Good Hydration Found To Contribute to Physical Condition, Aids Healthy Aging, Study Finds

A new study found that there is a link between good hydration and good physical condition which aids in healthy aging and reduces the risk of chronic conditions, such as heart and lung disease.

Researchers also observed that well-hydrated adults live longer than those who may not get sufficient fluids into their bodies. The study by the National Institutes of Health was published in eBioMedicine.

Good Hydration and Healthy Aging

The team of scientists used health data gathered from 11,255 adults over the course of 30 years to analyze the links between serum sodium levels, which go up when fluid intake goes down, and various indicators of health.

The researchers found that adults who had serum sodium levels at the higher end of a normal range were more likely to develop chronic conditions and showed signs of advanced biological aging compared to those who were in the medium range for serum sodium levels. Furthermore, the team found that adults with higher levels were more likely to die at a younger age, as per Neuroscience News.

An author of the study and a researcher in the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Natalia Dmitrieva, Ph.D., said that the results of the study suggest that proper hydration could potentially slow down aging in humans and prolong a disease-free life.

The research also expands on other studies that the scientists published in March 2022 that found links between higher ranges of normal serum sodium levels and increased risks for heart failure.

According to CNN, the authors of the study said that learning what preventive measures are capable of slowing down aging is a major challenge in preventive medicine. They added that this was because an epidemic of age-dependent chronic diseases was emerging as the world's population continues to age rapidly.

Reduced Risk of Chronic Diseases

Furthermore, extending a healthy life span can improve quality of life and reduce healthcare costs more than just treating diseases is capable of. The researchers thought that optimal hydration could slow down a person's aging based on similar research that has been done before on mice.

Those studies included lifelong water restriction that caused an increase in the serum sodium of mice by five millimoles per liter and shortened the animals' life span by six months. This equates to roughly 15 years of a human's lifespan. Scientists can measure serum sodium in the patient's blood.

An associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Dr. Howard Sesso, said that the study's results show observational evidence that supports the idea of long-term benefits coming from improved hydration.

While the findings of the study are positive, the researchers are cautious to note that the results cannot directly suggest that decreased hydration causes short lifespan. It is possible that low levels of day-to-day hydration are a decent proxy for a healthy lifestyle and the people who stay well hydrated also happen to eat better and exercise more which could be factors in healthier lives, New Atlas reported.