Did You Know That 85% Of Your Brain Is Water?
This fact alone gives us a good picture of why water is essential for the brain. It may seem as though you drink water only to keep your body hydrated, but what you may not know is that your brain is joining the party too!
A dry brain is equal to dry wit. A decrease in fluid in the brain can lead to irritability, concentration difficulties, headaches, cognitive problems or what we commonly know as “brain fog”.
The problem is that a lot of people don’t get the proper hydration.
Why is this happening?
Perhaps we can blame the modern popular lifestyle of most people.
We go to work, spend the rest of the day in front of our desks, totally caught up in our tasks that we forget about everything else, such as drinking enough water.
Even if you may be sitting at a desk all day and think you are not losing water, to the contrary, you still lose water. You lose water to breathing and urination. Even if you’re only sitting in front of your laptop, reading this, you’re exhaling H2O, and your kidneys are collecting waste fluids that you’ll pee later.
Shocking Truth: Your brain suffers from fluid loss!
This may sound funny. After all, why does the brain need water?
Water is crucial for good brain health. You have to remember that everything that happens in the brain involves electrochemical impulses, which in turn happen in the presence of neurotransmitters and ions, which need a fluid medium. Everything you do, from reading this text to moving your fingers to scroll down this page, involve neurochemical activity, which is basically a series of chemical reactions happening along chains and networks of neurons. These chemical activities cannot occur without water.
Did You Know Water Fuels Brain Activity?
Water and Brain FunctionThe founder of the Advanced Learning and Development Institute, Dr Corinne Allen, said that brain cells need twice more energy than any other cells in the body. A bulk of its energy comes from H2O molecules.
Imagine your brain without water. That’s completely insurmountable.
A dry brain is a dead brain!
It makes sense to think that the control centre of the body needs sufficient water all the time. An adequately hydrated brain has optimal functionality. It processes data, formulates ideas, solves problems, creates imaginations, and makes decisions at its best pace when it gets all the nutrition it needs, including water.
Dehydration Harms The Brain
The brain is one of the bodily organs most susceptible to dehydration, so much so that brain function slows down when it loses fluid. This is why you will notice you feel the following when you go thirsty for an extended period: irritable confused unable to focus sluggish mentally tired
These are the functions first to be affected. You don’t need significant water loss for this to occur. If you lose 1% water, your mental functions decrease by 5%.
Any dehydration beyond this causes: disruption of short-term memory significant loss of concentration brain fog dizziness lethargy
Beware of Chronic Dehydration
Water And Brain Health
People who suffer from Chronic Dehydration don’t notice it when they are busy in their day to day activities. It’s easy to miss out on adequate fluid intake when you’re always hard at work.
The neurons or brain cells store water inside vacuoles, water-filled storage sacks found in cells. When the brain doesn’t receive enough water over a long period, these sacks shrink, and their shrinkage results in the shrinkage of brain cells.
Chronic dehydration is one factor that leads to the development of degenerative mental disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Remember that water is essential in the transport of nutrients and the removal of waste products from cells. Lack of water hampers adequate transport of nutrients and causes accumulation of cellular junk (toxins and free radicals), which damage brain cells and disrupt neurotransmitter function.
The Solution: Be Smart & Drink Enough Water
It doesn’t get simpler than that. Also, make sure you’re drinking clean, safe water.
Take a bottle of filtered water with you EVERYWHERE. Drink at least 2 bottles of water, 1 litre of water a day if not more. When you wake up in the morning, have a big glass of water. Have a glass of water before every meal. Have a glass of water before bed.
There are great ways to get more out of your water. You can experience amazing health benefits by using a water filter. When you filter out contaminants like Sediment, Bacteria, Viruses, Heavy metals, fluoride and many more, your body is left with much more energy for harmonious functions and healing.
Is Your Tap Water Safe Enough for Good Health?
As you turn on the tap for a glass of drinking water or to wash your fruit for eating, you might not give any thought to the level of contaminants in tap water, nor to the dangers that they pose to human health.
Click here to read more about the Importance of having a Water Filter.
Click here to see our collection of Undersink and Benchtop Water Filters.
References
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2366353/How-drinking-glass-water-make-brain-14-faster.html http://www.self.com/blogs/flash/2013/07/health-drink-water-boost-brain-power-reaction-time.html
- http://www.waterbenefitshealth.com/water-and-brain.html http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/02/20/dehydration-influences-mood-cognition/35037.html
- https://www.alznyc.org/nyc/newsletter/fall2010/15.asp#.UwdqQmIafLY