Did you know water is good for reducing anxiety? It’s true. Dehydration causes stress, stress dehydrates the body, and increases anxiety. It’s a vicious cycle. But you can break that cycle by drinking 6-8 tiny 8 oz glasses of water every day (have you looked at how big an 8 oz glass is? It’s kind of small).
According to the USGS Science School, our bodies are made of up to 60% water. The brain and heart compose 73% of that water. And water needs replaced every day, it doesn’t store up for a rainy day like our fat cells. Without enough water, our bodies begin to experience dehydration. Some signs of this are:
- Irritability
- Confusion
- Headache
- Feeling dizzy
- Dark-yellow pee (or not peeing)
- Dry skin
- Fast heartbeat
- Fast breathing
- Fainting
This list is not all the possible symptoms, but some of the more common ones. Imagine already having anxiety issues, then adding irritability and confusion on top of it. Not a good combination.
For those of you who have a child (especially those with selective mutism or other anxieties), think about when you’ve tried to get your child to go to bed and they didn’t want to. They were too tired to sleep and might have thrown a tantrum. That moment mimics how they might behave when not drinking enough water. Do you want those frequent meltdowns throughout the day?
Yea, now you’re getting it. Water is important for mental health.
Don’t like the taste of water? Just add a little flavoring. Here are my favorites:
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Lemon
- Cucumber (sounds weird, but it is so yummy)
*Just add the fruit (or combination), mash it up a bit, then let it sit in your fridge for about 4 hours. You will have such a yummy refreshing drink; you and your kids will LOVE drinking it.
And the absolute best time to drink water is FIRST THING IN THE MORNING. We’re dehydrated in the morning because we’ve gone so many hours without any water while sleeping. So, boost your mental and physical health … drink a glass right away.