Stay Hydrated, Reduce Pain

Whether you regularly suffer from body pain, chronic or otherwise, or not, keeping an eye on your body’s signals is always healthy. Much of our body pains come from inflammation, which can be caused by a number of things. Sometimes it’s our diet, our other lifestyle choices, disease, and sometimes it’s as simple as not drinking enough water. Whether you’re feeling a simple dehydration headache or you suffer from chronic pain, drinking more water can help.

Why Does Inflammation Happen?

Inflammation is your body’s reaction to various outside stimuli and is the body’s attempt to protect that part of the body for a period of time. The signal that there’s something wrong is what we tend to process as pain. Sometimes this is a small amount of pain, and sometimes it's chronic and over the whole body. While not drinking enough water isn’t going to cause chronic pain, drinking enough can help you reduce overall pain.

How Much Water Is Best?

That old chestnut of “you have to drink eight glasses of water per day” is relatively accurate, at least for adults. Metabolism and other factors can change the amount you need daily, but generally, science tells us that men over 19 years old need 13 cups a day, and women over 19 need about 9 cups of water. We actually need more water than this, but that extra water is obtained from the food we eat.

What Else Can Be Done to Reduce Pain?

There are many natural options for reducing pain that you can do yourself. Most of them are lifestyle changes of a kind, though many of these things can be done in a group, which many help you stay on top of these changes. Whatever it takes is worth it, especially if you find yourself dealing with more pain lately, or more prone to feeling it.

Eating a Healthy diet is huge. Part of this is hydration of course, but concentrating on a more balanced diet, including antioxidants and omega-3s, has been known to reduce inflammation
Exercise is essential to staying healthy and reducing pain
Meditation may allow you to stay mindful of your body

What if Water is Boring?

We get you. Sometimes we’re so overwhelmed by what we’re told we “have to do” every day that we want those things to be a little more exciting. Fortunately, with infusers and electrolyte mixes and sugar-free flavor drops, you have all kinds of options that allow you to mix it up a little. Drinking energy drinks are simply going to dehydrate you more, and sports drinks often have electrolytes and can certainly help during your workout. As long as you find a way to make it interesting that isn’t less healthy, you’re going to be in good shape.

Summary

Water may be everywhere, but we need to make sure we are getting enough of it. Not only does it keep us going, but it tells our body to keep the pain levels down.