The Effect of Hydration on Anti-Aging
Filed under: Hydration
You’ve heard it all your life: Drink eight glasses of water every day! Even Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, wrote extensively on the restorative powers of water. And of course, we all know that water is so essential to our health that we can easily perish within a few days if we become severely dehydrated.
And yet, even knowing all of that, most of us don’t truly understand the importance of consuming water regularly. Water affects everything from how you look to how you feel, so we’re devoting a two-part series to the topic.
So to begin, how does water affect how you look?
We often forget that our skin is the largest organ in our bodies. Yes, that’s right: Your skin is an organ! We tend to think of our skin as just a surface coverage, when in fact it performs many vital functions such as protection and removal of toxins.
As with all bodily organs, your skin cells are composed of water. And without water, the cells don’t function as they should. Since your skin sheds water every day, it’s important to continually replace the lost fluids. Yet, since water reaches all other vital organs first, your skin will suffer the most when you become even slightly dehydrated. After even a short period of dehydration, you might notice the following effects on your skin:
- It loses flexibility and becomes more prone to wrinkles, fine lines, and sagging
- It becomes dull, dry, and flaky
- As your body is not properly digesting nutrients for food, and water-soluble vitamins are not able to reach your skin, damaging free radicals can accumulate and accelerate aging
- Cells cannot adequately perform their jobs of flushing toxins from your system
- Toxins can accumulate and damage cells in the body
- The buildup of toxins can be responsible for acne and other unsightly skin problems
You might notice these effects after a short period of dehydration, so just imagine what long-term dehydration can do to your skin! One thing we know about modern Western diets is that we drink too much dehydrating soda, coffee, and alcohol, and not enough nourishing water. Not only are we failing to consume water; we’re also eating and drinking diuretics that flush water out of our systems! In a perfect storm like that, it’s easy to see how most people suffer from chronic, mild or moderate dehydration.
However, when your skin is properly hydrated, you will notice:
- a reduction in the appearance of fine lines, sagging, and wrinkles
- a reduction in acne and other types of skin blemishes
- a smoother, brighter complexion
- greater flexibility in your skin tissues
- more supple, moist skin
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! You can see how hydration affects your looks… In our next article we will move on to discuss how hydration affects the way you feel.
