Dehydration not only affects your brain and exercise performance -...

Dehydration not only affects your brain and exercise performance - it also makes you look older

Skin dehydration and dryness have been seen to be closely related to the degree of skin wrinkles and deeper furrows.

The lower the skin hydration, the higher the roughness and wrinkles of the skin.

Graph: PMID: 22672420

Full video: youtu.be/tVpoyLQFi50

Skin hydration in the skin also declines with age, which is one of the reasons older people have more wrinkles and dry-looking skin.

One big reason skin hydration declines is because of not drinking enough water, yes.

PMID: 22672420

However, there’s also a natural decline in substances that maintain water in the skin and joints, such as hyaluronic acid that starts declining in the skin after the age of 25 (PMID: 3829041)

Oral supplementation with hyaluronic acid has been seen to reduce skin wrinkles and dryness (PMID: 34203487)

Increasing daily water intake has been seen to improve skin hydration (PMID: 29392767)

In a 2015 study, adding 2 liters of water to the daily water intake resulted in improvements in skin hydration and function (PMID: 26345226)

The subjects drinking less than 3.2 liters per day saw the greatest improvements, whereas those consuming 3.2 liters saw very small effects

Pointers for skin hydration:
- Alcohol and smoking dehydrate your skin - avoid
- Avoid long hot showers because the hot water dehydrates the skin. The same applies to hot baths, steam rooms, and saunas
- Make sure you drink at least 3.2 liters of water per day spread across the day
- If you exercise and take the sauna regularly you probably need more than 3.2 liters of water per day
- Using a moisturizer that fits your skin type is also a great way to keep the skin hydrated and smooth