Enough Water, Better Brain

Many people have often headaches and foggy brains. Many are constipated and have kidney stones. And all are looking for solutions. For many of them, the solution is only a few glasses of water away.

Water is an important element of our lives. Approximately two-thirds of the adult human body is made of water. Did you know your tissues and organs are mainly made up of water? Your brain is 80% water, your muscles (including your heart) are 75% water, your blood is 83% water, your lungs are 90% water, your skin is 64% water, and even your bones are 30% water.

Water plays important role in the body. Here are a few of them:

- moistens tissues such as those in the mouth, eyes, and nose.

- protestcts body organs and tissue

- helps prevent constipation

- normalizes blood pressure

- aids in digestion. Digestion starts with saliva, the basis of which is water. Saliva helps dissolve minerals and other nutrients to make them accessible to the body.

- regulates body temperature

- lubricates joints

- lessens the burden on the liver and kidneys by flushing out waste

- carries nutrients and oxygen to cells.

Water helps not only our body functions but also our mental functions. Drinking water and brain function are closely linked. Dehydration of the body means dehydration of the brain and it can cause numerous symptoms including problems with focus, memory, brain fatigue, and brain fog, as well as headaches, sleep issues, anger, depression, and many more.

The effects of dehydration can be visible when you lose as little as 2% of your body’s water content, and it can lead to changes in the body temperature, reduced motivation, increased fatigue, and make exercise feel much more difficult. (1) On the other side, when it comes to the brain, studies show that even mild dehydration (1-3% of body weight) can impair many aspects of brain function.

A study was made on young women, who had a fluid loss of 1.36% after exercise and this impaired both mood and concentration, and increased the frequency of headaches. (2)

A similar study was made on young men and showed that fluid loss of 1.59% had a negative effect on memory and increased feelings of anxiety and fatigue. (3)

If we calculate how much is 1-3% of our body weight, we will see that it is 0.5-2 kg for a person who has 68 kg. It is not hard to lose that much water, especially in the hot season or if you live in a tropical country. Many other studies on children, adults, and the elderly, have shown that mild dehydration can have a negative impact on mood, memory, and brain performance. (4, 5, 6, 7)

You might ask now: how do I know if I am dehydrated or not? Here are some of the signs of mild dehydration for adults:

- Thirst

- Dry or sticky mouth

- Not peeing very much

- Dark yellow pee

- Dry, cool skin

- Headache

- Muscle cramps

- Signs of severe dehydration include:

- Not peeing or having very dark yellow pee

- Very dry skin

- Feeling dizzy

- Rapid heartbeat

- Rapid breathing

- Sunken eyes

- Sleepiness, lack of energy, confusion or irritability

- Fainting

- For children the signs can be a little different:

- Dry mouth and tongue

- No tears when crying

- Dry diapers for 3 hours

- Sunken eyes, cheeks, soft spot on the top of the skull

- Sleepiness, lack of energy, or irritability (8)

It is important to drink water, but it is also as important when we drink water. A glass of water upon waking up in the morning will help prepare the stomach lining for breakfast and digestion, will start the peristaltic movements of the colon, and will help detox the body. Adding some lemon juice or a drop of lemon essential oil to your water can help even more in the process of detox.

A glass of water before every meal will help you feel more full, so you eat fewer calories. (9) So drinking water can help you lose weight. There was a study made on two groups of people. The group that was given 500 ml water before meals lost 44% more weight in 12 weeks than those who did not drink water. (10)

Also drinking water with meals might not be the best thing to do. Water will dilute the gastric acid, therefore will delay digestion. But if you do, at least drink warm water. One study found that the stomach of the participants was emptied more slowly when the participants were given cold liquids. The study also found that hot food, but not extremely hot, took less time in the digestion system than warm food did. (11)

The other study, done in 1998, found that liquid meals that have temperatures that are either colder or warmer than the body’s temperature can cause the body to consume more energy and time to digest them. (12)

By now you are surely asking yourself how much water should you drink in a day.

There are different opinions on this subject. There are people who say that one needs to drink between 30 and 35 ml for every kg for an adult.

Based on all the best evidence to date, authorities from Europe, the U.S. Institute of Medicine, and the World Health Organization recommend between 2.0 and 2.7 liters of water a day for women, and 2.5 to 3.7 liters a day for men. This includes water from all sources, not just beverages.

If I were to give some advice, I would say: drink as much water as will keep your use pale and odorless. Do not wait to feel thirsty in order to drink water. Make a habit to drink regularly.

So, have you drunk enough water today?