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We all know the importance of getting enough sleep and staying hydrated. Separately, they play a pretty big role in our overall health, but now, new research shows that one may actually influence the other: Clocking less than the recommended eight hours of shuteye may actually leave you more vulnerable to dehydration, new research published in the journal Sleep suggests.
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In the study, researchers at Penn State looked at data on sleep duration and markers of hydration from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (years 2007 to 2012) and the Kailuan Cohort Study, which combined, totaled to more than 20,000 adults in the U.S. and China. They found that those who reported typically logging six hours of sleep were significantly more likely to be dehydrated than those who get a solid eight hours.
In fact, the people who reported sleeping six hours per night were between 16 and 59 percent less hydrated than the people who reported regularly sleeping eight hours per night.
This could be due to an antidiuretic hormone called vasopressin, which helps regulate your body’s fluid balance. The hormone is released in a circadian rhythm (more commonly known as your sleep/wake cycle), according to lead study author Asher Rosinger, Ph.D., assistant professor of biobehavioral health and anthropology at Penn State.
“Vasopressin increases late in the sleep period to help prevent dehydration. So if a person is getting less sleep, then they may not be getting the same protective effects of the hormone,” he told Bicycling.
Dehydration is linked to decreased cognitive performance, physical performance (like feeling sluggish on your ride), and increased irritability and fatigue, Rosinger says. Plus, if you are already going into your ride dehydrated, all that sweat lost during your workout can make your hydration levels even worse.
If the problem persists and dehydration becomes chronic, it’s also associated with a higher risk of kidney stones and bladder infections.
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But sleeping longer isn’t a dehydration cure-all, he cautions. In the study, those who reported sleeping longer than eight hours weren’t any more hydrated.
“People still need to drink a sufficient amount of water—or eat water-rich fruit—to be well-hydrated. What this study finds is that if they get six hours of sleep, they’re just at higher odds of inadequate hydration.”
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So keep a bottle of water with you during the day—at your desk and on rides—and regularly include foods with a higher water content—such as strawberries, oranges, cucumbers, and lettuce—into your diet. And make solid sleep a priority, too.
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