Does Drinking Plain Water Not Hydrate You Enough?

If you are like us and you like nothing greater than scrolling round on well being and wellness TikTok, you have seemingly stumbled throughout numerous chatter about whether or not or not ingesting plain ol’ water is sweet sufficient for you—or if you need to be including electrolytes, a pinch of salt, a squeeze of citrus, or one thing else.

After all, we all know that drinking water is essential for almost every bodily function. Nonetheless, the query is: Would we profit much more from ingesting water with few additional elements? In a current TikTok video, @thetigerlilyxx claims that ingesting plain water alone isn’t hydrating sufficient. As an alternative, they counsel that you simply want different minerals to replenish your physique with important vitamins that may be acquired by supplementing the drink with elements like lemon, lime, or Himalayan sea salt.

To make sure we have been crystal clear (pun supposed) about what we ought to be ingesting, we spoke with purposeful medication physician Jill Carnahan, MD, Your Useful Medication Professional and writer of Unexpected, who revealed that ingesting water plain is totally stellar, however including a number of further elements could be useful for sure populations, as a result of wants can range from individual to individual.

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Does ingesting plain water not hydrate you sufficient, based on an MD?

In keeping with Dr. Carnahan, ingesting plain water is 100% positive and wholesome for almost all of individuals. Including further elements, nonetheless, is likely to be helpful in a number of circumstances.

For starters, your physique may profit from added electrolytes (and never simply plain water) if you’re beneath numerous stress or have a hormonal imbalance. “Adrenals are a stress response organ, and they’re answerable for regulating and [producing] mineralocorticoids that are additionally associated to electrolytes [and influence salt and water balances],” Dr. Carnahan says.

Which means that any disruptions that have an effect on your adrenals can have a unfavourable impact in your hydration ranges. “So mainly, if we’re beneath excessive stress or our adrenals aren’t functioning effectively for some cause, it is very important add electrolytes, particularly sodium, to your water as a result of ingesting simply free water can truly trigger hyponatremia, or low sodium, and that may result in difficulties in case you’re sweating excessively,” Dr. Carnahan says. These circumstances are, after all, few and much between.

“Additionally, utilizing an infrared sauna, excessively exercising, and any massive lack of sweat will even trigger lack of salt and electrolytes,” Dr. Carnahan provides, which is why she recommends giving water a bit of increase of minerals and electrolytes containing sodium.

Plus, in case you’re coping with an upset abdomen or different gastrointestinal points that may result in diarrhea or nutrient loss, replenishing with extra than simply plain water is necessary. “If for some cause you might have belly points like gastroenteritis or diarrhea, you lose extra potassium by means of the intestine, and in that case, it could be greatest to complement water with additional magnesium and potassium for these losses by means of the intestine,” she says.

So, what ought to we be ingesting as a substitute of simply plain water?

So what’s Dr. Carnahan’s drink of alternative, you may ask? Properly, it’s water…with a twist. “Once you drink mineral-enriched water, like San Pellegrino or different European mineral waters, you’re ingesting an alkaline product. The minerals in these drinks may also help keep wholesome bones,” she says, which is simply true for mineral waters with or with out carbonation. (And helps make a case for ordering the flamboyant, non-complimentary bottled water on the menu.) “That being mentioned, I’m not a giant fan of flavor-enhanced waters or plain carbonated waters with out minerals.”

So how will you up your water ingesting in case you discover plain water totally unappealing? “If somebody doesn’t just like the style of fresh water, then including lemon or lime, or cucumber is a superbly good various,” Dr. Carnahan says. Cheers.

An RD shares essentially the most hydrating meals to maintain your hydration ranges in verify: