Why is it good to drink water after waking up?

Water is vital to your body’s health and function—you can’t keep it running smoothly without consuming plenty of water throughout the day. Your daily hydration ritual should begin with a morning glass of water, an underrated yet essential part of any healthy routine. In fact, drinking water in the morning isn’t just about starting your day off well-hydrated; drinking water on an empty stomach can bring its own wealth of benefits as well!

Hydrant offers you the best possible way to hydrate from the moment your day begins. With the replacement electrolytes your body needs, Hydrant mixed into a morning glass of water sets you up for the day ahead, no matter what you face. Read on now to learn more about why you should drink water in the morning. Why is drinking water important? 

Here are 10 reasons for you to drink water in the morning:

1. Morning Hydration Remedies Natural Dehydration

You might not feel it, but after a long night’s sleep your body wakes up naturally dehydrated. The amount of water you consume the evening before makes little difference. By the time you wake up, you need to hydrate your body for the day ahead. 

The longer you go without water after waking up, the longer it’ll take you to remedy your dehydration. Without a glass of water in the morning, you may start to feel the physical symptoms of dehydration soon after waking up.

2. Start the Day Refreshed by Drinking Water in the Morning 

We all know how it feels to have that groggy, half-asleep sensation hanging over us after we get out of bed. Refreshing yourself with water before those feelings set in is a great way to hit the ground running. We can’t think of a better reason to start your day with a glass of water.

A refreshing glass of water can really revitalize you and help you to feel more positive about and prepared for the day ahead. There’s also nothing better than a glass of water to fix the morning dry mouth feeling. Don’t reach for anything fizzy or caffeinated first thing; a glass of water will do so much more for you. (And a glass of water with Hydrant will do even more!)

3. Drinking Water in the Morning Will Improve Gut Health 

Staying properly hydrated may help prevent or relieve the symptoms of numerous health issues. In some cases, drinking water on an empty stomach may make those benefits felt more keenly. Intestinal infections, for example, have been found to be less likely for people who drink more water. Whether or not you’ve had gut problems, this alone is a great reason to drink more water in the morning.

4. Balance Your Body Fluids by Drinking Water in the morning

By drinking more water in the morning, your body will get a head start on keeping your bodily fluids properly balanced throughout the day. With a proper balance of bodily fluids comes proper organ function. The lymphatic system is a great example of the positive effects of drinking more water.

Your body’s lymph system is responsible for balancing bodily fluids. The lymph system is kept healthy, in part, by drinking water every day. In other words, proper daily hydration helps the lymphatic system keep your body fluids properly balanced. Proper hydration begets proper function, begets a balanced body.

5. Drinking Water in the Morning Will Fuel Your Brain

Your brain is around 75% water. That should give you a good idea of just how important it is that you drink water to fuel your brain and keep it as healthy as it can be. Your brain won’t be able to function at its optimal level if you don’t hydrate. 

If you start your day with a glass of water, your mind will feel clearer and sharper throughout the day. You’ll feel more alert and on the ball, and that’s never a bad thing. You might even feel that you have an advantage over everyone else in the room when you're properly hydrated.

6. Drink Water in the Morning and Remove Your Body’s Natural Waste

When you wake up in the morning, your body will have unwanted waste in it that can be naturally removed by drinking water (i.e., through urine). By peeing right after you wake up, you remove the waste your kidneys have filtered from your system overnight. Just because you went to sleep doesn’t mean your body stopped working! Drinking water before bed and right when you get up helps your body push its own reset button when it comes to removing waste.

7. Support Your Immune System by Drinking Water

The threat of infection may be mitigated if you consume enough water to keep your immune system up and running. Drinking water on an empty stomach is known to be particularly good for your immune system. Of course, the health and efficiency of your immune system is vital to your overall health.

8. Do Your Skin a Favor and Drink Water in the Morning

The health of your skin and its microbiome is in part determined by your hydration habits. Starting your day with a glass or two of water can only help the health— and thus, appearance! —of your skin.

9. Drinking Water Will Kickstart Your Metabolism 

If you’re trying to lose weight, drinking water in the morning may further help your efforts to kickstart your metabolism. Staying hydrated helps your body start to burn calories faster, which is vital when you’re trying to shed body fat. 

Gulping down a glass of water may also make you feel fuller, temporarily helping to decrease appetite. You’ll be much less likely to snack on foods throughout the day if you feel full, so consider replacing a bag of chips with a glass of water. You don’t necessarily need to consume calories to feel fuller. Of course, eating enough and correctly is as much a part of a healthy routine as staying properly hydrated. Water is not a meal replacement!

10. Keep Yourself Regular by Drinking Water

It might not be something that you like to think about in much detail, but regular bowel movements are important to your overall health and well being. If you’re not very regular, that can cause problems to pile up. Constipation is never any fun to deal with; help avoid it by staying properly hydrated.

Drinking water in the morning will encourage regular morning bowel movements, and that’s definitely a healthy thing. Plus your overall digestive system will be much healthier throughout the day, as well as further into the future if you get into the habit of drinking water in the morning.

Conclusion: Add Hydrant into your morning ritual! 

Water is essential to survival; proper hydration at the right times is essential to healthy and happy living. When you drink water matters just as much as how much you drink.

Now that you know all the benefits of drinking water at the start of the day, all you need to do is start doing it. Better yet, try Hydrant and drink more water effortlessly. 

Other stories about dehydration 

If you want to read more about what dehydration does to the human body, click here.

In Japan, it is common practice to drink two full glasses of water upon waking. It’s said have the ability to fully cure a number of diseases, including cancer, as well as provide a host of other benefits. And I think they may be on to something.

As a nation, Japan has the overall greatest longevity, currently hosting over 50,000 centenarians, or 100+ year olds. Whether it’s the water practice or something in the tea they drink, we can learn a few tricks from the Japanese.

So regardless if this practice will save your life as they believe, here a look at many of the other proven benefits of drinking two full glasses of water upon waking.

When you wake up after a long sleep, your body is naturally dehydrated. No matter how much water you drank the day before, you have used up your stores and it’s time to refill the tank.

The first thing drinking water after waking up will do is provide your cells with much needed, life giving water.

Compare this to the norm; drinking a 16 oz. cup of coffee, which will further dehydrate your already thirsty body.

Partaking in this immediate rehydration will have major noticeable benefits including:

– Feeling more refreshed

– Having more natural energy throughout the morning

– Being healthier & happier

2) Flushes out toxins

After nourishing your cells, drinking water after waking up will flush unwanted toxins out of your body.

While you sleep your body repairs itself, replenishes energy and balances hormones. The result is toxins and other waste materials being released and waiting to be flushed out.

After clearing your body of these toxins,  you will feel great and be able to absorb more nutrients from a well-balanced breakfast.

This also leads to clear skin and better overall well being.

3) Fires up your metabolism

Drinking water is a crucial tactic when it comes to weight loss. But drinking water after waking up is the most optimal way to do it.

Think of drinking water after waking up as an alarm clock for your metabolism. This morning water kick starts your metabolism & has been proven to increase your calorie burning potential throughout the day

Not only that, but water actually fills you up & curbs your appetite, allowing you to make smarter choices for your breakfast.

These smart choices tend to roll over to smarter choices throughout the day. If you know anything about healthy eating, then you know that this momentum is so powerful. There’s no better way to start that momentum than with a tall glass of delicious water.

4) Fuels your brain

Here’s a fun fact; your brain is 75% water.

If you’ve been drinking enough of it, you will know that without water your brain is not going to function at its optimal level.

A morning glass of water will leave you feeling sharp and clear throughout the day, giving you an edge over all the dehydrated zombies you’ll encounter.

5) Keeps you regular & relieves constipation

The main cause of constipation is dehydration.

Drinking water when you wake up will not only cure dehydration but it will help relieve constipation, help to keep you regular and promote a morning bowel movement. This is a great way to start the day.

6) Prevents and cures disease

As stated above, in Japan it is believed that drinking water this way can cure even the harshest diseases over time. I am not a scientist, or a doctor, but what I do know is that doing this will certainly help cure disease and can certainly help prevent them, even if the effects are subtle.

Something that is so healthy and good for you, if not performing miracles, is going to have a positive impact on your health.

One of my biggest beliefs is to control what you can, and don’t worry about the rest. Something like drinking a glass of water when you wake up is certainly under your control, so why not do it.

7) Its completely refreshing

Last, but certainly not least, the 7th reason you should partake in the practice of drinking water after waking up is because of how good and refreshed it will make you feel. There really is nothing more refreshing than waking up, dry mouthed, and enjoying life’s purest substance.

It revitalizes me, and I feel crisp and clean afterwards.

That, a nice run, a hot shower & juice from my Breville Juicer starts me off feeling so refreshed for the day. I really can’t recommend it enough.

So how much water should I drink?

If this sounds like something you are into that great. But how much water should you drink to reap the benefits?

The amount varies around the web. In the Japanese healing protocol it is noted that you should drink 4 160mL glasses of water upon waking. This translates to 20 oz. of water. To give you a good idea, that’s 1/3rd of a 2 liter coke, or 2.5 cups of water.

This is a pretty decent amount of water, so start small if you want. Right now I slug down two tall glasses from my Zero Water Filter when I wake up. I’ve got it chilling right next to my bed at room temperature

“Zero water,” is from the inexpensive Zero Water Filter that provides cleaner than bottled water at 000 PPM (parts per million) on the TDS meter. My tap water was at 348 PPM and Poland spring is at 58 PPM.

This definitely helps me, and I do recommend the filter, it has been a great purchase and save me a lot of money on bottled water.

But regardless, any amount of water, whether filtered or not, is better than none.

Warm or cold?

Sorry to say this, but warm. Preferably body temperature! I know this is not always feasible to drink two 98 degree glasses of water when you wake up so opt for room temperature.

Cold water needs to be heated up to core temp by the body, expending energy. Warm water allows your body to maintain homeostasis, optimally flushing out toxins and replenishing the cells. A good way to think of it is "pouring cold water over a hot car engine"but maybe a little less extreme.

All this being said, don’t read too much into it. I often drink cold water waking up and it is not going to be a deal breaker!

Can I eat right away?

You should wait at least 15 minutes after drinking your water to eat. The optimal length in Japanese culture is to wait 45 minutes until eating. The “exact protocol” of the Japanese water cure is as followed:

1) As you wake up in the morning before brushing teeth (don’t read into this), drink 4 × 160mL glasses of water

2) Brush and clean the mouth but do not eat or drink anything for 45 minutes

3) After 45 minutes you may eat and drink as normal.

4) After 15 minutes of breakfast, lunch and dinner do not eat or drink anything for 2 hours – i.e. you can drink straight after a meal (within the first 15 minutes) but not for 2 hours after that.

5) Those who are old or sick and are unable to drink 4 glasses of water at the beginning may commence by taking little water and gradually increase it to 4 glasses per day.

In conclusion

Before the comment train runs in, I already know. “There’s no proof,” “blah blah blah blah blah.” I really don’t care.

The fact is that the Japanese have the most longevity as a nation. There is currently over 50,000 100+ year old Japanese people. They must be doing something right.

And even if you don’t believe in water being able to cure disease, you cannot deny the fact that this will have a positive effect on your health and life.

So control what you can, and think about adding two glasses of water to your morning routine. It may be the best decision you ever made.