It’s widely known that you should drink water every day. Drinking water frequently and in the right amounts is key to avoiding the numerous health issues associated with dehydration. Yet as simple as drinking water is, it’s hard to do it right. There are often too many factors at play and too many things to keep track of. For instance, should you drink water right before bed? And how much?
To drink water before bed or not is a contentious topic. The only way to figure out if you should or shouldn’t have a nighttime glass is to analyze the pros and cons. Luckily, we did that for you. Before diving into bed, let’s dive into the debate.
Advantages of drinking water before bed
Having a glass of water before bed may be beneficial to your health. Here are the main advantages to adding a glass of water to your nighttime routine:
Drink water before bed to avoid dehydration
Clearly, drinking water is an excellent way of avoiding dehydration. But did you know that most people wake up feeling a little bit dehydrated every morning? This is because you go eight or so hours without ingesting any fluids at all. During that time your body continues to work while you sleep, meaning you continue to lose fluids, particularly from sweating on warm nights.
Therefore, drinking water before bed is a great way to supply your body with some much-needed hydration. It means you shouldn’t wake up in the morning feeling extra lethargic or with a headache.
Think of nighttime hydration like a large bucket filled with water, and a tiny hole in the bottom. If the bucket is half full, then it’s naturally going to end up empty very quickly. But, if you top up the bucket with water, then there may still be some left over after the same amount of time. Drinking water before bed is your way of topping up the fluids in your body!
Are you concerned about your own hydration levels? Take the quiz below to find the best Hydrant for your hydration routine.
Prevent hangovers by drinking water before bed
People that drink alcohol run the risk of waking the next morning with a hangover. This risk may be minimized by drinking a glass or two of water before bed. Again, it works in the same way as it does for avoiding dehydration. When you drink alcohol, your body loses a lot of its natural fluids, both through passing the extra liquid and through alcohol’s diuretic effect.
Having a glass of water can help minimize the symptoms of hangovers. Of course, the best way to avoid hangovers is to drink in moderation or drink water between each alcoholic beverage.
Drinking water before bed stops feelings of hunger
A lot of people find it hard to fall asleep when they feel hungry. This happens naturally if you eat dinner a good few hours before going to sleep. As it is recommended to not eat immediately before bed, falling asleep slightly hungry may be something you just have to deal with.
That said, sometimes hunger pains are impossible to ignore and can make it harder to fall asleep. When it’s harder to fall asleep, you’ll often wake up less rested and with a smaller appetite (empty stomachs may shrink), overall making it more difficult to get a good day’s start. When you drink a glass of water, it helps trick your stomach into thinking it’s full, without suffering the effects of going to bed on a full stomach.
A nighttime glass of water can help prevent any feelings of hunger, without presenting the issues of a full stomach before bed.
The disadvantages of drinking water before bed
Before we summarize our thoughts and decide if you should drink water before going to sleep, it’s vital to look at a few possible disadvantages of a nighttime glass of water:
Drinking water before bed interrupts sleep
It’s crucial that you get enough sleep every night. When you feel tired in the morning, it tends to be because your sleep cycle was interrupted. In many cases, this interruption was caused by getting up to urinate. Some people will naturally feel the need to urinate in the middle of the night, and the chances of it happening are heightened when you drink water before bed.
A glass or two of water right before you sleep will mean you eventually have to pee. In some cases, you may be up multiple times–it depends on how much water you drink. Any benefits of “topping up” on hydration may be countered by the disadvantages of an interrupted night of sleep.
Mood problems because you were drinking water before bed
As a consequence of your interrupted sleep, you may end up with mood problems during the day. It’s common to feel angry or annoyed when you’re tired. Grumpiness can affect relationships with other people and compromise your mental health. It’s suggested that you shouldn’t drink water before bed if you want to avoid grumpiness due to tiredness. Don’t give your body a reason to wake up when you should be fast asleep.
Drinking water before bed and high blood pressure
Other than bad moods, sleep deprivation due to frequent nightly urination may cause high blood pressure. This is related to the high-stress levels that you get when you aren’t sleeping well. Your body feels like it’s working twice as hard to keep you awake and functioning as it should during the day. You need sleep to help you rest and recover, and drinking water may stop you from doing this.
Read here why water is important for blood pressure.
Drinking water before bed and Weight gain
A lack of sleep is also closely linked to weight gain. Based on one particular study, it was found that people who don’t get at least six hours of uninterrupted sleep per night are more likely to put on weight. This occurs due to a lack of leptin produced by your body when you don’t get enough sleep. Leptin is a hormone that works to help suppress your appetite. A lack of leptin may cause you to feel excessively hungry and consume more food.
Conclusion: Should you be drinking water before bed?
When you look at the disadvantages, it’s easy to conclude that you shouldn’t drink water before going to sleep. However, the majority of the problems are caused by a lack of sleep rather than drinking the water itself. Yes, drinking water increases the chances of waking up and having a disrupted sleep cycle, but there’s a very chance you can drink a glass before bed and sleep soundly as well.
In reality, you should drink water before bed. Any chance of dehydration incurred when you wake up is generally more detrimental to your health than the side effects caused by grumpiness. Most people stop drinking water with the end of dinner, making it about 12 hours since their last drink upon getting up.
You can optimize your nighttime routine to ensure hydration, without risking a fitful night of sleep. We recommend drinking a glass of water 30 minutes prior to turning out the light. This gives you a chance to pee, and so it decreases the chances of interrupted sleep. Better yet, add Hydrant to your water before you go to bed.
Hydrant is packed full of nutrients and minerals that best help replenish your natural storage of electrolytes. As a result, it leads to more effective hydration than water alone. In fact, you’ll become about as hydrated from one small glass of Hydrant as you would from a larger glass of water alone. By drinking a slightly smaller volume, you decrease your chances of having to pee right before bed.
With more effective hydration there’s less reason to fear sleep disrupted just to pee.
