I struggle to drink enough water for some reason. I’m hoping someone can simply explain the scientific reason it’s important and what damages happen from chronic dehydration, to be able to “scare” myself maybe?
In: 3
60% of your body is water. You literally need it to live.
It’s so bad for you for a number of reasons also depending on outside factors, i.e. how much sun/heat exposure, caffeine intake, sodium intake, if you smoke, drink alcohol, soda, etc. The biggest concern with chronic dehydration is usually your kidneys because it can make you more prone to kidney stones which are NOT fun as well as UTI’s, especially if the dehydration is paired with high sugar drinks. They have been doing studies showing that chronic dehydration can lead to permanent kidney issues which would need to be medicated and monitored for life.
There are SO many benefits to drinking water, but the main benefits:
“To regulate body temperature, keep joints lubricated, prevent infections, deliver nutrients to cells, and keep organs functioning properly. Being well-hydrated also improves sleep quality, cognition, and mood.”
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/the-importance-of-hydration/#:~:text=Drinking%20enough%20water%20each%20day,quality%2C%20cognition%2C%20and%20mood.
Your cell walls allow ions like sodium and chlorine to flow back and forth depending on concentration. If the fluid outside of a cell has a ton of salt in it, the salt flows into the cell. And vice versa. If the cell has a lot of sodium inside compared to the outside, the salt flows outward.
It’s not just salt. All the waste chemicals from your own life processes act this way. So as your cells build up with waste… Poop, basically… It leaks out into the surroundings. Your kidneys pull that into the bladder to be removed when you pee. The colored tint to pee comes from those waste chemicals. If you are super dehydrated, you start peeing yellow, then orange, then brown, then red.
If you get down to those dark colors, your kidneys are at risk of just failing. That dark color is basically the background poo levels in your blood.
The only way to get rid of cellular waste – poop, dude – is to flush the water outside of your cells with new, clean water.
Just like not exercising and eating bad food leads to heart problems and heart failure, severe dehydration leads to kidney failure, chronic dehydration leads to kidney problems later in life, etc.
Drink clean water. Ditch fruit juices and sodas and other crap and head on over to r/hydrohomies for encouragement.
Dementia or Alzheimers are the biggest long term concerns, I’m sure there are other health issues I’m not familiar with
Water is essential for the body to work. Beyond the individual cells and their inner workings, everything in the body is transported in a liquid medium. Suppressing water restricts that transportation, and the body takes measures to compensate. From constricting your blood vessels to compensate for the lack of blood volume and pressure, as it makes the heart overwork. It also taxes the kidneys, who have a harder time dealing with excreting toxic compounds, as you need water to carry them out. You will have a harder time cooling your body, as water makes up most of sweat. Also a harder time lubricating the tissues, making joints more prone to hurt, making food harder to swallow, making the skin drier and easier to split. The stomach suffers with a double threat: less water in the mucus that protects from the even less diluted digestive acid.
Do you need more reasons?
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