The fountain of youth isn’t as far out of reach as we may think, according to a National Institutes of Health study published recently in the journal eBioMedicine.
The study found that being properly hydrated and drinking enough water is associated with a significantly lower risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart and lung disease and a lower risk of dying early.
The study used health data gathered from 11,255 adults over a 30-year period and analyzed links between serum sodium levels and various indicators of health. Study participants attended five medical visits, the first two when they were in their 50s and remainder when they were between ages 70 and 90. According to the news release, researchers then used 15 health markers to evaluate how serum sodium levels correlated with biological aging. These factors included factors such as systolic blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, all which provided insight about how well the participants’ cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic, renal and immune system was functioning.
Researchers found that adults with serum sodium levels at the higher end of the normal range were more likely to develop chronic conditions and show signs of advanced biological aging than those with serum sodium levels in the medium ranges. Additionally, the study found that adults with higher levels were also more likely to die at a younger age.
“The results suggest that proper hydration may slow down aging and prolong a disease-free life,” said Natalia Dmitrieva, Ph.D., a study author and researcher in the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a division of NIH in a recent news release.
According to studies cited in this research, about half of people worldwide don’t meet recommendations for daily total water intake.
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