Do you suffer from dry, dull, and/or sagging skin? You might be using all the right products – cleansers, exfoliants, toners, moisturisers, serums, etc. – but your skin still feels less than lovely. You might be thinking, as you half-heartedly put on your day cream, that not all that glitters is gold. Your products make alot of claims, but they don’t really show a lot of results. Have you been fooled into spending your money on products that just don’t work?
Before you dump all of your skin care products in the trash, we want you to stop and ask yourself a question. “How much water have I had today?” You have been told, over and over again, that you need to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Just maintaining a daily dosage of 2L of water is said to help you look and feel your best, but so many of us find this hard to keep up with.
We drink sodas, coffee, juice, beer, and wine, but we don’t ever seem to drink enough water. If you didn’t already have enough motivation to get hydrated and drink plenty of water every day, here’s more. Staying properly hydrated could not only improve your health, but it could also help you lose weight, look younger, and decrease your dependency on stimulants like caffeine.
Water and your health
Drinking enough water significantly decreases your chances of developing heart disease. It helps wash away the plaque on your teeth, which is linked with the plaque that builds up on your arteries and causes heart attacks. A study published by the American Journal of Epidemiology in 2002 showed that people who stay hydrated are 41% less likely to have a heart attack than those who do not.
Furthermore, if you make a point of drinking water instead of a cola or other sugary beverages with your meals, you are cutting alot of empty calories out of your diet. It is like dieting without putting any effort in. Taking in less sugar while maintaining good hydration means you will retain less water and lose weight more easily.
Water and your skin
When you are dehydrated, your body pulls all of its moisture in to keep your vital organs functioning. This pulls moisture away from your skin, which makes it look waxy, sallow, and saggy. When you drink enough water, your body will have enough hydration to allow your skin the same benefits that it saves for your liver and other major organs when you are dehydrated.
Now, drinking enough water is not the only key ingredient in keeping your skin looking young and healthy. If you don’t have a good barrier between your skin and the air, moisture will evaporate out of your face, and you will still have dry, flaky skin. However, when you are well hydrated, your skin care products can hold that hydration in and keep your skin looking beautiful, plump, firm, and dewy.
So don’t throw away those moisturisers and serums. Just drink a glass of water in the morning (and 7 more throughout the day) in combination with good skin care habits, and you will be looking younger and healthier in no time.
Water and energy
Finally, we mentioned that staying hydrated could help you with your coffee habit. Caffeine is a stimulant that a lot of us use to wake up in the morning and/or to pep us up throughout the day. Drinking water helps your whole system work more efficiently and gives you more energy to spare. When you find that you are naturally more vital and energetic, you will find yourself reaching for the coffee pot fewer and fewer times throughout the day.
Staying hydrated may not be an actual fountain of youth, but it is about as close as anyone can get. With good skin care, exercise, and diet habits, drinking water is an essential factor in looking and feeling young for years to come.
