H2Oh Yeah!

A hashtag discussion was going on on Monday regarding beauty tips, and of course I shared mine,

" @unevenlemming :#beautytip: The easiest & most repeated but never followed, drink more water! Keep a bottle with you so you can track of it. It does show!". I was never much of a water drinker being on a shop floor for 8 hours a day there was never really a chance to grab a glass of water. Now, I'm in office work and have a bottle on my desk I've noticed a huge difference in the plumpness and brightness of my skin. I wanted to look a little more in depth on why this really cheap beauty (and health) aid really does help.

The human body is made up 55 to 75% of water (depending on the size of person), and around 80% of people on a day-to-day basis are not getting enough water to hydrate they're body. So why start the habit of sipping the wet stuff?

Fend off hungry prangs

Most people feel that they're hungry prangs is because they are hungry when it is actually your body saying that it is thirsty. We start to feel the effects of dehydration (headaches, dizziness, and fatigue) when it can almost be too late, by getting into a habit of sipping regularly throughout the day can prevent this from happening and can be a factor towards weight loss as you are hydrating the body rather than feeding it when it doesn't need it. One of the best tips I've read is to drink a glass of water wait 20 Min's if still hungry then eat.

Cheapest Anti-ageing Product, Ever!

I noticed after spending a week on the wet stuff is that my skin looked a lot more clearer, in my early thirties I still get the odd spot and during this time I was braking out constantly. I hadn't changed my skincare routine a lot apart from being little more strict about it. What water does is support in the clearing of waste products out of the body, replenishing the lost liquid from this process, as well as act as a inner moisturiser. Look at the ingredients on most of your skin care products, the first (which means it contains the most of) ingredient is aqua or water to you and me.

It fights nasty bugs

Being dehydrated can also open up your body to infections because your body is focusing on supporting everyday function rather than fighting any baddies that can attack the body. We've mentioned that it flushes toxins out of the system where the kidneys and urine system are a key part. Water can help and prevent painful infections in this organs. When you have colds it can clear out airways for better breathing, so that is why your mother nags you to drink fluids every time you get sick.

Keeps you going harder and longer

Being rightful hydrated means that your concentration levels are higher, but also your body works better. For example, your muscles are around 75% water, your bones are about 22% and your blood is around 83%. Not that including the brain that is 85% water, that is a lot of high numbers that the water you do intake needs to reach!

Looks after your heart

When you are dehydrated your blood thickens, so the heart works harder to pump the blood around the body which puts more strain. Drinking more than 5 glasses a day can cut the risk of a heart attack by 41%.

So how to get into the water habit? I started by putting a bottle of water at my desk and sip during the day. I also drink a lot of tea, but try to cut back in the caffeine as this can also dehydrate as well as make you wee more. Talking about wee, if it's a pale straw colour already you have very little to worry about, if it's darker and cloudy then you need to boost your intake.

Grab a glass when get up as your body will be needing to replace water it's lost over the nighttime, give it squeeze of lemon and you also be having a clean out boost. Check for vegetables that have a higher water content like lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and watermelon that not only count towards the water total but also towards your five-a-day - Multi tasking at it's best!