Drink less and age.
That’s the key takeaway from a study published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet. It turns out that adults who don’t get enough water age faster and may even be at higher risk of chronic diseases that lead to premature death.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health analyzed medical visits of more than 11,000 adults in the United States between the ages of 45 and 66 and subsequent follow-up visits between the ages of 70 and 90, extending the study over a 25-year period. It was conducted.
“New evidence from our and other studies suggests that[s] Adds consistent and superior hydration [other] Healthy lifestyle choices can slow down the aging process.
During the study, researchers tracked the subjects’ hydration by monitoring how much sodium was detected in the subjects’ blood.
Analysis showed that all 11,000 participants were hydrated within normal limits and had blood sodium concentrations between 135 and 146 millimoles/liter. However, those with levels at the high end of that range (greater than 144 millimoles per liter) were 50% more likely to show signs of physiological aging. These include physical signs such as high cholesterol, blood pressure, skyrocketing sugar levels, sunken eyes, cheeks and dry skin.
“People with serum sodium above 142 mmol/l in middle age are at increased risk of becoming biologically older,” the researchers wrote in the study.
Most shockingly, that cohort had a nearly 20% increased risk of premature death. They were shown to be more likely to develop fatal illnesses such as heart failure, stroke, diabetes, dementia, and chronic lung disease.
“The risk of developing these diseases increases as we age and accumulate damage to various tissues in the body,” said Dmitrieva, a researcher at the Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health. told NBC.
In previous research, Dmitrieva found that dehydration may increase the risk of heart failure.
The USDA recommends drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water per day, but a 2020 survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that only 20% met that goal. It turns out that As we age, our thirst response weakens and we are less likely to notice that we need more water.