Importance Of Staying Hydrated | Benefits | How To Stay Hydrated | Tips | How Much Water | FAQs

Page last updated: 4th September 2024

Everyone knows how important it is to stay hydrated, but why it's so important, and how to stay hydrated, is less common knowledge.

Water makes up around two thirds of our bodies and contributes to our overall health and function. It protects the brain, organs, and nervous system, helps with digestion, fuels the muscles, lubricates the joints, and can even help to avoid wrinkles.

Being dehydrated can have many negative short- and long-term effects, including kidney dysfunction, high cholesterol, digestive issues, and fatigue.

Even at mild levels, dehydration can have a significant impact on how we feel, from causing headaches to reducing workout performance.

In this blog, we'll look at the role hydration plays in our day to day lives and how to ensure you stay hydrated.

Water is essential for nearly every body function, from regulating your body temperature to removing waste. Staying hydrated ensures your body can work as it should, ensuring your muscles and organs get the nutrients they need to keep your body in homeostasis.

Staying hydrated also helps the body to fuel for, and recover from, exercise. Dehydration can lead to muscle cramps, dizziness, and fatigue when working out, and prevent the muscles from recovering effectively afterwards. Take a look at our guide to staying hydrated during exercise for more information.

There are almost endless benefits to staying hydrated. Some of the key benefits include:

Dehydration has been shown to negatively impact cognitive performance, and increase risk of metabolic and renal diseases.

Around 75% of our brain is made up of water, so it's no surprise that staying dehydration can affect brain performance. Glucose is the brain's main source of energy, but when our cells are dehydrated, they're unable to absorb and use glucose efficiently. This can result in brain fog, fatigue, poor memory, and more. Staying hydrated ensures our brains can function as they should, improving cognitive performance.

It’s not just our brains that perform better when we are hydrated. Hydration helps to regulate the body temperature, deliver nutrients to our muscles, lubricate joints, and ensure the body can use glucose for energy, all of which boosts energy and physical performance. Staying hydrated can also help to reduce cramps and fatigue, both which can impact workouts.

Water helps to prevent constipation and keep the digestive system running smoothly, helping with the breakdown of food, absorption of nutrients, and removal of waste.

There's a lot of debate around whether water directly promotes healthier skin. However, one study did suggest a connection between hydration and skin health. Specifically, researchers found that in individuals with low daily water consumption - those who were already somewhat dehydrated - increasing water intake had a positive effect on skin appearance and helped maintain better skin hydration levels.

Hydration is crucial for flushing out toxins and ensuring your cells can function optimally, which supports a strong immune system. As Dr. Jyothi of UCLA mentions states: "Water is vital for the functioning of all of your organs, and it's a huge part of keeping your immune system functioning at an optimal level."

The best way to stay hydrated is through consistent water intake throughout the day. Sipping water regularly, rather than drinking large amounts in one go once or twice a day, is key. You should also aim to drink before you feel thirsty, as thirst is a sign of dehydration. Get into the habit of having water with your meals and throughout the day rather than relying on thirst as a guide.

Plain water is ideal but if you struggle to drink water, herbal teas or flavoured water are great options. You can also try adding fruit into your water for more flavour. If it's hot or you are exercising intensely, you may want to consider a sports drink to replenish electrolytes lost through sweating. Many of our gyms have sports water stations that you can take advantage of when you're working out.

Now you know why it’s important to stay hydrated, here’s how to make sure you stay topped up.

We tend to get around 20% of our daily water requirements through eating, particularly from fruit and vegetables which have high water content, but we need to drink the final 80%. 

The current recommendations for fluid intake is around six to eight glasses of water a day, but your exact needs can differ depending on temperature, activity, what you've eaten, and more.

If you are working out, you need to drink enough water to replace fluid lost in addition to your daily water requirements. A good rule of thumb is to drink 5-7ml of fluid per kg of body weight in the three to four hours leading up to your workout. For more strenuous exercise lasting over an hour, an isotonic drink solution will help replace sodium and other electrolytes to keep you hydrated. You can even make your own sports drink - simply mix 250ml of ordinary squash or 200ml high juice squash (not sugar-free or low-calorie) with 750-800 ml of cold water and add ¼ teaspoon of salt.

One of the most reliable ways to ensure you're drinking enough water is to check the colour of your urine.  The goal is to maintain a nice pale yellow colour throughout the day. If it's strong in colour or smell, your body is probably starting to get dehydrated so have a glass of water and within 20-30 minutes, you'll feel the physical and mental benefits.

Although alcohol is a liquid, it is a strong diuretic which means it increases the production of urine and can cause or worsen dehydration, in addition to multiple other negative affects such as risk of stroke and heart disease, weight gain, and more.

To reduce the risks of drinking alcohol, you can:

• Drink 1-2 big glasses of water before you start drinking to ensure you start off hydrated.

• Eat around 1-2 hours before drinking to slow down the absorption of alcohol.

• Stick to drinking less than 14 units per week, spread over at least three days. This equates to 1.5 bottles of wine or 5 pints of 5% ABV lager per week. This 14-unit threshold is the same for both sexes.

• Stick to small servings such as a single measure of spirit or a small glass of wine and dilute them down with soda water to last longer.

• Alternate drinking one glass of water or soft drink with every alcoholic drink to keep hydrated and reduce calories.

Tea and coffee can help to keep you hydrated in moderate doses, but we'd recommend only including one cup a day towards your hydration goals.

This is because both drinks contain caffeine which can have diuretic effects in large doses, as well as some negative mental side effects like disrupted sleep and anxiety. It is recommended to have no more than 400mg of caffeine a day to prevent these side effects.

To help, here's a guide to the caffeine content of some popular drinks:

• One mug of instant coffee: 100mg
• One mug of filter coffee: 140mg
• One mug of tea: 75mg
• One can of cola: 40mg
• One can of energy drink: up to 80mg

Looking for more wellbeing tips?

If you're looking for more wellbeing tips, check out all our tips on how to eat and sleep better, and sneak more movement into your life on our wellbeing page. Alternatively, you can also learn more about how to diet correctly based on your fitness goals and what foods are great for a post-gym workout.