Water and Your Heart

There are all sorts of articles out on the internet about the relationship between water and heart attacks and some claim more water is better and others debunk this claim. So what should we believe? Does it really matter how much water you drink every day? Does drinking plenty of water reduce your risk of fatal heart attacks? The short answer is, yes. It really does matter how much water we drink daily and the more water we drink, the less likely we are to have a fatal heart attack. This isn’t just a theory anymore, but a definitive conclusion to a study conducted by The American Journal of Epidemiology.
Researchers looked at the water intake of 12,017 female participants and 8,280 male participants in correlation to coronary heart disease events over the period of six years. Even after they adjusted for additional risk factors, they conclusively determined that more than any other factor, water intake determined fatal heart disease risk. The study stated that men who drank at least 40 ounces of water daily reduced their risk by 54 percent and women who drank the same amount reduced their risk by 41 percent.
The majority of fatal heart attacks occur during the morning hours and doctors believe it is caused by the higher viscosity of blood during the morning hours. You lose water throughout the night as you sleep and until you replenish the fluid, your blood will be thicker than usual. Also, lack of water will cause the body to secrete the stress hormone cortisol and there have been numerous studies that have linked increased instances of heart attacks with stress.
According to the American Heart Association, the better the hydration, they easier it is for your heart to do its job. They also state that water is the best thing for people to drink for hydration. Drinking water from a high quality water filter will ensure that you only ingest the purest water you can without any other harmful contaminants. You can get water from other sources as well such as certain fruits and vegetables, however plain water is the best source for proper hydration. One more tip they share is to drink plenty of water BEFORE you exercise or go out in the sun. If you wait then you will be constantly playing catch-up and you will be putting extra strain on your heart.