Scientists have long confirmed that drinking enough water is important for daily bodily functions, such as regulating temperature and maintaining healthy skin, but the importance of water does not stop there.
According to a study conducted by the “National Institutions of Health Study”, published Monday in the journal “E-Bio Medicine”, it was found that drinking a sufficient amount of water is also associated with a lower risk of developing chronic diseases, a lower risk of dying early, as well as a lower risk of increasing biological age than the chronological age. .
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health Study tested the hypothesis that optimal hydration can slow aging in humans. The study showed that getting insufficient amounts of water leads to shortening a person’s life span.
It is known that some people age faster than others, and while some live a disease-free old age, others develop chronic diseases associated with aging.
What prompted the team to conduct the study is the emergence of rapid aging in many people and the spread of chronic diseases. Finding mechanisms and implementing preventive measures that can slow down the aging process has become a new challenge for medical research and public health.
As body fluid levels drop, blood pressure rises, pulmonary nerve mechanisms to conserve water are activated, resulting in less, more concentrated urine being excreted.
The American Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health Study said in a statement that, using health data collected from 11,255 adults over a period of 30 years, researchers analyzed the links between blood sodium levels, which rise when fluid intake decreases, and indicators of different healthy.
The researchers found that adults with sodium levels above the normal range were more likely to develop chronic diseases and show signs of advanced biological aging than those with blood sodium levels in the middle ranges. It turns out that adults with higher levels are more likely to die at a younger age.
“The results suggest that adequate hydration may slow aging and prolong a disease-free life,” said study author Natalia Dmitrieva, a researcher in the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Center.
The study goes deeper into research published by the scientists in March 2022, which found links between higher than normal ranges of sodium levels in the blood and an increased risk of heart failure.
Both conclusions came from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, which includes substudies involving thousands of adults from across the United States. The first substudy, launched in 1987, has helped researchers better understand risk factors for heart disease and formulate clinical guidelines for its treatment and prevention.
The researchers assessed the study participants’ information during five medical visits, the first two when they were in their fifties, and the last when they were between the ages of 70 and 90.
The researchers excluded people whose blood sodium concentration was outside the normal range, as these levels of hydration are affected by diabetes, obesity, and others.
Then, they assessed the association of sodium levels in the blood with biological aging. This included examining several factors, such as blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes, and the results provided insight into how well each person’s cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic, kidney and immune systems were functioning. It was also adjusted for factors such as age, race, sex, smoking and high blood pressure.
They found that adults with higher levels of sodium in the blood, with normal ranges, were more likely to show signs of faster biological aging.
This was based on indicators such as cardiovascular health, lung function, and inflammation.
Adults with higher sodium levels had an increased odds of being biologically older than their chronological age, and higher levels were associated with an increased risk of premature death.
It was found that adults whose blood sodium levels exceed acceptable rates face a 64 percent risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart failure, stroke, atrial fibrillation and peripheral arterial disease, in addition to chronic lung disease, diabetes and dementia, according to the statement.
Conversely, adults with normal sodium levels have a lower risk of chronic disease.