Water: The Queen of Drinks for Poker Players

Water is essential for everyone’s health, but it’s especially important for poker players and others who engage in mentally demanding activities.

We all know the basics about H2O – drink it regularly, keep it clean, etc. – so this article will focus on lesser-known but equally important facts about water consumption.

Important: Drinking any liquid, even pure water, should be adjusted to your individual needs.

There are no universal recommendations for how much or how often to drink.

Before changing your drinking habits, consult a doctor and get checked to minimize individual risks.

Water Helps Your Brain Think Better

This isn’t just a saying: research from the Chinese College in Cangzhou shows that the human brain is 75% water and needs to maintain its volume for proper functioning.

This finding is supported by numerous studies on different age groups.

For example, a comprehensive study on cognitive abilities in older adults from 2011 to 2014 found that moderate drinking improves attention and information processing speed even in people over 65.

Another study in China, involving participants aged 12 and older, confirmed that dehydration leads to memory problems, mood swings (quick anger, irritability, anxiety), and difficulty concentrating and thinking logically.

You Can Drink Too Much Water and Die

While drinking too much water is difficult, history has shown it’s possible and dangerous. One tragic example occurred in 2007.

Radio KDND held a “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest where the winner received a popular Nintendo console.

Jennifer Strange came in second place, drinking 7.6 liters of water. After the competition, she told a colleague she had a severe headache on her way home. She was later found dead, and the assistant coroner reported that Strange died from water intoxication – a dangerous imbalance of water and salts in the body.

Early symptoms include a sharp drop in body temperature and potassium levels, causing severe headaches and muscle pain. Other symptoms can include seizures, lung and brain swelling, breathing problems, and leg weakness.

What’s Better: Water, Juice, Coffee, or Tea?

Despite the risk of death from overhydration, drinking moderate amounts of water is harmless and helps your body function smoothly. This isn’t true for other popular drinks. Each has both positive and negative consequences.

Fruit or Vegetable Juice

Juices offer a pleasant taste, vitamins, fiber, and pectin, but they also contain a lot of easily absorbed sugars, allergens, and acids.

Unlike water, juices are caloric – even more so than whole fruits or vegetables. Store-bought juices and nectars are especially caloric because they contain added sugar and preservatives. Freshly squeezed juices are slightly better.

Juices are less effective than water for quenching thirst because they contain less water (80-90%) and substances that stimulate saliva production and oxidation in cells.

However, juices can be a good alternative source of nutrients in places where people don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.Water can’t do that.

Coffee and Tea

Both drinks contain caffeine (theine), which speeds up metabolism, reduces sleepiness, and improves alertness. However, it also increases urination, sweating, and anxiety, and can lead to physical dependence due to the release of dopamine (the “happiness hormone”) in response to its positive effects.

Both tea and coffee can stain teeth and damage enamel due to acids. They can also irritate the stomach lining.

When consumed in moderation without added sugar or sweeteners (honey is also considered a sweetener), with good oral hygiene, and at a low strength, tea and coffee are safe. Their nutritional value is not much higher than water, and they are much lower in calories than juices.

Detox Drinks: A Popular Myth

One of the most successful marketing tactics to boost sales of flavored or enhanced water, juice, or smoothies is to label them as “cleansing” or “toxin-removing.”

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, there is no scientific evidence to support the existence of detox products. The few studies available are either affiliated with companies that profit from selling these products or are poorly conducted with unconfirmed results.

In contrast, there are many more reliable studies, such as one from a group of scientists in Madrid, that confirm the lack of any extra benefits from detox products. In other words, these studies do not support the claim that these drinks and foods provide any positive effects beyond those naturally present in their components.

Furthermore, US regulatory agencies regularly sue companies that sell these products because:

They often contain illegal or potentially harmful ingredients.
Their advertising campaigns use misleading information, including claims of proven detoxification effects when there is no evidence to support them.
Their descriptions claim to cure diseases, even though the product is not a medication and has not been certified or licensed.

Physiologically, detox drinks and foods cannot affect the body’s detoxification system because they are digested and broken down into basic components before entering the bloodstream and circulating throughout the body. They can be harmful if they contain dangerous components that react chemically with stomach contents and cause damage.

A healthy person’s body effectively eliminates toxins on its own. The liver filters the blood, cleaning it and neutralizing harmful elements, while the urinary system (kidneys, bladder, ureters, and urethra) removes waste from the body.

What You Need to Know About Distilled Water

Theoretically, completely purifying drinking water through distillation sounds like the best way to make it safe, as it removes all microorganisms, dissolved salts (ions that conduct electrical impulses in the body – electrolytes).

However, according to WebMD, regularly drinking only distilled water over time can lead to a deficiency in essential micronutrients, including calcium, sodium, and magnesium. This can cause fatigue, weakness, muscle cramps, and even some cardiovascular diseases.

To avoid harm from distilled water, drink it in limited amounts and not too often, or after remineralization – when the water is enriched with electrolytes in a safe concentration.

Bonus: How to Drink Water During a Poker Session

As of April 2024, scientists disagree on how much water a person should drink daily. This is mainly because many factors influence the amount of water the body needs, with key factors being:

Location: Humidity/dryness and temperature of the air, frequency of precipitation, proximity to water bodies.
Sex and physiological characteristics: Women are generally recommended to drink at least 2.7 liters per day, men at least 3.6 liters.

However, the minimum varies between individuals depending on build, body weight, metabolism, sweating, and stomach volume.

Physical activity level: The more a person moves, the more water their body uses.
Intellectual activity level: The more brain resources are used for a task, the more water it needs.

Therefore, the only rule that applies to everyone equally is: if you feel thirsty, drink. However, thirst is a signal from the brain that you are already dehydrated and experiencing harm. To avoid this during poker sessions, researchers recommend that poker players and people with high intellectual demands throughout the day:

Don’t drink too much water at once. Pour water into a glass or bottle and sip it slowly. This will hydrate your mouth, washing your teeth, tongue, and salivary glands, and prevent your stomach from stretching due to a large volume of liquid in a short time.
Establish a drinking routine. If you are not very attuned to your body and cannot always distinguish between hunger and thirst, reminders from special apps can help you drink regularly and develop a habit of drinking. This method also helps establish a regular eating schedule.
Don’t drink water that is too cold or too hot. The optimal temperature is room temperature. Higher or lower temperatures can damage the cells of the throat and esophagus, increasing the risk of cancer and other diseases.
Supplement your drinks with fresh fruits and vegetables. This will provide your body with water in another form and with additional benefits.
Don’t drink “old” water. If you poured water into a glass and left it for several hours, it’s best to pour it out, wash the glass, and pour fresh water. Even distilled water can become a breeding ground for microorganisms if left “exposed”. Drinking it will give you a dose of unwanted pathogens.