6 Health Benefits of Being Well-Hydrated At All Times – Dr. Jagmeet Madan, National Vice President for India Dietetic Association

August 11, 2015: It’s hard to overstate the importance of water. Apart from the fact that every cell in the human body needs water for basic survival and functioning, water has been assigned healing qualities since ancient times. In Ayurveda, water is considered a crucial element for maintaining physical balance and harmony. In traditional Chinese medicine, water is considered the element of life and death.It’s not just about age-old beliefs; “Staying hydrated is the first step to a healthy self,” says Dr Jagmeet Madan, Principal and Professor, Department of Food & Nutrition at SVT College of Home Science, SNDT Women’s University. “It works magically both at a physical and a physiological level. Thanks to today’s air-conditioned indoor environment, an inherent part of changing lifestyle of an urbanite, one has to make a conscious effort to drink 12 glasses of water a day,” she says. Need more convincing that you need to make safe hydration a priority? Here are 6 really good reasons.

It makes you smarter

Water actually helps your brain function better. A study presented at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference in London in 2012 proved that students who brought water with them to an exam scored higher than their counterparts who didn’t have water. According to the researchers, staying hydrated improved the students’ thinking, quelled their anxiety and helped them stay calm.

It makes skin look healthy

Most of us don’t think of skin as an organ. But it is, the largest one in, or on, our bodies. Like all other cells, skin cells too need constant and adequate hydration to remain supple and healthy. When our bodies don’t get a sufficient amount of water, the skin gets dry and flaky. Dehydrated skin also ages faster and develops wrinkles. Being well-hydrated also prevents your skin from sagging by filling up the spaces between skin cells and keeping it from looking droopy or wrinkled.

It improves your mood

Think about it, why are beaches such popular vacation spots? Just being near a giant water body like an ocean calms our minds and relaxes our brains; after all, 85% of the brain tissue is water.But there’s solid evidence too: researchers at Tufts University studied the effects of mild dehydration on college athletes and found that those who didn’t hydrate properly after exercising were more likely to feel depressed, tense, confused, angry and fatigued than the athletes who drank enough fluids. Disturbed fluid balance in the body has an immediate negative effect on the mood.

It improves your heart’s health

When the body is low on fluids, the volume of blood in it decreases. So the heart must work much harder to pump the reduced volume of blood and make sure that enough oxygen reaches each cell in the body. Due to this strain on the heart, menial everyday activities like going up the stairs and exercise becomes difficult. When we’re well-hydrated, the heart functions smoothly and physical activities become easier to perform.

It helps avoid constipation

“Insufficient fluid intake is one of the most common causes of constipation” says Sanjana Agarwal, a Mumbai-based nutritionist. “If you don’t drink enough fluids, the body tries to make up for the deficit by drawing from its internal sources–like your colon. This leads to a dry colon and hard stools that are difficult to pass,” she says. Drinking enough water ensures that the colon stays lubricated and the stools are soft and easy to pass.

It helps in having a healthy pregnancy

Dehydration during pregnancy can lead to complications such as headaches, nausea, cramps and even pre-term labour or miscarriage. Staying properly hydrated ensures that both the mother and the foetus’ liver and kidney functions are being carried out properly. Adequate hydration during pregnancy increases the volume of the mother’s blood as her body expands to accommodate the foetus. After delivery, a new mother needs to be properly hydrated to be able to produce sufficient breast milk for her baby.

Reviewed by:

Dr. Jagmeet Madan

National Vice President for India Dietetic Association