If you could make one tiny change to your day that would significantly improve your life, you would not give it a second thought. Drinking water when you wake up can change your entire life for the better.
The benefits of drinking water first thing in the morning are plentiful and life changing. Simply enjoying a 16 ounce glass of water as soon as you wake up can improve your life in so many ways. These are the top ten reasons to pour 16 ounces of water as soon as you wake up.
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Rehydrate Your Body
Most people know that you need a certain amount of water every day to stay hydrated. But many people do not know that drinking water when you wake up is important.
Depending on how long you slept, you may have gone eight or more hours with no water. This means that your body is a little dehydrated in the morning. You need that first glass to get water to important systems that require hydration.
Wake Up
If you are the type of person who hits the snooze button on your alarm three or four times before you finally roll out of bed, drinking water first thing in the morning can help clear away the fog of sleep.
Instead of stumbling into the coffee shop before work to grab an espresso beverage to help you become a functioning human, you can be alert before you even leave the house. Hitting your system with 16 oz of water can have the same effect as standing under a freezing shower.
It essentially shocks your system into waking up for the day. Being alert in the morning can help increase your productivity for the day, inspire you to eat a healthy breakfast and you may even be more likely to hit the gym.
Boost Your Immune System
Every day you go out into the world and come into contact with all kinds of germs that could possibly infect you. If you are like most people, you do not have time to be sick. You can decrease your chances of picking up a cold by drinking water after waking up.
Your immune system relies on adequate hydration to combat all the germs you encounter throughout your day. The first defense against germs, your nose, mouth and eyes, need to be extremely moist to prevent bacteria from entering.
Once germs are in your body, the blood stream is important for killing them off. Lymph fluid carries white blood cells to destroy invading bodies. Red blood cells oxygenate your tissues making it difficult for germs to infect your organs.
All this immune system activity requires good hydration. After several hours of sleep, drinking water in the morning boosts your immune functions.
Get Maximum Nutrients From Your Food
The process which turns your breakfast into nutrients that nourish your body is complicated. The food goes through stages of breaking down at different points in your body. In order to get the most nutrients from your meals, you need water.
One glass of cold water in the morning can help you get more vitamins and minerals from your food. Your meals are initially broken down in your mouth and stomach. From there, they go to the small intestine where the majority of nutrients are absorbed.
Without enough water, your body will not be able to move those vitamins and minerals from your small intestine into your blood stream, and they will be expelled as waste. This morning hydration ensures your breakfast will be a nutritious one.
Energize Your Day
One of the most noticeable benefits of drinking water in the morning is the extra boost of energy you get throughout the day. Giving your body that hydration head start that comes with drinking water first thing in the morning allows you to sidestep that mid afternoon energy slump.
One of the biggest causes of low energy points throughout the day is problems with hormone regulation. Hydrating early and often during the day helps your body regulate hormone cycles, so your energy levels stay even.
This helps you avoid crashing in the middle of the day, time you could be using to get things done.
Establish a Routine
Drinking water first thing in the morning is a great way to build a base of self discipline. If you have a difficult time with maintaining good habits, a cup of water in the morning is the best way to start.
For instance, if you tell yourself day after day that you will go to the gym every morning, forming a simple habit can help initiate a pattern of going to the gym every day. If you make drinking a glass of water a trigger for getting into your gym clothes, you will be more likely to follow through.
A daily planner with a habit tracker, like the Clever Fox Planner, can help you stay motivated with this habit as you check the habit box every day. Planning a reward for yourself every time you check that box is a serious motivator to keep going.
Prevent Common Medical Conditions
Among the benefits of drinking water first thing in the morning are preventing a wide range of medical conditions that can crop up in those who fail to stay hydrated.
Annoying conditions that you consider a normal part of life may actually be due to dehydration. These are all conditions you could avoid with a proper hydration routine:
- Kidney stones
- Constipation
- Irritated eyes
- Headaches
- Frequent urinary tract infections
- Hemorrhoids
By eliminating inconvenient health problems, like headaches, you gain those extra hours in your day to put toward something more productive than trying to ward off pain.
Boost Your Metabolism
You may have heard people talk about ways to boost your metabolism without really understanding what that does for you. Your metabolism determines how many calories you burn a day and how much energy you can get from your food.
If you are wondering when to drink water in order to boost your metabolism, the answer is as soon as you wake up. About ten minutes after your first glass of water, your metabolism increases significantly.
This is great if you are a fan of hitting the gym first thing in the morning. It gives you that extra energy you need to jump on the treadmill. It also helps your body burn off more calories from your breakfast. You will not have to feel so guilty if you slip up and grab a donut on your way to work.
Get Clear Skin
If you have less than perfect skin, you may have filled your medicine cabinet with creams, cleansers and lotions in an attempt to get a dewy complexion. While these face potions can have a positive effect on your skin, there is no substitute for internal hydration to make your skin glow.
Because of how different it is from the rest of your organs, it is sometimes difficult to remember that your skin is one large organ. Drinking 16 oz of water in the morning gives your skin the same benefits as it does the rest of your cells.
Giving your skin cells proper hydration prevents flaky, tight skin. Added hydration helps fight bacteria that causes acne and it adds softness to your skin that minimizes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Help Control Your Weight
If you struggle to maintain a healthy weight, drinking water in the morning can help with this problem. When you drink a glass of water in the morning, you are less likely to consume more calories than you need for breakfast, because you will feel full.
Drinking water in the morning can also help you burn more calories. If you are wondering which is faster, hot or cold water, ice cold water will burn the most calories. The energy your body spends to warm the cold water up to your core temperature can burn as many as 18 calories.
When you drink 16 ounces of water first thing in the morning, you are setting yourself up for daily success. Just that one little glass of water brings so many benefits. By improving your hydration, you can increase your daily productivity and stay energetic and refreshed all day.
By starting this daily habit, you are setting the stage to begin other good habits that will have a positive effect on your life. Drinking water when you wake up can snowball from a refreshing beverage into a whole new lifestyle.
