Even Slight Dehydration Impacts Brain Function, Mood, and Energy
A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that dehydration is a key factor in the cause of headaches, loss of focus, fatigue, and low mood while exercising and resting. The importance of staying hydrated and consuming healthy amounts of water has been voiced by experts for decades, but knowing exactly how water can positively impact you may be the key that causes you to increase consumption.
The study involved 25 women, with all of them being just about 1 percent lower than their optimal hydration levels, rather than being severely dehydrated. The United States Agricultural Research Service, which supported the study, stated:
The level of mild dehydration (losses of between 1 percent and 2 percent) experienced among participants in the study could be compared to the mild dehydration some people experience in their daily lives from drinking insufficient amounts of water, according to authors.
But as with many aspects of life, there is a better and worse way to go about keeping hydrated. Simply buying and consuming a bunch of bottled water may keep you hydrated, but at what cost? It turns out that much of the population is spending almost 2000 times more for water than they normally would. The typical price of bottled water is $3.79 per gallon while the typical price of tap water is $0.002 per gallon. You may think that the extra investment is worth it for the improved quality of bottled water, but in fact many bottled water brands may be just as damaging to your health as tap water.
Tap water is chock-full of toxic pollutants and substances that are very damaging to your health. It was only a few years ago that if you labeled fluoride as a dangerous substance, you would be laughed at and scorned. But now even the United States government has called for lower levels of water fluoridation following a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives, which found that increased fluoride consumption led to decreased IQ in children. This is just one example of the many toxic substances found in much of the water supply.
The solution? Purchase a high quality water filter that can remove contaminants such as fluoride from your water. When filtering tap water, reverse osmosis is one preferred method in removing toxic substances such as fluoride and heavy metals, but you will need to re-add certain minerals to the water. Use a mineral filter, or even add apple cider vinegar to restore the natural nutrients back into the water that were taken out by the reverse osmosis process. Another solution would be to regularly or at least occasionally consume coconut water. Coconut water is not only delicious and hydrating, but it could be a viable natural solution to lowering your blood pressure as well as keeping you hydrated.
