It’s common knowledge that we humans need water to survive. Over 60% of the human body comprises of water; with the brain and heart composing 73% water themselves. Needless to say, it’s a major component of our human essence (literally, our body mass) and it is crucial in sustaining us to perform necessary daily functions such as flushing out toxins from our body, facilitating cognitive functions, and staying energetic and productive at work just to name a few.
A large majority of us work five out of seven days a week; while a busy schedule means that we often forget to drink enough water, it shouldn’t be an excuse and employers can play a part in ensuring that employees have easy access to drinking water all around the office. It’s an essential life force that hydrates us yet its importance is consistently trivialized. If you want to know why you should inculcate better hydration habits into your employees’ lifestyle, then keep on reading.
1. Helps in saliva production
Saliva production is a key bodily process. Our mouths are never dry and we constantly need saliva to keep our mouths hydrated. Hence, it makes sense that water is a key component in saliva.
Not only that, but saliva (together with our teeth) is responsible for the initial digestion of food in the mouth due to the presence of electrolytes, mucus, and enzymes. Teeth break up our food while saliva breaks it down. Thus, without enough saliva in the mouth, our eating experience gets compromised.
If you notice that your mouth is drier than usual, it may be a sign for you to drink more water or it could perhaps be an indicator for other (greater) health concerns.
2. Subsequent digestion
When it comes to the further digestion of food, water aids the process by dissolving minerals, vitamins and other nutrients from your food before transporting it into your bloodstream to be used by the rest of your body. This is especially important as rushed lunch breaks can lead to indigestion, so having plenty of water to drink will definitely make your employees much healthier!
3. Regulating your inner thermostat
The human body typically operates at a body temperature of around 37°C. We’ve previously established that over 60% of your body consists of water, with the majority of it found in the plasma of your blood. Thus, in order to maintain the body at this healthy temperature, water is pertinent to this process — mostly when it involves keeping it cool.
There are sweat glands present just below the epidermis of your skin. Your body uses these glands to lose water and dispel heat by sweating it all out. This can occur anytime and anywhere but it is expected to occur more during intensive physical activity or warm and humid environments. For those who love to cycle to work or work out right before heading to the office, having access to drinking water will be a boon; plus, it’ll give your employees a refreshing start to the day!
However, do take note that if your body loses an excessive amount of water through sweating, you’re more prone to losing important electrolytes and plasma that keeps your body healthy and functioning. Thus, it’s even more important to stay hydrated during these moments. Don’t wait until your body signals to you through drastic measures (like fainting) before you remember to rehydrate yourself.
4. More Waste excretion (Urination & defecation)
It is undeniable that many of us will forget to drink sufficient amounts of water when we are glued to our computer screens and focused on completing the seemingly endless tasks at hand!
Despite so, water is important as it is also expelled from the body through urinating and defecating. If you don’t want to suffer the pains of constipation, drinking water (on top of adequate fiber and magnesium intake) is both the prevention and cure against having hardened feces.
On the other hand, your kidneys are responsible for filtering out waste from your body before channeling this leftover wastewater (urine) into your bladder to be stored and subsequently dispelled. Thus, sufficient water enables your kidneys to function optimally and prevent the formation of kidney stones.
5. Fending off sicknesses
In general, you’d think that medicine is the best and only way to cure your sickness but honestly, sometimes the simplest yet most effective remedy, is water. The list of medical conditions water may prevent include:
- Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
- High Blood Pressure
- Constipation
- Kidney Stones
By having a healthy dose of water intake frequently, your body is able to better absorb the necessary vitamins and nutrients to keep you strong and healthy.
6. A protective layer
Water helps to lubricate and cushion your spinal cord, joints, and even your tissues. Because these body parts rub against each other during movements frequently, they’re more susceptible to physical ailments like arthritis. Since arthritis is usually observed in older people, you should take good care of your joints while you’re still young — and that means staying hydrated, kids!
7. Your new weight loss regime
Researchers have found that sufficient water intake is associated with body fat and weight loss in overweight females.
Skip the fad diets and the latest weight-loss pills. All those methods are terribly unhealthy ways to lose weight; if anything, they might result in a fast but unsustainable weight loss with further unintended, undesirable health concerns.
This only proves that water, in the long term encourages healthier and more sustainable weight loss habits, so don’t be too overly concerned about “water weight”. After all, “water weight” is only temporary to more permanent weight loss.
8. Better blood oxygen circulation
Since water is a significant component of blood plasma, it goes without saying that water basically helps to carry useful nutrients and minerals like oxygen around our bodies. Every breath we take is the consequence of an inhale and exhale. Thus, by extension, better water intake facilitates better blood circulation, thereby promoting improved overall wellbeing.
9. Better executive brain functions
It’s no secret that the brain is soft and squishy — and what better explanation to account for this phenomenon than that it also consists of 73% water. Proper hydration replenishes the brain and enables it to run efficiently. Poorer executive functions involving focus, attentiveness and memory-durability have usually been linked to cases of dehydration. Overall, a happy brain leads to a happy mood too. Thus, taking care of your brain in this regard may prevent emotional stresses resulting from fatigue, confusion and even anxiety too.
10. Plump and healthy skin
Everyone wants their skin to look fabulous. The best way to do this is to increase productivity in your collagen levels and unsurprisingly, water plays a significant role in that. To keep your skin buoyant, it only makes sense that you match your water intake accordingly.
Although other uncontrollable factors such as genetics and overall sun exposure might play a part in determining the health of your skin, never underestimate the power of good hydration.
Conclusion
While we often attribute the secret to longevity to healthy lifestyle practices, many people nowadays overlook the importance and thereby benefit that water brings us. It’s such an essential component to all living things but because we need it consistently and frequently, mankind naturally breeds an adverse reaction to the routine. We get bored of repeating the same thing constantly which explains why drinking water frequently doesn’t come off as second nature to us anymore.
We get distracted by the ongoings of our daily working lives to even bother taking care of our bodies in the simplest ways. We only have one life and one body to live; so why not be kinder to ourselves by taking a few seconds of our day to drink up. Employers everywhere should be more aware of the benefits of drinking water as ensuring your employees’ good health will go a long way to keeping them happy while working hard! If you’re wondering how you can place more drinking water sources around your office space, try googling reviews of the best water dispensers ; there’ll be plenty of choices and we guarantee that you’ll find one suited to your employees’ needs!
