Hydration
As summer approaches and we are more active, more sweaty, and usually more busy, staying adequately hydrated can slip under the radar. Especially when the focus as of late is on foods, supplements, and movement. These are all very important, but we are nowhere without water. I want to really focus on returning to a base level with health. Something as simple as drinking water can seem obvious, but it directly impacts all tiers of women’s health from mental to gut to hormonal to skin (and of course, these are all connected).
Your body is a moving, flowing body of water with intricate systems intertwined around it. Our systems do not know how to function without it - our hearts alone are made up of 70% water and that is just one organ! In native cultures, water can symbolize the origins of life, cycles, fertility, sustenance, and an overall sense of being held by the nature we are surrounded by. Many indigenous cultures even viewed bodies of water as sacred, divine places and would not disturb any beings that lived there.
There is a connection to be made here. We are made almost entirely up of a life-giving holy substance from Earth. Providing our bodies with adequate hydration is not only for survival, but for paying respects to our connection with earth in this way. The ways in which hydration affects women’s health in particular and how we can foster this connection and nourish ourselves is what we will be discussing today.
Energy Levels and Mental Health
If you have noticeable fatigue, irritability, or you suffer with depression, starting with hydration can almost always prove to be some benefit to you. When you are dehydrated, your body is losing fluids, and therefore crucial electrolytes, at a speed quicker than it has the resources to replace them with. As a result of this, your blood pressure and blood fluid volume are going to drop. Your heart is now going to start pumping extra hard to make up for this and keep you alive, causing distress and fatigue.
Your brain, in opposition to your heart, cannot store water. For this reason, constant rehydration is necessary to keep the brain functioning properly and avoid depletion of amino acids. Proper hydration is shown to lead to better focus, less confusion, and decreased mental fatigue across the board, with even just 2% dehydration showing a decline in all areas.
Dehydration can also impact your brain’s ability to cope with anxiety and depression. The conversion of tryptophan into serotonin, one of the most well known neurotransmitters for happiness and satisfaction, requires a large amount of water. This is because it has to cross the blood brain barrier with water through ion channels. For this reason, dehydration can seemingly cause symptoms of depression, irritability, and apathy.
Hormone and Women’s Health
Hydration is extremely important for proper circulation throughout your body. A lack of adequate fluids causes a decrease in blood volume and an increase in viscosity (thickness of the fluid portion of blood), therefore reducing the ease of flow. In turn, if your circulation is not functioning, then your hormone regulation is going to be thrown off.
It is crucial to note that dehydration does not always feel like thirst. Your internal organs need hydration and a lack will manifest in ways that are not as immediately noticeable as a dry mouth. Without hydration and circulation, your body is not able to detox properly. Your body knows how to detox itself, this is true, but there are things you can do to either help or hinder the process. Your tissues need to be hydrated in order to aide in detoxification and proper glandular/hormonal balance. Our lymphatic system, kidneys, liver, intestines, and skin all require proper water to assure toxins are getting flushed out of our systems. There are studies even showing that chronic dehydration levels can permanently damage the kidneys, not to mention increase the risk of dreaded kidney stones. This is because when waste and acids are given the ability and time to build up in the kidneys ,muscle proteins (myoglobins) can begin to clog them up.
In regards to UTI’s and kidney stones, water is the saving grace against these scary conditions When you have enough water in your system, it prevents stone-forming crystals from gathering and getting stuck in your urinary tract. On the same end, proper hydration flushes out bacteria that would otherwise get stuck and build up to cause a UTI.
Water also prevents constipation and keeps your bowel movements regular, preventing a buildup of estrogen and toxins in your body.
On the flip side, please also take note that extra hydration, at least a couple extra glasses a day, is needed during menstruation because of fluids lost alongside your blood. Dehydration can spike cortisol levels in your body significantly, which can make your PMS much worse and overall hormone balance/mental health!
Gut and Skin Health
When you chew and swallow food, think of it like a slide on a hot summer day (it is much more complicated than this, but it provides a visual!) We all know the feeling from childhood of trying to scooch down a slide that has been baking in the hot summer sun and is as dry as the desert. When you make it a water slide, you can immediately zip down and with far less burns and discomfort! This is why proper hydration is needed for digestion.
When digestion is about to occur, your body will begin to pull fluids in to aide the process and move the food all the way down to your colon. Without adequate water, food can get stuck, resulting in constipation, bloating, and chronic inflammation that can trickle throughout your body.
Water is absolutely essential to keeping things moving smoothly. It even aids the enzymes needed for breaking down the food you consume by transporting them where they are needed to be, and then doing the same as it scoops up and distributes nutrients.
If you are constipated, recirculating estrogen, and storing toxins, your skin is going to show it. The link between supple skin and drinking water is not as direct as it is made out to be in mainstream beauty trends. However, proper circulation is needed to deliver nutrients to your skin, flushing of toxins is needed to hydrate our cells and prevent tight, dry skin.
How to Hydrate
Although it seems straight forward, there are actually many ways you can hydrate aside from drinking plain water. Some people simply do not like, or are not apt to reach for a glass of plain water anyways. Here are some alternate ways to get in enough fluids throughout the day :
Consume lots of water-rich fruits and vegetables! Among the best are watermelon, cucumber, celery, strawberries, peaches, blueberries, zucchini, and tomatoes
Eat oats! Oats actually absorb a large amount of water while they are cooking! If you make overnight oats, try adding in some chia seeds as well (they absorb a huge amount of water and expand overnight)
Drink coconut water or add in electrolytes (sodium, chloride, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium) to your water. This is especially important if you are going to a sauna, hot yoga class, or just working out intensely on the daily. Some good brands are LMNT and Nectar.
Drink your water hot. According to TCM, hot water is said to promote circulation, help detoxify the body, and balance cold & humidity within your body. Try adding lemon juice and ginger
Drink decaf teas that do not have diuretic effects (like coffee does) such as hibiscus and rose
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