We all know if you’re going to be outside in the heat or exercising, it’s important to drink water to stay hydrated.
Water is also essential for day-to-day bodily functions and maintaining skin health.
But drinking enough water is also associated with a significantly lower risk of developing chronic diseases, dying early or being biologically older than your chronological age, according to a National Institutes of Health study published Monday.
“The results suggest that proper hydration may slow down aging and prolong a disease-free life,” said study author Natalia Dmitrieva, a researcher in the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of NIH, in a news release.
Learning what preventive measures can slow down the aging process is “a major challenge of preventive medicine,” the authors said in the study. That’s because an epidemic of “age-dependent chronic diseases” is emerging as the world’s population rapidly ages. Extending a healthy life span can help improve quality of life and decrease health care costs more than just treating diseases can.
The authors thought optimal hydration might slow down the aging process, based on previous similar research in mice. In those studies, lifelong water restriction increased the serum sodium of mice by 5 millimoles per liter and shortened their life span by six months, which equals about 15 years of human life, according to the new study.
