Whether it’s lemon water, a trendy infused water drink or plain old fashioned water that’s your favourite way to hydrate, there’s no doubt that drinking the recommended eight glasses of water a day unlocks many benefits.

As well as improving your physical health, your mental wellbeing can be boosted with the right level of hydration. You’ve probably heard of the saying, “You are what you eat,” but you also, “Think what you drink.”

Stress, anxiety and depression are particularly common throughout the UK and the rest of the world. These conditions affect people of all ages and from all walks of life.

According to a UK-wide study by the Mental Health Foundation, 74% of Brits felt so stressed to the point of becoming overwhelmed and unable to cope. The importance of water shouldn’t be underestimated when managing the big and little dramas that are a part of everyone’s lives. Below we explain why.

The link between stress and dehydration

Dehydration can have a number of devastating consequences for your health and wellbeing but could stress, anxiety, and depression be caused by dehydration?

Dehydration causes levels of the happy hormone, serotonin, to decrease. It also lowers levels of other essential amino acids to contribute to feelings of stress and anxiety.

Energy levels are diminished by a lack of water, which increase stress levels further. In addition to this stress and anxiety-related panic attacks can be induced by dehydration as Calm Clinic details:

“Panic attacks often have triggers, and these triggers are often physical. When a physical trigger such as dehydration occurs, a person prone to panic attacks may begin to panic and feel as if they are dying. When you’re dehydrated, you are far more likely to experience many of the symptoms that trigger panic episodes.”

How to sip away your stresses

Whilst sipping on water regularly won’t make the underlying causes of your stresses melt away, staying hydrated throughout the day will keep pesky stress hormone cortisol at a manageable level.

To ensure successful stress and anxiety management, looking after your body is the key. Your body has to be in the best possible condition to safeguard your mind.

When managing stress, you also don’t want the stress caused by dehydration to add to your worries. By avoiding dehydration, you can avoid stressful side effects such as a fast heart rate, tiredness, nausea, and headaches.

It’s easy to say that you should drink water regularly, but with today’s busy lifestyles this can be easier said than done. Make sure you know how to spot the early signs of dehydration (such as headaches, dry mouth, dry skin, fatigue, dark urine and thirst), and act fast to stay hydrated.

Make water drinking another one of your daily habits to ensure you stay hydrated around the clock. Take a water bottle with you everywhere you go and make sure it’s filled up regularly.

Find more tips for staying hydrated on the go here. Drink with every snack, meal and toilet break. Don’t forget to start and end every day with a nice, refreshing glass of filtered water.