If health came in a bottle, it’d fly off the grocery store shelves, with customers elbowing and fighting and buying in bulk. We’d purchase it with fervor, the way we grab up affordable streetwear or buy shirt after shirt at a women’s hoodies sale. Yes, health would be a bestseller.
But, of course, it doesn’t come in a bottle: you can’t buy wellness at Waitrose. You can, however, buy water. Of all the things you can do for your health, drinking good ol’ H2O is among the simplest.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise; humans, like the earth, are mostly liquid. And that’s why we need to go with the flow more than we probably know.
In fact, there are numerous ways water enhances your health, including:
It keeps you alert
Coffee might serve as the drink of choice each morning (let’s face it, it completes us), but drinking water keeps you alert as well. It may not offer quite the oomph of caffeine, but it’s easier to avoid feelings of tiredness, lethargy, and brain fog when you’re properly hydrated.
It helps you avoid constipation
Constipation is crappy (okay, technically, it’s not) and nothing leaves you plugged up faster than a lack of liquid. Water is nature’s laxative, flowing through our bodies and regulating all our systems (including the digestive system). The more water you consume, the more your body flushes out excess waste and toxins.
It reduces wrinkles
You don’t have any wrinkles (we don’t have any either...wink, wink). But, if we did, we’d raise a glass to the faucet. Water helps the skin retain moisture, which increases its elasticity. Elastic skin shows fewer wrinkles and fewer fine lines, leaving you looking more youthful in the process. Pull on a brushed cotton sweatshirt and head to the pub....and make sure to bring your ID for when you get carded.
It controls body temperature
Too hot, too cold, just right - dealing with body temperature feels like living in the Goldilocks and the Three Bears fable. Water helps you find the happy medium by maintaining your internal balance. It lubricates your joints too, keeping your knees, ankles, and shoulders from giving out on you.
It maintains metabolism
Metabolism is often on the mind of the weight-conscious with many of us looking to increase it. One way is with water! Drinking half a liter temporarily increases metabolism. Make the water cold and you might increase it even more.
It decreases the risk of cancer
If you’re looking for a simple way to reduce your risk of cancer, it doesn’t get much easier than water. While fluids are often called upon to prevent colds and flus, water prevents more serious disease as well, most notably bladder and colon cancers.
We do all sorts of things to look our best - style our hair, put on makeup, wear cool graphic tees that bring out our eyes. But feeling our best counts too. So raise a cup and drink in wellness, one ounce at a time.