Are you drinking your 8 glasses of water every day?
I’m not. It’s something that’s been on my mind lately. I’m drinking far too much coffee (which actually dehydrates you) and far too little water. I even touched on the subject in my recent post on Self Care.
However, I haven’t been heeding my own advice. And then this excellent contributed post popped into my inbox.
4 Unexpected Health Problems Caused By Dehydration
Everybody has heard that you should drink about 8 glasses of water a day but if you’re like me, you’re probably thinking, does it really make that much difference?
If you aren’t drinking that much water, I’ve got bad news for you, it really does.
There are all sorts of different health problems caused by dehydration, some of them pretty surprising.
It can be a bit of a struggle to drink that much water each day but if you add a bit of flavor and drink something like lime water instead of plain old tap water, it’s a little easier. You can also get some great apps that help you track how much water you’re drinking and give you a little reminder if you haven’t had enough that day.
If you’re still not convinced, check out this list of the most unusual ways that a lack of water affects your body.
Bad Breath
Bad breath is caused by a buildup of bacteria in your mouth or smelly foods in some cases.
Your saliva has good antibacterial properties and it breaks down a lot of that bacteria, stopping you from having bad breath. But when you aren’t drinking enough water and you’re dehydrated, your body doesn’t produce anywhere near as much saliva.
That means all of that bacteria in your mouth will start to build up and nobody will want to get close to you when you talk to them.
Eek! UGH! Who wants THAT?
Bad Skin
Your skin gets a lot of its moisture from the water you drink, which means it’ll start to dry out if you’re dehydrated.
Dry skin will crack and flake, but lack of water can also cause spots.
When your skin is dry, it will try to compensate for the lack of water by producing more oils. Those oils will get into the pores and clog them up, causing breakouts of acne.
That means your skin will look bad, regardless of how great your skin care routine is.
Oops… my skin is both dry and spotty right now. Signs and symptoms are definitely there.
Weight Gain
Eating too much is the main reason that people gain weight and if you’re dehydrated, you’re far more likely to overeat. A lot of the time, people think they have hunger pains when in reality, they’re just thirsty.
Drinking water before eating also makes you feel more full so you’re less likely to eat loads.
Every time you think that you’re hungry, have a glass of water beforehand. You’ll find that most of the time, those cravings go away and you can cut down on the amount of snacking that you’re doing.
Oh my goodness! If this isn’t a reason for me to start drinking water, I don’t know what is. Definitely want to shed a few kilos and avoid packing on more.
Headaches
Regular headaches are often put down to stress which is the case sometimes, but not always.
Even being slightly dehydrated can bring on a headache and if you’re severely dehydrated, you could even suffer incredibly painful migraines.
Most people reach for painkillers straight away when they’ve got a headache but if you’re taking them all the time, your body will build up a tolerance and they won’t work anymore. Before you start taking anything for it, just drink a glass of water and you might find that it’ll go away.
The advice on drinking water is there for a reason, dehydration can cause you all sorts of problems so make sure you’re always drinking plenty of water.
That’s it. I’m going on a cleanse. I had a whopper of a migraine the other day and have a few headaches recently.
Point taken. Self care starts right here, right now. Bring on the water.
Over to You
How are you doing on this one Moms? Please tell me you’re doing better than I am.
Point taken Lauren. This is a great reminder for the reasons to drink 8 glasses of water every day to remain dehydrated.
Thank for the reminder.
I agree, Monique. Shall we take it on as a challenge for the next 21 days and see how we our health has improved once drinking water has become a habit?
Lol, it’s funny because it’s true. I’m the only one at my job (out of 7 people) that drink water on a daily basis. They are all putting on weight and I’m shedding it off. I know consuming water isn’t the only reason for this but it definitely does have a huge impact, and seeing it firsthand helps me see that NOT drinking water does hurt in the weight department. And yes, I have much better skin than my coworkers too!
Wow, Brandon, Thanks for that excellent testimony on the power of drinking water.
I’ve just finished my first big glass of the day. The cleansing has begun. 🙂 I’m banking on the fact that if I make one positive change, it’ll spur me on to make more. Daily exercise is next on my radar.
Hi LAUREN KINGHORN,
You have shared excellent information on this page with the outstanding steps to eliminate the dryness from the Sensitive skin of body in a seven days and increase the beauty of skin by using the hydrating food with applying hemp seed oil with the best moisturizer daily according to the period of a time after the recommendations of a doctor and remember the instructions of a doctor which help you to eliminate this kind of skin dryness disease with the best skin moisturizer. My suggestion is you must go to a doctor one time in a week for starting of proper treatment of eliminating dryness with skin moisturizer appeared on the Sensitive skin of your body for increasing the beauty of skin in a summer season due to the effect of sun rays.
Keep it in your mind don’t work in the light of sun because the heat of sun with the dust particles of sun rays increase the rough dryness and cracks with lines on the skin due to the damage of skin layers cells after the working of some time you notice the color of skin become black and cracks with lines are increased on the Sensitive skin of a body this is also a effect of skin cancer. So take care of skin and avoid to work in a light of sun. You also use a mask on the face if necessary to work in the light of sun and also use carrot in the food salad.
Thanks.
Thanks so much for your advice. Much appreciated.
I’m definitely one for avoiding the harsh sun rays. I hardly ever sunbathe but when I do, it’s never between 10:30 and 15:00. I’ve also heard that carrot has amazingly protective qualities and drinking carrot juice is brilliant during the Summer months if you are sun tanning to let a lovely golden glow. Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Lauren,
Great post. I needed to be reminded of that. I have about 18 kidney stones silently waiting to pounce, lol, and my urologist told me to drink way more water. It’s so hard to remember. I’ve been trying fizzy, flavored water which definitely helps.
Cheers,
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne, ooh, sorry to hear about your kidney stones. I hear they can be very painful. I hope you are able to sort out those kidney stones.
Personally, I avoid flavoured water and just drink it as pure as possible.
I’ve been doing so well on my 8 glasses a day since publishing this post and I have been amazed at how quickly I could see a difference, my skin looks so much more radiant, it was a bit pasty and puffy before (when I was drinking more coffee than water).
All the best
Lauren