You may already know that dehydration can cause you to become seriously ill, but did you know that it could also affect the health of your eyes?
How Dehydration Affects Your Body
Water is a critical element of your body – every cell depends on getting enough fluids to survive. Dehydration robs your tissues and organs of the fluid they need to function. When your body does not get the hydration it needs, your eyes and other organs can suffer.
Your body becomes dehydrated when it does not have enough fluids, either because you have not taken in enough water or because you are losing fluid quickly.
Some of the overall health benefits of proper hydration include:
1. Improvement of dry eye symptoms
A recent study suggested that increased hydration led to “multiple ocular benefits” in subjects tested. It also suggested dry eye improvements. Although there are several other options for dealing with dry eye, increasing water intake is a good place to start, especially if you’re taking medications that increase risk of dry eye.
2. May help with tension headaches
Headaches have always been linked to dehydration. They’re also symptoms of digital eye strain. The combination of dehydration and digital eye strain may cause several unwanted problems, but regardless of how headaches come about, it’s a good idea to rehydrate when dealing with them.
3. Hydration helps with end of day eye fatigue
Overall fatigue usually starts set in towards the end of the day, regardless of your profession. The combination of body fatigue and eye fatigue (from computer screen and smartphone use) could indeed be troublesome. Increasing water intake over the course of the day helps to combat those tired feelings. It’s also a good idea to take breaks from near work to improve eye comfortability.
4. Stimulates an active lifestyle
Contrary to what your favorite energy drink commercial may imply, water is the best hydration for an active lifestyle. When our body sweats, it sweats water. A very large percentage of our body is made of water (not sugar) and all of our organs require the right amount of water for optimum performance. That said, it’s best to give our bodies water because that’s what it actually wants.
5. Promotes better skin
Our skin can’t get rid of toxins quick enough without enough water. If we’re dehydrated, our skin can become irritated, which may result in all sorts of ailments from itching and scratching to redness and all out acne (or even worse).
Keeping Your Eyes Healthy
In addition to making sure you stay hydrated, take other measures to keep your eyes and your vision healthy. The first of which is to make sure you’re getting your eyes examined on a regular basis. Book an appointment today for a detailed eye checkup from our expert surgeons.