This is what happens when you drink too little water

It’s the advice you can never seem to escape, especially not during hot weather: drink enough water! Yes, we get it by now. We all know the feeling of a dry mouth when you’re thirsty or getting a bit of a headache after a long day in the sun. Oops, maybe we should’ve drunk a little more water today. But what happens when you consistently drink too little water?

We’ll definitely make sure we drink enough from now on.

1. Grumpy

A short-term effect is that your mood takes a real nose dive when you’re thirsty. People who don’t drink enough water get tired, grumpy and emotional more quickly. They are more sensitive to stimuli and triggers and can even get a bit confused. You might not immediately notice the thirst, but the lack of water does have a quick effect on your mood.

2. Food

Those who don’t drink much get hungry more quickly. You can easily confuse the feeling of thirst with the feeling of hunger, and instead of getting a glass of water you end up getting a snack. Research shows that if you drink two glasses of water before a meal, you’ll eat about 90 calories less. This might not sound like much, but if you look at this over a three month period, it could mean you lose 1.5 kg more weight.

3. Burning calories

If your water intake isn’t high enough, your body puts burning calories on the back burner. You’ll burn fewer calories because your body puts itself in ‘low-power mode’. So, this means that if you consistently drink too little water, you might gain weight more quickly.

4. Thinking

This shocked us quite a bit: if you drink too little water, your brain shrinks. This is also the reason why you get a headache when you’re dehydrated. But, there’s no need to panic: your brain grows back to its normal size when you’ve replenished your water levels. When there’s not enough water in your brain, thinking clearly becomes more difficult, which means everything becomes a little harder to do. It doesn’t make you dumber, but it does make you slower.

5. Wrinkles

Of course, not drinking enough also causes your skin to dry out. Because of this, you’ll get fine lines, and eventually wrinkles, more quickly. When you drink enough, these fine lines get filled up with water and you’ll look younger and fresher. So, in the long run, drinking enough water means you’ll get wrinkles less quickly.

6. Ill

People who consistently drink too little water have a higher chance of getting conditions like kidney stones, heart attacks and even some types of cancer. We’re getting another glass of water right away…

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Source: Men’s Health | Image: Pexels