Staying hydrated is good for your heart. Drinking up to 3 litres (5 pints) of water every day reduces your chances of heart failure—and probably an awful lot more besides.
Few people drink anywhere enough water every day—but it’s an essential fuel for the heart’s pumping mechanism.
Our ideal liquid intake varies between the sexes; women should be drinking between 1.6 to 2.1 litres a day, and the range for men is 2 to 3 litres.
You know if you’re drinking enough liquids from the amount of sodium in your blood. A high serum sodium reading suggests you should be drinking more water; if you’re not, your body will try to conserve the water it has, and this can eventually lead to heart failure.
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health tracked the sodium levels of 15,792 adults over a 25-year period. High sodium levels were reliable predictors of heart failure over the life of the study, with each 1 mmol/l increase in sodium levels increasing the odds of heart failure by around 20 percent.
(Source: proceedings of the European Society of Cardiology, August 24, 2021)
