You are advised by healthcare practitioners about drinking water regularly if not daily. The recommended water intake is about eight glasses of water. This helps to reduce your risk of getting high blood sugar (medical term-hyperglycemia). As an additional benefit, drinking water helps to ensure the efficiency of the systems in your body namely, the digestive and cardiovascular systems.
Water helps to reduce blood sugar levels. This mainly applies to people living with diabetes. There is a huge demand for fluids when blood sugar levels rise higher than the normal limit. This is because it stimulates the kidney to get rid of the excess sugar in the blood through urine. Water is preferred best as the rehydrating fluid.
This is because it does not add more sugar into the blood, thus does not raise the sugar levels in the blood. People living with diabetes benefit a lot from taking large amounts of water. This water facilitates more excretion of extra glucose through urine.
High levels of blood sugar expose you to the risk of being dehydrated. This mainly affects people living with diabetes mellitus. This is because their bodies try to contain the increased blood sugar levels by removing the excess sugars through urine. Drinking sufficient amounts of water will therefore help to rehydrate the body.
In the event that they don’t take water, their body utilizes other sources such as tears and saliva. This results in further dehydration since the excess sugar is not drained out of the body through urine.
Persons living with diabetes insipidus are also exposed to the risk of dehydration in the absence of sufficient water intake. This risk is however not associated with high levels of blood sugar. It is associated with the large amounts of urine that such people produce. They are therefore left feeling thirsty more regularly. Regular and adequate consumption of water, therefore, helps in easing these symptoms.
The hormone vasopressin is released when the body is dehydrated. Research findings have shown that it is linked to the development of hyperglycemia and eventually diabetes. Drinking water more regularly will therefore help in preventing the overproduction of vasopressin.
What are the alternatives to drinking water?
Some people generally don’t like the plain taste of water. This explains why these people go without water or with an inadequate intake of water. Should you fall under this category, there are alternatives that are available for you. Adding fruit slices such as lemons, oranges, or limes into your drinking water helps to add more flavor to the water. Prepping these fruits and storing them in the freezer where you can use them at any time is a time-saver tip.
There are various varieties of bottled flavored water available in the market. You should consume them with caution. Some of them have high amounts of sugar. Others have sweeteners. These are good for boosting your blood sugar levels. Persons living with diabetes are however advised against them. This is because they could elevate your blood sugar levels beyond the recommended limit. They are also not as healthy as plain water.
Sparkling water or soda are other alternatives to water. However, most healthcare practitioners prefer carbonated to sweetened options. Avoid tonic water because it’s usually sweetened.
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