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Keep reading to find out the main water beauty benefits, as well as how much you should be drinking. As always you can Shop the Look for my little water beauty benefits hack near the end of the post, where you’ll also find my contact links if you want to get in touch about anything on TheSortingHouse!
Water Beauty Benefits
Our bodies are made up of mostly water, so it makes sense that we need hydration to keep everything in our bodies working properly. The daily recommended intake of water has been 8 glasses for a while now. However Netdoctor demonstrates that different sources advise different amounts and really there is no one size fits all answer.
So how much water should I drink to be healthy? I’ll go on about this ’til the cows come home – our body has a knack of telling us things, we just have to listen to it.
Going to the toilet often, and weeing a light coloured, almost odourless liquid means that your body has enough water, and is getting rid of what it doesn’t need. However if you are thirsty, or even sometimes if you feel hungry**, experience regular headaches and generally feel nauseous then chances are your body is crying out for hydration, your wee will more than likely be dark and pong a bit too.
**Sometimes we misinterpret feelings of thirst for feelings of hunger, and head straight to snack town, when our body is actually telling us it needs hydration.
Trying to lose weight? Try this: If you think you’re hungry, have a tall glass of water immediately and then wait 20 minutes, if you’re still hungry then eat – but more often than not, you’ll have forgotten all about that little hunger pang and saved yourself the pointless calories.
However Netdoctor argues that there shouldn’t be so much emphasis in the media on obsessing over pure glasses of water. Food which contains water and naturally moisture-full fruits and veggies contribute to your overall hydration levels. Adding stuff to water doesn’t change the fact that it’s water either, tea, coffee, cordial or even fruit juice all count towards your hydration levels too. Alcohol doesn’t count, as that messes with your brain’s signals and can actually dehydrate you. Although drinking fizzy drinks will top your hydration levels up – avoid these if you’re trying to be healthy they’re full of added baddies.
Water Beauty Benefits: What Are They?
Ensuring your body is at the right hydration for you means more radiant, smoother, plumper skin. Skin cells need hydration to reduce the appearance of fine lines, so teaming your anti-aging cream with the right amount of hydration from the inside, could really make all the difference to your youthful beauty on the outside.
Those of us trying to lose weight, or maintain a healthy lifestyle will have heard countless times to drink our recommend daily H2O. However water can also help with cellulite, the plumping action of hydrated skin makes fat cells less noticeable.
Drinking a tall glass of water before meals can also help us avoid overeating, as well as assist the body to digest what we’re about to eat. It is advised to avoid drinking water directly after eating, as this can dilute stomach acids and reduce the body’s ability to successfully break down the food.
According to Mind Body Green, many others and personal experience, hydrating the right amount for your body can reduce illnesses and the need to medicate. Nobody feels beautiful when they feel ill – fact! As well as boosting your immune system, water can flush out toxins, increase energy and reduce fatigue and even keep constipation at bay, reduce bloating and remedy water retention, so drink up!
Water Beauty Benefits: How Much Water is Enough Water?
Again, I’m afraid there isn’t a one size fits all answer. You need to experiment, see how you and your body feels with different amounts of water intake. Drinking too much water is just as dangerous as not drinking enough water, so you really do need to pay attention to the signs your body displays.
However, many health and beauty fanatics claim that for optimal health and water beauty benefits you should be drinking around 3 litres of water a day. After having read this in a number of places, I came across an article in the Daily Mail which showed before and after pictures of journalist Sarah, who did just that. Read Sarah’s article Drinking three litres of water a day took ten years off my face.
After just four weeks of drinking 3 litres of water everyday, Sarah said that her lips were more plump, the appearance of her dark circles diminished and her complexion was more even. The pictures below speak for themselves!
Image courtesy of Daily Mail Online [©WARRENSMITH2013]
Water Beauty Benefits: Other Uses For Water
Hair
When washing your hair, finishing off with a cold water rinse can improve shine and smoothness. The cold temperature allows the hair follicles to lie flat so that they are smoother and more light reflective.
Hard water can be bad news for our hair, as well as fading coloured locks, the high quantity of mineral salts in hard water can also dull hair, cause more tangles and roughen the follicles. Don’t be too mad at the women who live in soft water areas, because you can buy water softening filters for your shower head – at a price.
Skin
The water beauty benefits of a bit of hot and cold for tightening our skin has been known for years. Either a sauna, or a steam sesh followed by jumping in to or under ice cold water does indeed help to firm and tighten skin. If you can’t get to a sauna or steam room, try a hot shower or bath, then turning your cold tap on full blast and taking a good hit of icey water before you get out the shower.
I personally do this at the gym, where they have a sauna and steam room and ice cold showers just outside. Honestly the change from extremely hot to extremely cold does firm the skin. Of course it’s not permanent, but the tightening effect it has on my skin is very impressive. Plus it’s always good to close the pores right?
Weight
Exercising in water might be perceived as a granny workout, suitable for the pregnant and those needing a low impact workout. However it apparently takes much more effort to move your body through water and finding the right aquatics exercise class for your level, could really help with sculpting your goddess body and toning those muscles without damaging your joints.
Mind
There’s a reason why those relaxation podcasts all contain sounds of water, because it’s amazing for anxiety. The sound of running water, be it the ocean or a small brook, can really help to calm some of us. If you feel stressed, do an online search for sounds of water, turn your speakers up, sit back, close your eyes and relax. Feeling peaceful will in turn help your body function well, and your beauty shine through.
Bad day, or hard workout - soaking in a hot bath can really help. Especially to help you slip off into a sound and peaceful sleep. And we all know the value of getting good quality beauty sleep. Although don’t over do it - soaking in hot water can actually worsen the appearance of cellulite.
Water Beauty Benefits: How do I Keep Track of my Intake?
Naturally after reading Sarah’s article I wanted to try it out for myself. However I’m dreadful at remembering things and find that a stressful day is all I need to completely forget about my pact to hydrate more. On the days I did manage to drink regularly, I ended up forgetting how much water I’d actually had!
There are several ways to track your chosen daily quantity of water, keeping a tally or refilling an empty liter bottle can really help. However it is the 21st century, I have a smartphone and I like apps – so I downloaded Waterlogged.
Waterlogged is a nifty little app available for free on supported devices, with in-app add on purchases available for those who want them. I personally haven’t paid for anything, being the bargainista that I am – I’m quite happy with the free version for now, where not all the features are available.
The Waterlogged interface is really simple and easy to navigate. For those who find themselves forgetting to drink it’s perfect. You can set reminders, alerts, notifications all prompting you to drink a glass. With location services, you can even chose to be notified when someone has logged a drink nearby or to log your drinks on to a map.
The feature I like the most however, is that you can add pictures of your own glasses, bottles, mugs and cups and record the measurements they each contain ahead of time. So that when you have a drink on the fly, you can scroll through and pick the vessel you drank from and it will automatically add the quantity of liquid you had to your log. Bloody amazing!
The Waterlogged app allows you to look back over the days you’ve logged on a graph, day by day or in calendar form which makes it easy see how you’ve been doing. The Waterlogged app also allows you to customise it’s interface with themes and there’s even some useful and helpful information in the settings if you want more from the app.
What’s really useful is you can record your hydration in the measurement you’re used to, either oz, mL or L and you can also set exactly how much your own personal, daily goal should be.
Shop the Look
The Waterlogged app is available for free on the App Store. Or get it on Google Play.
Over to You!
How much water do you drink everyday? Do you already use Waterlogged? Are you seeing any improvement in your body?
Let me know in the comments below, or you can find me on ➳ Twitter ➳ Facebook ➳ Pinterest ➳Instagram ➳ Google + ➳ #waterbeautybenefits
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