It may be the cheapest way to slow down the aging process.
While most of us probably aspire to be a little healthier, there’s nothing more offputting than health advice that demands a massive input of effort, money, or time. Thankfully, there’s at least one low-effort, zero-cost thing we can do every day that could reap major dividends for our bodies in the long term. The short version? Drink more water.
Adults who remain well-hydrated tend to have lower biological ages, suffer from fewer chronic health conditions, and live longer than those who don’t drink enough fluids, according to a study published by the National Institutes of Health published on January 2.
The study gathered health data from 11,255 adults over a 30-year period, which researchers used to investigate the relationship between serum sodium levels – which decrease as fluid intake goes up – and certain health metrics. Adults who had higher serum sodium levels were more likely to develop conditions like heart and lung disease, show more signs of biological aging, and die younger, compared with those who had medium to low levels of serum sodium.
“The results suggest that proper hydration may slow down aging and prolong a disease-free life,” said Natalia Dmitrieva, Ph.D., a study author.
Adults in the study who had serum sodium levels above 142 milliequivalents per liter (mEq/L) had a 10-15% higher chance of being biologically older than their chronological age than those whose serum sodium levels fell between 137 and 142 mEq/L. As CNN notes, those at a higher risk of fast aging also had a 64% higher risk of developing chronic diseases like heart failure, stroke, atrial fibrillation, peripheral artery disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, and dementia. Participants aged between 70 and 90 who were biologically older at baseline than their chronological age were 44% more likely than the biologically youngest cohort to develop chronic diseases.
Because aging is associated with the development of chronic diseases, slowing down the process of biological aging can delay these conditions, and in turn, mean that we live longer. While the study only shows an association between hydration and lower biological age, rather than a causal effect, it is an encouraging indicator that there may be something easily within our power that we can do to improve our health.
As the study notes, about half of the world’s population don’t meet recommendations for daily total water intake. These start at about 6 cups, but can vary according to factors like activity levels, weight, the medication people are on, and the climate they live in.
“On the global level, this can have a big impact,” Dmitrieva said. “Decreased body water content is the most common factor that increases serum sodium, which is why the results suggest that staying well hydrated may slow down the aging process and prevent or delay chronic disease.”
