#worldwaterday: there are a lot of reasons why we need to take care of our water

“the thing about water is that it’s an essential nutrient,” says marie-Éve tremblay , associate professor and canada research chair of neurobiology of aging and cognition at the university of victoria’s institute on aging and lifelong health .  

it’s one of very few known absolutes: “in terms of research, we still know so little about how to eat, what to eat to be healthy, which supplements to take, which nutrients we need, it can be confusing.” but water, she stresses, is an absolute must. we’re all taking it in when we carrying around our water bottles on the road or during an activity, or drink water-based beverages like coffee and tea (yes, they count, too).    

dehydration is ‘a stressor for your body’

“dehydration is like a stressor for your body, so i see this as an immune challenge. if we are chronically dehydrated, the cells are always on alert, they’re always reactive,” she says. “so they neglect their physiological functions because they become engaged in trying to resolve the challenge.”  

as a result, you end up with low-grade inflammation that has been linked to most diseases, she says, including neurodegenerative disorders liked alzheimer’s.   

research highlights the life-extending properties of drinking water

now there’s new research on the science on hydration that shows how proper liquid intake can actually slow down aging, lower the risk of developing chronic diseases and extend your lifespan, according to a study out of the laboratory of cardiovascular regenerative medicine at the national heart, lung and blood institute, a division of nih .   who doesn’t want to live a longer, healthier life?

the researchers wanted to investigate how optimal hydration could slow the aging process. their previous work examined life-long water restriction in mice. they looked at serum sodium, which measures the concentration of sodium in the blood. when the mice had increased serum sodium levels — meaning more sodium, and less water — their  lifespans were shortened by six months, which is the equivalent of about 15 years of human life.

decreased body water content is the most common factor that increases serum sodium, which is why the researchers focused on hydration. and serum sodium levels are influenced by liquid intake from water, other liquids, and fruits and vegetables with high water content. so, hydration can also come from the food you eat.

for the study, published in ebiomedicine , the team analyzed health data from 11,255 adults from the atherosclerosis risk in communities study (aric), which had been collected over 30 years. aric started in 1987 when participants were in their 40s or 50s, and the average age at the final assessment was 76.  

the normal range for serum sodium levels is 135 to 146 milliequivalents per litre (meq/l), but they discovered that even participants with serum sodium levels at the higher end of the normal range had poorer health outcomes than those at the lower end.  

“we calculated the biological ages of the study participants based on health markers,” study author natalia dmitrieva explained in an email. biomarkers like blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol measure how well your kidneys and cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic and immune systems are working.   

“when we looked at the results, it was really surprising to see that people already at middle age whose serum sodium exceeded 142 meq/l were more likely to be biologically older. later in life, a larger proportion of them developed chronic diseases and died at a younger age,” she said.  

the participants with higher faster-aging risk had a 64 per cent higher risk for chronic diseases such as stroke, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, chronic lung disease, diabetes and dementia.  

“it was also surprising that the levels of sodium that we found to be associated with accelerated aging and with increased risks of diseases lie within a normal range that are not currently considered to be harmful or require clinical attention.”  

it’s important to note that the risk of disease, early death and faster aging was also higher in some with low serum sodium levels: certain health conditions and medications can lead to a similar outcome. the correct ratio of sodium and potassium levels to the amount of total water in your body needs to stay in balance to make sure you stay healthy.  

dmitrieva and her colleagues hope the findings can help doctors identify patients at risk by evaluating the fluid intake of those whose serum sodium is 142 meq/l or higher, and also encourage people to become more aware of their water intake.   

why middle age is a crucial time to up your water intake

“when we don’t drink enough, our body tries to conserve water. low water intake stimulates the secretion of hormones that act on the kidneys, leading to the excretion of lower volumes of more concentrated urine,” she explains of the saturated yellow colour.    

“any healthy fluid, including regular unsweetened tea, coffee, seltzer, would count,” dmitrieva says, adding “100 per cent juice is ok to drink because it contains good nutrients, but it should be consumed in moderation within calorie limits. other sugary drinks, like soda, are not healthy choices.”  

the best takeaway here is that proper hydration is a critical habit to adopt at middle age (or sooner), because it will almost certainly impact your later years.  

“the study really emphasizes the importance of middle age,” says tremblay. “this is when we need to really have a healthy lifestyle. this gives us something really simple that we can do.”  

she likes her coffee, too, and agrees that tea and coffee lovers can count those cups toward adequate hydration and benefit from their healthy antioxidants, but make sure you also include water.   

“it’s great to have quantitative data to support hydration as good for health and for longevity,” she adds, as well as an additional tool to identify health risks.   

“by just measuring these blood levels, we can have a biomarker that will tell us who is more vulnerable to developing health conditions. then we can take our health even more seriously, if it’s not already the case, and make some changes.”