5 Amazing Ways Drinking Water Affects Your Brain

Put a bottle of water in your bag and drink it over the course of the day. Don't force yourself to drink 8 glasses every day. Just make sure that you're always hydrated. Making this small daily effort is more than worth it.

Reviewed and approved by psychologist Valeria Sabater.

Written by Valeria Sabater

Last update: 27 May, 2022

Often, people drink this vital resource thinking about their kidneys, liver, and even their heart. However, drinking water affects your brain in ways you might never have imagined

Your brain takes up the most energy of any organ.  It’s also 75% water. That means it needs a lot of this basic, vital substance to keep on functioning.

You should always drink 7-8 glasses of water a day. But beyond that, it’s better if you don’t set a rigid goal. Every  body has different needs based on things like activity levels, size, weight, etc…

The best thing to do is keep yourself hydrated through the day. There’s no  better way than taking small sips of water every hour. That way you don’t get tired, but don’t gorge yourself on water either.

Doing this will harmonize your body from the inside out.

In this article, we want to tell you about some of the amazing ways drinking water affects your brain .

1. Your brain will work faster

Your brain needs to be properly hydrated to function properly. The cells in this organ need a delicate, precise balance of water and other elements to work the way it should.

Something important you should keep in mind: you need to drink water when you wake up. This is the moment of the day in which your brain cells need the hydration that only water can give you. You’ve spent 7 to 9 hours sleeping. But just because you haven’t sweated doesn’t mean you haven’t lost water.

With each deep breath, you lose moisture. Over time, your brain ends up dehydrated in the morning. You can keep your brain at optimum capacity if you just drink a glass of water and eat delicious fruit for breakfast.

2. The ways drinking water affects your brain: you’ll boost your concentration

People don’t usually notice dehydration. You generally only notice in in extreme situations, once you’ve started to feel dizzy or your skin has dried out.

You might not realize it, but your brain does. You lose your ability to focus because your brain is conserving its resources. Your memory slows down. It becomes more difficult to concentrate and you can’t react as quickly to stimuli.

It’s true that drinking coffee or tea can also help you, but you shouldn’t drink them all day.

You need to have at least a sip of water every 45 minutes. This is the amount of time it takes for your attention span to start to decline.

Nothing makes a better remedy than a little bit of water.

3. It helps balance your mood and your emotions

Another amazing way water affects your brain, as odd as it may sound, is its impact on your mental health. But we all know that looking at the sea is very relaxing. You feel the wind, hear the water’s roar, and take in its salty air. It’s not just seeing water that affects your emotions, though. Drinking water has a big impact too.

It’s simple: you increase your brain’s temperature and get rid of toxins and dead cells. It also balances your chemical processes and does a kind of “mental restart”.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you use water as some kind of fast-acting cure-all. Drinking two glasses of water in a row won’t make problems go away.

It’s like we said earlier on: the important thing is to  stay hydrated. Take small sips throughout the day. This way, your cells will stay active and find a good balance. This balance will also help regulate your stress and anxiety.

4. Drinking water will help you sleep better

It’s possible that drinking a glass of water before bed will make you have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. But this is still a good routine to get into. Even if it’s just half a glass, drinking water before you go to bed helps you get a much healthier sleep.

Water increases the blood flow to your brain. This boost’s your brain’s oxygenation and hydration. It also calms it down.

Plus, water gets rid of your brain’s waste substances. This is a basic part of making sure your brain can find a good balance. Make this a habit today and you’ll see how much of a difference it makes.

5. Your memory will improve if you drink water during the day

This is the last of the ways drinking water affects your brain for today.  No matter how slight your dehydration is, it instantly causes a homeostatic imbalance. In other words, it causes a lot of dysfunctions. These affect many basic areas of your survival.

One of these consequences is reduced cognitive agility. What that means is that it’s  harder for you to memorize things, infer information, make conclusions, and create long-term memories.

Here’s a tip: put a bottle of water in your bag and drink it over the course of the day. Don’t force yourself to drink 8 glasses every day. Just make sure that you’re always hydrated.

Now that you’ve seen all the great ways drinking water affects your brain, it should be obvious: it’s a small effort that makes all the difference.