Generally speaking, we know that it is important to drink water. Our hydration status is imperative to every function in our body- and when we don’t get enough water, that’s when symptoms start creating chaos. Unfortunately, we don’t always recognize the things in our lives that deplete our water. Some of the things that influence our daily fluid requirements include:
Caffeinated beverages (coffee or tea)
Sugary beverages ( juice or soda)
Exercise
Hot, humid temperatures
Illness
Age
In order to making sure we are retaining the proper amount of fluids we need to be replenishing our water frequently. How do we know if we are drinking enough water? Your body will always tell you! And feeling “thirsty” isn’t the only way your body communicates that you are dehydrated. Here are a few common signs that your body needs more water:
Fatigue
At the cellular level, water flow drives energy production. Just like the way dams are designed to create a water flow and generate power, the same thing occurs in our cells to create ATP/ energy for our bodies to use. Imagine that a dam lost all it’s water…without replenishing that water nothing will have enough force to move the turbines, and there will be a huge energy loss. That’s exactly what happens to our cells when they become depleted. (This is also how we get dehydration headaches).
Chronic Inflammation
The release of histamine in the body is directly related to the viscosity of our body fluids, so when we don’t have enough fluids in our body we actually increase the inflammation response within. Therefore ongoing joint pains and unshakable allergies are often the result of dehydration, since these are histamine induced symptoms. By drinking more water we decrease the viscosity of our blood which signals the rest of the body to also decrease histamine formation and release.
Chronic or Insidious Pain
“Insidious pain” means pain that came without a known cause. For example, if you wake up one morning and suddenly you have excruciating pain in your foot even though you didn’t injure it- that would be an insidious pain. This is something that I see often, but many don’t attribute it to dehydration.
One of the main jobs of water in the body is to keep our pH balanced. Water helps to flush out excess acidity from the body. When there isn’t enough water in the body to do that, our nervous system signals our brain to create a response to get our attention to let us know that something is wrong. Our pains that “come out of nowhere” are that signal from our brain that our internal acidity is too high, and we need more water to flush it out.
Chronic pain will follow the same mechanism here, but is also driven by neurotransmitter release. Just like histamine increases when hydration levels decrease, other pain deriving substances called prostaglandins and kinins also increase. These substances are released at higher levels when there is a water shortage in the body, so chronic dehydration will drive chronic pain.
Inability to lose weight
This relates to hydration in two different ways: either we are drinking sugary beverages instead of water, or we don’t have enough water in our system at all. If we say we’re drinking fluids all day long but those fluids consist of coffee, sodas, juices, and/or alcohol we aren’t replenishing appropriately. All of those fluids are full of excess sugar which actually increases our daily fluid requirement. All of the extra ingredients in these fluids such as caffeine and sugars don’t help to maintain appropriate pH or viscosity and therefore can’t be substituted for pure, filtered drinking water needs.
If we don’t have enough fluids in general, we are decreasing our energy or metabolic capacity. Our metabolism relies on hydroelectricity to signal the neurotransmitters to tell our body what to do. More water= more hydroelectric power. Additionally, thirst and hunger are generated from the same part of the brain. So often when we are dehydrated we feel driven to eat more food, which then causes us to continue to gain weight. Next time you’re feeling hungry try drinking water first- this will likely satiate your cravings unless your body truly needs more food.
I hope this article allows you to have a better understanding of why hydrating is so important, and some of the common symptoms that can be resolved by drinking more water. Remember, the quality of your water is equally as important. If we aren’t drinking good, quality filtered water the body won’t absorb it. To learn more about quality of our water and the importance of a good water filter, join us for our next Dinner with the Doctors! As always, we are here to support you on your health journey.
Dr. Naomi Smith, DC