Top 6 Amazing Benefits of Drinking Water You Need to Know Now!

I have for some reason been blessed with very resilient biology.

I’m not sure how, but somehow I have always been able to go long periods of time without food or water and still function the same way.

In many ways, this is an obvious plus for me. Fortunately I’ve never been in a scarcity-type of situation, but if I ever were I would be well-prepared for it. As much as you can be, anyway.

But there has been a major downside to this.

Because of this resiliency, I’ve tended to ignore one of the best ways to improve health and live in the most thriving way possible.

Drinking enough water.

I discovered the benefits of drinking water first-hand

As focused as I am on health, it might be pretty astounding to learn that on many days I haven’t drank more than 12-24 ounces of water.

If you are not familiar with how little water that is, it is shockingly little.

If you are familiar with how little water that is, well then you are probably shocked.

But I am not afraid to admit my shortcomings, and that is certainly one of them.

So I’m working on it.

To that end, this morning, inspired by the recent research I’ve done for this article, I drank a full glass of water upon waking up.

And I don’t remember ever feeling this good.

My energy is great, I feel lighter on my feet, just overall amazing.

So, as I am going to get smarter about my own life and start drinking more water, let’s take a look at the top six amazing benefits of drinking water that will keep you safely sipping as well.

Benefit of Drinking Water #1: Weight Loss

Research published in the journal Appetite in 2013 showed that study participants who drank caloric beverages did not eat any less than did those who drank non-caloric beverages, like water. Meaning, the calories consumed in beverages did not contribute to satiety and resulted in increased caloric intake. Switching to water would therefore result in consuming less calories with the same level of satiety, helping with weight loss. (read more here)

In basketball terms, this is a lay-up as far as weight loss strategies go.

Additionally, drinking more water could also curb cravings that are mistakenly taken to be signs of hunger. Sometimes these cravings are signs of hunger but sometimes they are really signs of thirst.

It might be worthwhile, when experiencing cravings, to have some water first and wait 15 minutes to see if you are still hungry. (Source: Cleveland Clinic)

Benefit of Drinking Water #2: More Energy

When the body is dehydrated, that means your cells are dehydrated.

When your cells are dehydrated, they shrivel and result in producing less energy.

“When muscle cells don’t have adequate fluids, they don’t work as well and performance can suffer,” said Kaiser Permanente nephrologist Steven Guest, MD.

To avoid this fatigue, a simple solution could be to simply make sure you are drinking enough water consistently throughout the day. Ensuring you also have enough electrolytes is vitally important as well. (Source: Web MD)

Benefit of Drinking Water #3: Helps with Digestion, Detoxification & Bowel Movements

Concerned about regularity and comfortable bowel movements?

Why wouldn’t you be?

A simple measure to help ensure things go smoothly down there is to make sure you are drinking enough water.

Having enough water in your digestive system helps keep things moving along, flushing out the waste your body doesn’t want around.

Your kidneys and liver are also responsible for flushing waste out of the body, and they require proper hydration to produce urine and help cleanse your blood.

Incidentally, ridding your body of waste can also result in increased energy, so this also adds more heft to the above-mentioned benefit of drinking water #2! (#2 pun possibly intended) (Source: Cleveland Clinic & Dr. Josh Axe)

Benefit of Drinking Water #4: Transports Nutrients & Oxygen to Cells

This may seem obvious to some, but it’s quite overlooked.

We may not see it from the outside, but beneath the skin is a whole lot of motion.

Our bodies are moving things in, out, and around. Transporting the good stuff around to our cells, like nutrients and oxygen, and transporting the bad stuff out, like waste.

Having enough water in our system helps this process along, helping us get the most out of the nutrients we consume in our food as well as the supplements we take for our health.

If you spend any considerable amount of money on nutritional supplements, this is one you probably want to think about so you get the most out of the money you are spending on your health and not wasting it. Not only make sure you get the nutrients you need to thrive, but make sure they get where they need to go! (Source: Dr. Josh Axe)

Benefit of Drinking Water #5: Healthy, Glowing Skin!

As with all of these benefits of drinking water, this one is another simple solution and potentially easy fix.

As mentioned before, lack of hydration can lead to shriveled cells. That includes your skin cells!

As you can imagine, a shriveled skin cell is not the most attractive skin cell.

Properly hydrating can then reduce that shriveling, which in turn results in less shriveled skin cells and fewer wrinkles.

Now hydration alone won’t get rid of all the wrinkles, but it can take care of the excess ones that are self-inflicted by improper hydration.

In any case, to prevent the excess wrinkles that you can easily do something about, as well as helping to prevent dry skin, drinking enough water might be the solution. (Source: Dr. Josh Axe)

Benefit of Drinking Water #6: Reduced Blood Pressure

Research out of Japan published in the journal Nutrients in 2020 showed that Japanese adult study participants who consumed an extra bottle of water within two hours of waking up and another within two hours of going to bed saw a significant decrease in systolic blood pressure.

As with any study, more are needed to replicate the findings as well as study more subjects in greater cross-sections of populations, but this is a very encouraging result.

And, given what we know about the benefits of water in terms of keeping other things moving in the body, including our blood, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that it might help blood pressure as well.

Now don’t skip your blood pressure meds just because you start drinking more water! Talk to your doctor first about all lifestyle changes, medications, and treatment plans. This article is for informational purposes only. (Source: Nutrients)

How to get the most benefits of drinking water

Now that we’ve identified the simple act of drinking enough water as perhaps the easiest, simplest, and least expensive means to taking back your health, should we just guzzle water all the time?

Absolutely not.

So how can we implement this potentially health-improving, even potentially life-saving lifestyle habit into our lives?

Water-Drinking Habit #1: Listen to Your Body

It takes some time and some practice, but if you pay attention, your body is telling you what it needs all the time.

When it needs to sleep. When it needs to exercise. When it needs to eat. Even what it needs to eat.

And of course when it needs more water.

So when you recognize a signal of thirst, have some water. You don’t need to guzzle a gallon of it, but at least have a few sips.

In fact, never drink a gallon of water all at once, or any large amount for that matter. You have likely heard of people who drank large amounts of water all at once and either got sick or even worse died. Doing so can dangerously strip important sodium from your body that could result in disastrous consequences, so you don’t want to mess around with that.

It’s called water intoxication and, while it is quite rare, you want to make sure you are not stripping too much sodium from your body. So to learn more about it, click here.

Water-Drinking Habit #2: Be Consistent Throughout the Day

If you drink consistently throughout the day you won’t ever have to guzzle a lot of water all at once. Being consistent with good habits now can help prevent us from ever feeling the need to take extreme measures that might be harmful later.

And what is the best way to stay consistent?

Water-Drinking Habit #3: Keep it Handy!

Keep water handy at all times so you can drink smaller, proper amounts consistently throughout the day.

Figure out a way that works best for you. Whether that means keeping a clean, reusable bottle full of water with you or if you are a glass or cup-person, it’s all good. Write a note for yourself and keep it on your desk or next to your favorite seat if that helps. The only thing that matters is that what you do is appropriate for you, not what is appropriate for somebody else.

Water-Drinking Habit #4: Spruce it Up!

While water is important, so are nutrients, minerals, and electrolytes.

Especially if you exercise or train athletically, you need to make sure your minerals and electrolytes are sufficient. While water is paramount to our health, these things absolutely cannot be ignored.

You can easily and affordably add additional drinks, including many non-caloric, to supplement your water intake and make sure you are getting not only those minerals and electrolytes, but antioxidants as well.

Some of those could include teas like green tea for its antioxidant capacity, lemon or fruit infused waters that can increase the alkalinity of the water and add some flavor so you don’t get bored, or some coconut water or sports drinks to help with replenishing electrolytes.

With the exception of green tea, many of these are hydrating as well so you can replace your plain water with them. So have some fun with adding electrolytes, antioxidants, and flavor to your beverage repertoire. If you’re like me at all, you’ll find fruit-infused water to be a revelation.

Is too much water too much of a good thing?

In some cases, yes.

As discussed above, in some extreme situations people have gone so far as to die from drinking excessive amounts of water all at once. Water intoxication, while rare, can also result in other extremely serious situations so you need to be careful and ensure you do not get too low on sodium and minerals in your body.

Beyond that, those with thyroid, liver, kidney or heart issues, or who take medications need to be careful and plan with their doctors. Different ailments and medications can affect your water needs so you will want to talk with your doctor about the most appropriate amount of water consumption for you.

How much water should you drink daily?

The old rule of thumb is to drink eight, eight-ounce glasses of water a day for a total of 64 ounces.

That is an “old” rule, though, and may or may not hold true for you.

It cannot be said enough: we are all unique. While I for some strange reason can go practically all day without drinking any water and feel just fine, others might feel light-headed, get headaches, or otherwise just feel crummy if they go even an hour or two without water.

We’re all different, but we all need enough water for our body’s needs.

Eight, eight-ounce glasses of water a day (64 ounces total) is probably a good starting point for discussion and then to fan out from there based on your specific needs. For some it may be more, for some it may be less.

Many factors will contribute to the right amount for you, such as your size, age, activity level, other health concerns and medications, as well as the other beverages you consume. Some, like coffee, are diuretics and deplete water from your body, so that can factor in to your needs as well.

Listening to your body is the key as well as making sure you get enough sodium, electrolytes, and minerals.

Talk to your doctor about what is right for you and enjoy taking back control of your health with possibly the simplest and easiest lifestyle habit yet that is also practically free.

Water.

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