4) Benefits of Drinking Water for Excretory System (Physical WellBeing)

4.1 Flushing bacteria from your bladder

Drinking water makes you urinate and when you do that, you get rid of most of the bacteria and toxins in your urine that resides in the bladder till you evacuate it.

That’s why one of the quick signs to know if you’re hydrated well, is to have a clear urine. The darker it gets, the more dehydrated you are. That’s of course with the assumption that nothing else is going wrong with your body.

4.2 Protects the Kidney

Your kidney is like your sink. The more water you have when you wash, the cleaner your sink is, as all the small food particles and debris get flushed through the sink filter by water.

The more water you drink, the cleaner, and therefor the healthier, your kidney is going to be since all toxins and salts get flushed through kidney filters to outside of your body instead of remaining within the kidney and causing diseases like kidney stones.

4.3 Preventing constipation

Constipation happens when your body doesn’t find enough fluids to lubricate your wastes through their journey out of your system.

And water is your easiest weapon of choice to fight constipation if you can’t afford olive oil in your meal, or if you forgot to add vegetables to your work lunch box

4.4 Lowering cancer

Drinking the daily recommended amount of water is thought to help reduce the risk of bladder and colon cancer by diluting cancer-causing agents in urine.

(5) Benefits of Drinking Water for Joints and Muscles (Physical WellBeing)

5.1 Protecting joints

Adequate water intake can help keep your joints well lubricated and prevent gout attacks

Water helps keeping your joints lubricated and flexible through the Synovial fluid that directly lubricates your joints.

It is made up, to a large extent, of water. This fluid reduces the friction between joints and helps to maintain healthy tissue and joints.

(6) Benefits of Drinking Water for Productivity (Mental WellBeing)

If you’re dehydrated, even to a little extent it can causes you to feel dizzy, confused and fatigue. And all of those get in your way of being productive.

This is one of the extra productivity tools that I talk about in my Productivity Training, beside other things that can boost your productivity and has nothing to do with your systems and lists.

(7) Benefits of Drinking Water for Stress Management (Mental WellBeing)

Same as with productivity, it’s dehydration that’s causing it.

A study found out that irrespective to the intensity of the exercise you’re doing, your powerful stress hormone (Cortisol) increases with dehydration.

And you don’t want your cortisol to be elevated.

So the next time you feel stressed, go for a cup of water. It might help

We’ve listed so many benefits of drinking water but is it all benefits or is there any downsides to it?

There is one disadvantage of drinking too much water, called water intoxication also known as water poisoning, hyperhydration, overhydration, or water toxemia

It is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when excessive water intake dilutes and disturbs the electrolytes balance in the body.

It’s rare to happen accidentally and nearly all deaths related to water intoxication happen in:

• Water-Drinking contests: to see how much you can drink without going to the bathroom
• Excessive and long exercise session that could lead to excessive drinking of water.
• Water-cure: A torture method to make victims consume lots and lots of water.

What we can relate to from the above examples is the water-drinking contests and be careful in your exercise routine. Those are 2 items that you can control. If you got captured!! well… don’t get caught 😀

Next Actions To Improve Your Water Drinking Habit

1- Identify your level

Before you start improving you need to know where you are now. One way to do this is to have your In-Body measurements in one of the gyms, and it will tell you what water % you currently have and what should you aim for.

2- Create A Goal

Now that you have your result, it should tell you, as per your age, gender, and weight, what % you should be having.

You can use that number and create a goal “improve your hydration in (add year) by (put target)” and add it to your goals list.

Examples of goals:

• Improve my body water % by 1 liter in 2021
• Improve my body water % by 1% in 2021

3- Create a Project

Now that you have your goal, you need to come up with project(s) you can do to have the benefits of drinking water

Examples of projects:

• Have 8 cups of water a day
• Reduce water excreting food or beverages
• Have a tracker system

4- Add Next Actions:

Now it’s time to add what you can do NOW, right after you finish copying and pasting the above goals and projects.

Examples:

• @Phone: Call the gym asking about the In-Body measurement for water %
• @Phone: Install HabitBull tracker app
• @Home: Put a bottle of water near my desk or bed
• @Errands: Buy a healthy water bottle
• @Laptop: Share update or ask a question in comments or a community

Conclusion

1. Your body as well as your main organs consist largely of Water which is a sign of its importance.
2. There is no single amount of water that suits everybody, and you should speak to your physician about the right amount for YOU.
3.  6-8 glasses of water are about right for almost all of us, and it can be fewer or higher for you depending on work, health, food, and needs.
4. The benefits of drinking water are so many and diverse covering mainly your Physical WellBeing and Mental WellBeing to a lesser extent.
5. Too much water a day can counteract the benefits of drinking water causing Water intoxication. It could happen if you joined a crazy water-drinking contest or exercised heavily and drank a lot as a result.

Infographic

7 Benefits of drinking water to wellbeing by WellBeing Toolkits

References

• https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-much-water-should-you-drink
• An, R. & ‎McCaffrey, J. (2016) Plain water consumption in relation to energy intake and diet quality among US adults, 2005–2012. J Hum Nutr Diet. 29, 624– 632 doi: 10.1111/jhn.12368
• Corney RA, Sunderland C, James LJ. Immediate pre-meal water ingestion decreases voluntary food intake in lean young males. Eur J Nutr. 2016 Mar;55(2):815-819. doi: 10.1007/s00394-015-0903-4. Epub 2015 Apr 18. PMID: 25893719.
• https://hub.jhu.edu/at-work/2020/01/15/focus-on-wellness-drinking-more-water/
• https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322296#six-reasons-why-drinking-water-may-help-you-lose-weight
• https://hub.jhu.edu/at-work/2020/01/15/focus-on-wellness-drinking-more-water/
• https://hub.jhu.edu/at-work/2020/01/15/focus-on-wellness-drinking-more-water/
• https://www.eldoradosprings.com/blog/the-top-10-benefits-of-drinking-water