Water- Why drink it?

We all know that drinking water is good for you, but do we really know why? Well I discussed some of that last week in my "Are you drinking enough water" post, but all I really mentioned was that water makes up most of your body's functions. What else is water good for?

For starters water is an essential part of weight loss. From replenishing you after workouts to protecting your muscles from aches and pains this magical liquid really is the key factor of losing weight. Did you know that being dehydrated can throw off body fat percentage readings? I didn't until I was taking this "six week challenge" and I was losing weight, but gaining body fat! It made absolutely no sense to me until I took into account that I wasn't even drinking half of my required water intake!

Secondly, and this is kind of piggybacking on last week's post again, water helps you focus! Since your brain is roughly 75% water your brain needs it for everything that it has to do! Dehydration not only affects your focus, but it also negatively affects your mood, your memory, it reduces cognitive functions, and can even make you more sensitive to pain!

Third, it's a great, and natural, way to detox! Drinking enough water every day flushes out all of the bad things that your body doesn't use. Really you should be drinking enough water each day that your urine runs clear because that means that you're taking enough in to manage all of the waste from the food you're eating. Detoxing also helps clear up your skin, which is always an added bonus!

After that, water helps you regulate your body temperature. How? Sweat! If you don't have enough water in your body to help keep up on your sweat it can lead to things like heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and things that are much worse off than those.

Water also helps manage hangovers! This works by either drinking enough water while you're out drinking, or by drinking much more water the next day to counter it's effects. A general rule I like to live by to to have a glass of water for every drink I have, and to have something to eat for every 2-3 drinks.

Now that you know why you should be drinking water go out and get yourself some of that crisp H2O, it might just put you in a better mood!