A Wren Says

I don’t know when or why it started, but for some reason I developed a drinking problem. By that I mean I struggle to drink water. It’s so bad that I had to set a goal to consume 16 ounces each day. And even then, I couldn’t do that, knowing full well there are people out there who somehow get in a gallon of water every single day. Well, it seems my vanity may at last get me to change my ways. Just like so many Americans, I am committing to drink more water this year. But I’m doing it for my skin.

I had a sneaking suspicion that many of my skincare woes could be solved if I lived a healthier life. I took a look in the mirror, quite literally and figuratively, and determined that living my life perpetually dehydrated could be bad for my skin. I am constantly worried about having dry skin, but it seems that I might be the problem.

 A 2015 study by Palma and colleagues using a sample of 49 women found that drinking more water could lead to more hydrated skin. They split the sample into two groups based on their reported water intake, including the food they ate. Group 1 (38 women) were those who reporting taking in less than 3200 mL of water. Group 2 (11 women) took in more than 3200 mL. They were all then asked to drink an additional two liters roughly of water to see how that would affect their skin over the course of 4 weeks. The not very scientific explanation of the results: Drinking more water led to more hydrated skin for both groups. Those who drank the least water at the beginning of the study and/or had dry skin saw the biggest improvements when they drank more water.

This might be a moment where you say, “That’s not a surprise. Why are you even writing this?” But that is just my point. It is not a surprise. There is concrete evidence that my skin could be better if I drank more water. So why not just do it instead of fighting the obvious?

I could go down the rabbit hole of finding all of the skin benefits of better hydration and nutrition, but I won’t do that today. I don’t need more evidence; I need to take action. If I want more hydrated skin, I can’t simply rely on what I put on top of it. More hydrated skin starts from the inside out. You saw it here. I will finally drink more water to not only improve my skin but my overall health.

(But of course, I will still be letting my curiosity get the best of me and keep trying more skincare products. Don’t you worry.)

Here is the source for that study:

Palma, L., Margues, L. T., Bujan, J., Rodrigues, L. M. (2015). Dietary water affects human skin hydration and biomechanics. Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, Aug 3(8) 413-421. doi: 10.2147/CCID.S86822