Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink water! Urine, headaches, rapid heartbeat, poor memory… are all warning signs that you need to hydrate. Check the following 12 body indicators.
1. The smell of urine is too heavy
The best way to know if you are drinking enough water is to observe your urine. If your body is sufficiently hydrated, your urine should appear clear and yellowish, and the smell should not be too heavy.
But if the urine is too dark and smells like you’ve entered a public toilet, it means your body may be dehydrated.
If your urine is clear and colorless, it is a sign that you have too much water in your body and should stop drinking.
Through different urine colors, you can understand the amount of water in your body. This is because the kidneys, which lead the body’s electrolyte balance, will regulate the amount of water in your body through urine volume.
When you drink more water than your body needs, the kidneys will automatically filter the excess water and excrete it through urine, and the color of urine will be pale yellow or even clear and colorless. On the contrary, if the kidneys detect insufficient water in the body and high sodium concentration in the blood, they will recycle precious water from the body, and the volume of urine will be reduced and the concentration of urine will be higher, and the color will be dark yellow or even oolong tea.
When the urine is already clear and colorless, continuing to drink water may be harmful to the body. People with normal kidney function can usually excrete this excess water through urine, but elderly people with kidney, heart or liver problems or strokes, or young babies whose kidney function is not yet fully developed, can be different.
In these groups, due to poor kidney regulation, when the kidneys are unable to excrete too much water, too much water will accumulate in the body, which may cause “edema” and even damage the kidney function. This may even damage the kidney function.
If the binge drinking continues, although the chance is not high, it may lead to low blood sodium, which is generally known as “water intoxication”.
2. Headache
Headaches can be caused by dehydration, or they can be caused by drinking too much water. Our brain is 80% water. When the body is dehydrated, the cells in the brain will also be dehydrated, and the cells will shrink, which in turn will cause pain. At the same time, when the blood flow to the brain decreases and the amount of oxygen carried is not enough, the blood vessels in the brain will dilate, causing swelling and inflammation, which will also cause headaches.
On the other hand, when we drink too much water, the concentration of sodium ions in the blood decreases, which also makes the body cells swell, and the brain cells are no exception; and drinking too much water also makes the brain swell and squeeze the skull, which will cause a bout of headache.
3. Dizziness
Dizziness, confusion, and lack of concentration are all warning signs that hydration is needed. When the body is dehydrated and electrolytes are unbalanced, the body’s many functions will not function smoothly. This is especially true when the amount of blood in the body decreases due to dehydration, which can prevent blood flow from reaching the head quickly, a situation that is especially serious when changing postures, causing dizziness. At this time, timely hydration, the amount of blood in the body increases, and the dizziness can be reduced.
4. Increased heart rate
If you are active in a hot climate for a long time, your heart will beat faster than usual to compensate for the lack of blood in your body due to the lack of water, which can cause palpitations. Therefore, if you feel inexplicable palpitations, it may not be a heart problem, first sit down to replenish some water, the heartbeat may be able to slow down.
5. Poor memory, irritability and anxiety
New research has found that losing as little as 0.72% of body weight in water can affect memory and mood.
A team of researchers from the School of Human and Health Sciences at Swansea University in the United Kingdom tested 101 subjects and placed them in a room at 30 degrees Celsius for four hours, measuring the amount of water lost at different times, as well as the corresponding emotional state and memory.
The study found that after 90 minutes, subjects who did not drink water lost 0.22% of their body weight in water and were less active and more likely to be anxious and depressed, while those who did drink water had no such effect. 4 hours later, subjects who did not drink water lost 0.72% of their body weight in water and performed less well on memory tests compared to those who did drink water. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
6. Skin relaxation
If the wrinkles don’t go away, the skin is not moisturized enough and needs to drink more water. The more dehydrated your body is, the less resilient your skin will be.
And when the body is dehydrated, the skin is not only dry, the evaporation function is also not good, so some people will also have a red face.
7. Tiredness
When we are dehydrated or drink too much water, we tend to feel tired. When we are dehydrated, the body will naturally reduce the circulation rate to store energy. When the circulation slows down and the amount of oxygen becomes less, we will naturally feel tired and uninspired.
But when drinking too much water, it will also produce fatigue. This is because our kidneys are responsible for filtering excess water to ensure that the body’s fluid concentration is normal. Once we drink too much water, the kidneys will have to do more work and affect the secretion of stress hormones in the body, leaving the body in a state of tension and fatigue.
Another point is that drinking too much water leads to frequent nighttime urination, poor sleep, and physical fatigue.
8. Dry and cracked lips, dry eyes
This should not be difficult to imagine. Without the moisture of saliva and tears, lips and eyes will become very dry. Another important observation is the tongue. A normal tongue looks pink and moist. When dehydrated, the tongue will become dry, and the tongue will be obvious and white in color. Even if the tongue or lips are too bright red, it may be a warning sign that the body is dehydrated, as water has the function of stabilizing, moisturizing and lowering fire. As long as there is a lack of water, there will be dryness and heat.
9. Bad breath
Our saliva has many antibacterial components in it, once the body is dehydrated, the amount of saliva will be reduced, the self-cleaning effect of the oral cavity is reduced, bacteria will begin to multiply, fermentation, and then cause bad breath.
10. Feel hungry easily
John Higgins, assistant professor of cardiology at the University of Texas at Houston, explains that when the body is dehydrated, many nutrients cannot be absorbed, and even the liver, which needs water to break down liver glycogen to store energy, cannot function because of dehydration, making us want to eat more to replenish our energy.
Of course, sweet and salty foods are fine, but usually when the body is dehydrated, the desire to eat sweets is particularly strong, “because the body needs the help of liver glycogen,” Sikins further explained.
11. sweating during exercise
When we exercise, the body temperature will naturally rise, and sweating is a heat dissipation mechanism to help regulate the body temperature. But when the body is dehydrated, the production of sweat does not produce, the body temperature regulating mechanism is bogged down, which is very dangerous, the body may overheat, and may even heat stroke
12. Easy to cramp
Drinking too little or too much water can make you crampy. When we exercise and sweat, we take away electrolytes, especially sodium ions, from our bodies. When the body is losing a lot of water, many organs will compete for the water left in the body; usually, the circulatory system will win. Usually, the circulatory system wins. This also means that our muscle tissues have to be in the “standby” position.
If muscle tissue does not have enough water and sodium ions, it will become sensitive and cause involuntary muscle contraction, i.e. cramps and cramp.
However, when there is too much water in the body, the concentration of electrolytes will also decrease, and cramps are also easy when there is an imbalance of electrolytes.
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