Do you work out and care about your diet to have a healthy life? That’s good, but do you also care about your hydration? Researchers say that hydration and aging are connected. If you are going to stay healthy, you must drink enough water and care about your hydration. You will find the new results here and how hydration could help decrease aging.
Table of Contents
- 1 Is there a connection between hydration and aging?
- 2 How to know you are dehydrated and how much water do you need?
- 3 Hydration and aging; the things you need to consider.
- 4 As you age, you might have to drink more water; but why?
- 5 How can you ensure hydration as you age?
- 6 The bottom line on hydration and aging.
Is there a connection between hydration and aging?
You already know that hydration or drinking enough water every day is necessary for your health. Your body needs water to function properly, regulate temperature and keep your skin healthy.
The answer to the question is yes. Hydration can decrease the aging process. Hydration and aging are connected.
But research says that hydration is linked with decreasing aging. The National Institutes of Health conducted the study. It was published in the journal eBioMedicine. The findings of the study are amazing. Appropriate hydration decreases aging and extends a “disease-free life.”
Natalia Dmitrieva is the author of the study. She works in the “Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of NIH,” according to CNN.
The study examined more than 11.000 American adults. This is a 25-year study. The participants were 45 to 66 when they first attended the study, and the next visit was at the age of 70 to 90.
As the world population is aging rapidly, this is an important study that could help with preventive measures. The study proves the long-term benefits of hydration.
According to research, half of the world’s population does not drink enough water every day. You might be one of them.
Although this is one research, the findings are important. Also, only drinking water is not an option to decrease aging. There are other factors that determine your overall health and aging.
How to know you are dehydrated and how much water do you need?
If you want to receive the benefits of the hydration and aging feature, you should know how much water you need to drink and whether you are dehydrated or not.
If you do not drink enough water, you are dehydrated; it’s simple. But how to know you are dehydrated, and how much water should you drink?
There are various levels of dehydration, and they differ in signs and symptoms:
Mild dehydration.
- Feeling thirsty
- Dry mouth
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Fewer visits to the bathroom.
Severe dehydration.
- Excessive feeling of thirst.
- Dizziness
- Confusion
- Fainting.
- Rapid heartbeat.
- Rapid breathing.
Mild dehydration will be removed by drinking enough water. But in severe cases, you might have to visit a doctor, hospital, or get medical help.
You have to drink enough water every day and spread it across the day. It’s not that you drink one gallon of water at 8.00 in the morning, if you can, and do not need water for the rest of the way.
Regarding how much water you should drink, there is no definite standard answer or formula for everyone. The amount of water you need to drink is up to various factors;
- Age
- Gender
- Physical activity
- Season
- Climate
- Job
- Physical health
- Height.
The above factors could decrease or increase the amount of water you have to consume every day.
You might have heard about the 8 cups or glasses of water rule per day, but there is not enough study or evidence for it. The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends that men need about 15.5 cups and women need about 11.5 cups of water per day.
As explained, the amount could decrease or increase by your conditions. For instance, if you work out in hot weather, you need to drink more water to make up for the lost water.
Hydration and aging; the things you need to consider.
There is some useful information that you need to know about hydration and aging. These tips could help increase your information about hydration.
First, only drinking water can not affect aging. This is one of the determining factors. There are other items that determine your health.
- Eating habits.
- Exercise
- Physical activity
- Stress
- Job
- Mental habits.
- Sleep
- Alcohol consumption.
The next item is that drinking water is no exception and everyone needs hydration. Water is the best option that guarantees hydration and helps your body function properly. Your body uses water for several functions. These are some of the functions that your body uses water for:
- Keep a normal temperature.
- Carries nutrients and oxygen to cells
- Lubricate and cushion joints.
- Protect your spinal cord
- Get rid of wastes
- Perspiration,
- Bowel movements.
- Etc.
As you age, the amount of water in your body decreases. This might lead to the need to drink more water. Also, you might not feel thirsty as you did when you were younger. So, you might have to create a plan to drink enough water as you age.
The prescriptions or medications you take could lead to dehydration. These are some of them:
- laxatives,
- some diabetic medications,
- chemotherapy,
- some diuretics,
If you have signs of dehydration, you would better be careful of taking these medications. Also, you should inform your doctor of dehydration signs.
The essential point is that some health conditions could cause dehydration. Diabetes is one of them, and you need to be careful of your hydration.
As you age, you might have to drink more water; but why?
When you age, your body changes, and they might require you to drink more water for these changes.
There is research published in the Journal of Psychology. Its name is “Ageing attenuates the effect of extracellular hyperosmolality on whole-body heat exchange during exercise-heat stress.” the findings of this study says that as you age, you need to drink more water.
This is an important study, and the findings should be aware of the threats. As people age, their thirst decrease but the need for water increase. So if you do not drink enough water and get dehydrated, there could be some health issues.
According to Westgate Healthcare, “the amount of water in your body decreases by %15 between the ages of 20-80.” that amount is about six liters of water. This increases the risk of dehydration.
Other conditions could make hydration difficult;
- Swallowing problems
- Dementia
- Stroke
- Medications.
- Lack of physical activity
- Not spending more time outdoors.
There is a paradox here. As you get older, the amount of water decreases in your body. You need to drink enough water to compensate for it, but you do not feel thirsty, and the need for water is diminished. But hydration and aging are related, and it could help with decreasing the aging process. You need strategies and plans to ensure your hydration. Luckily technology can help us.
How can you ensure hydration as you age?
Science and knowledge have helped us in many ways, and one of these fields is behavior design. There are so many books that can help you to change your behavior and create constructive habits. If you are a bookworm, you can not put some of them down, and every once in a while, you have to re-read them to update yourself.
In this section, we will bring you some of these techniques so you can ensure hydration and take advantage of hydration and aging.
Set reminders and calendars to remind yourself.
Calendars and reminders have become an inevitable part of our life. Our mind is not designed to remind us of the hundreds of tasks at work or in daily life. So relying on reminders or calenders is useful.
You can set daily reminders on your smartphone to remind you to drink water. Also, they can send you notifications in particular places. These are the locations you can drink water, like when you are at home or in the office kitchen.
You can set certain times of the day to drink water, like as you wake up or before your meal. There are times when you have control over your actions, like after you wake up, in the evening, or while resting. If you have a morning meeting with your manager, setting a reminder for drinking water might not be good.
There are also apps that are designed particularly to remind you to drink water. They play the sound of water when it’s time to drink water. They provide further information about your hydration and are useful.
Put the signs of drinking water in front of yourself.
The science of habit says that you are likely to continue an activity when the signs are in front of you. I learned this tip from two books, Atomic habits by James Clear and “The power of habit” by Charles Duhigg.
If you want to go running, put your sneakers in front of the door. When you want to read books, do not hire them in the back of the closet, but put the book beside your bed or on your desk.
You might get motivated to stick with a hydration habit. But science says that “Motivation is overrated and the environment matters more.” There was an experiment that worth mentioning here. Managers are-designed a restaurant. They put bottles of water around and reduce the number of soda bottles. After some time, customers ordered less soda and drank more water. No one told them to drink water or explained to them the benefits of water. They just became victims of the environment.
You do not have to fall victim to your environment. You can become the designer or architect of your environment; design it in a way that suits your benefits. Put the signs of drinking water around, and it’s more likely that you drink water. You need to make the big cue of drinking water a big part of your life.
You can try bottles of purified drinking water.
Make drinking water attractive.
“The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit forming.” if you want to stick with a habit and repeat it more, the one way you can do it is to make it exciting or enjoyable. This joy is up to your preferences and interests.
When you eat junk food or smoke or drink alcohol, dopamine is released. Without dopamine, you are unlikely to do an action. But how to release dopamine in an action that is not much fun?
The point is that not only does the action release dopamine, but anticipating it does the same.
When you predict an opportunity will reward you or become exciting, your dopamine increases. That is one of the reasons that you feel well on Saturday but not that joyful on Sundays.
You can associate drinking water with the fun you enjoy. For instance, I enjoy reading books and watching TED talks. I got a bottle of water and a drink during these two activities. There is one sign named “Hydration and Aging” on the bottle so it reminds me of the importance of drinking water.
You can write other things on a bottle of water or on a piece of paper and put it in front of yourself. It’s two birds, one stone. The sign is in front of you and reminds you of the excitement of drinking water.
Take advantage of the sandwich technique.
There was research in the US, and radio stations wanted to know how to encourage a new song among people. They tried different things, but this one worked. They played a new song between two popular songs. So time later, the new song became popular with people, and they liked it.
This is a technique called the sandwich technique, and you can use it for drinking water and ensuring hydration. It can help you benefit from hydration and aging.
Put the habit of drinking water between two things you do. For instance, you prepare a meal and eat lunch. You can drink water between them.
Also, determining that you will do an action in a particle time and place is helpful.
I will drink one cup of water after I finish work at 5 p.m.
The bottom line on hydration and aging.
The new study indicates that drinking water could help reduce the aging process. But it’s not the only factor, and you need other items.
The article brought you the findings of the new study, the signs of dehydration, how much water you need, and how to drink more water.
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