12 Reasons to Drink More Water
Did you know drinking two 12 ounce glasses of soda every day for one month means you will intake 8,000 calories and 5 pounds of sugar? While fine to drink on occasion, high-calorie, high-sugar drinks, like soda, can cause an array of negative effects to your body and wallet.
Swapping soda for water is one of the quickest and easiest ways to stay hydrated and improve your overall health in both the short- and long-term future – and not to mention, it’s free of charge! Still not convinced? Check out these 12 other reasons to drink more H2O:
1. Lose Weight
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution for weight loss, the basic formula for trimming your waistline is to burn more calories than you eat. As an aid for weight loss, water will help you to feel full more quickly, so you will eat less and shed the pounds.
2. Burn More Calories
Drinking more water can help you to burn more calories by regulating your metabolism, which is your body’s ability to convert food into energy. By drinking 17 ounces of water per day, your metabolism could speed up by as much as 30 percent.
3. Exercise with Ease
Skip the energy drinks – drinking water while working out is the ultimate muscle fuel. High-intensity physical activity can cause you to lose water through sweat and your muscles to become tired. For a boost of energy, drink water to reduce cramps and sprains, and push you through that final set of pull ups.
4. Have Clearer Skin
Studies show that people who drink more water tend to have clearer, younger looking skin. Water works to hydrate your skin and reduce toxin-induced blemishes, resulting in a healthy glow even your best moisturizer can’t achieve on its own.
5. Flush Toxins Out
You may have tried the latest juice cleanse to detox your body, but what about drinking a refreshing glass of water? Water helps to eliminate wastes and toxins from your body by encouraging healthy digestion and transporting nutrients to where they are needed.
6. Prevent Headaches
Everyone suffers for the occasional headache, and oftentimes they are caused by dehydration. Instead of reaching for medication next time your head hurts, try reaching for a cold glass of water to prevent or alleviate your headache symptoms.
7. Have Less Joint Pain
Water works as a lubricant for your joints, helping to reduce joint pain and protect against daily wear and tear. In fact, drinking more water can help to eliminate other pain in the body by supporting your lymphatic system, a network of nodes, tubes, vessels and fluid that move waste from your tissues.
8. Save Your Kidneys
Your kidneys perform the life-sustaining job of filtering and returning to the bloodstream about 200 quarts of fluid each day, so taking care of them is important. Drinking more water may help to significantly reduce your risk for chronic kidney problems; it may even help to prevent kidney stones from forming by flushing out the buildup.
9. Protect Your Spinal Cord
Traumatic injury to the spinal cord can cause neurological impairments that cause life-long complications. To protect your spinal cord and other sensitive tissues, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests drinking an adequate amount of water.
10. Boost Your Productivity
Your brain and nervous system send out electrical signals to function properly. Having a regular supply of water will help to increase electrical functioning in your brain for clearer thinking, so you will feel more efficient and productive.
11. Stay Awake
While your morning brew may keep you awake temporarily, its caffeine may dehydrate you, and consequently make you more tired, in the long run. Fortunately, sipping on a glass of water with breakfast can awaken and rejuvenate you, too, by hydrating your body to increase its power to work to its full capacity.
12. Feel Happier
Dehydration can affect your mood and make you feel sad, grumpy and confused. Stay hydrated and feel energized by drinking the recommended amount of water (typically eight 8-ounce glasses a day). Water stimulates the flow of nutrients and hormones that release those feel-good endorphins you need to feel happy.