How clean drinking water supports energy, focus, and overall wellness

It’s easy to write off drinking water as a boring, mundane part of everyday life. Everyone needs to drink to stay hydrated. And as long as they get some liquid in some form, they’re good to go, right?

Wrong. A growing body of research shows the importance of drinking clean water. This doesn’t just support overall health (although it plays an important role there, too). Clean water is important for specific benefits like energy and focus, too.

Let’s look at what it means to have “clean” drinking water and some of the research behind the effects of proper hydration in areas like energy, attention, and cognitive performance.

What Is “Clean” Drinking Water?

It’s hard to see what is in your water, even when it isn’t clean. So what does “clean” water mean? Antunes offers this definition for residential clean water systems: “Water is considered high quality when it is free of sediment, chemicals, contaminants, and provides constant flow and pressure throughout the house.”

In an office setting, water in bottles or a water cooler is initially purified. But sitting in a plastic container has its own problems. One study from Columbia University and Rutgers found that the average liter of bottled water has at least 240,000 plastic particles.

Most of these plastic particles are nanoplastics (less than a micrometer across), but they add up quickly. A common comparison is that Americans eat or drink around a credit card’s worth of plastic every week. When Reuters reported the same credit card statistic, the news site clarified that this is “mainly in drinking water but also via sources like shellfish, which tend to be eaten whole, so the plastic in their digestive systems is also consumed.” So, unless an individual has a diet rich in shellfish, the bulk of their plastic consumption is coming from their unclean water.

PET plastic leeches at least 150 different chemicals into water, including heavy metals and toxins. Tap water isn’t great either, and neither is water from a well. A study published by the University of New Mexico warned that “water from many wells and community water systems contains unsafe levels of toxic contaminants, exposing millions to health risks, including cancer.”

Rich "Raz" Razgaitis, CEO and Cofounder of FloWater, summarized the clean water crisis succinctly by saying, “We are drinking a chemical cocktail whenever we drink out of the tap.” Razgaitis has put the time into his research. His company’s commercial water Refill Stations are known for their “clean water” approach, which uses 7x Advanced Purification system to remove up to 99.9% of contaminants, including PFAS, microplastics, and lead.

These harmful elements of water have a net negative impact on overall wellness. Razgaitis points out that the average person has the equivalent of a plastic spoon’s worth of microplastic sitting in their brain. The American Chemical Society adds that it found tens of thousands of microplastic particles in most heart tissue samples, as well.

While clean water is important for overall health, it can also have a profound impact on daily life. Two key areas of everyday activity worth noting? Energy and focus.

The Link Between Clean Drinking Water, Energy, and Focus

Water does more than keep your body ticking over time. It can have a very real, in-the-moment impact on how you perform.

For example, a report by News Medical Life Sciences synthesized several studies and found that they confirmed that dehydration is linked to decreased cognitive function. The report elaborated that when water loss exceeds intake throughout the day, blood volume decreases and plasma osmolarity increases. This lowers blood pressure. It also directly impacts the brain (which has more water than most areas of the body).

A drop of as little as 2% of bodily water can start to lower the brain’s ability to operate at peak efficiency. This can lead to lower concentration and reaction times. It can decrease memory capabilities and make it harder to avoid negative moods.

Another study from the Journal of Nutrition (reported by BeYou) found that if body hydration drops by 3-4%, it can lead to “a 25% reduction in work performance, notably impacting concentration, alertness, and memory.”

Improving Drinking Water Quality and Accessibility

The takeaway here is that consistent, clean water is needed not just to survive, but to thrive — and it’s worth the investment. Proper hydration boosts output, efficiency, and capability. So, how can people improve water quality? Here are a few options:

• At home, invest in a consistent water bottle, like Okapa, that is metal or glass.

• If you work from home, make a point to drink at specific points to maintain hydration throughout the day.

• In the office, install water options like the FloWater system that aren’t just accessible but also hyper-filtered.

There are many ways to stay hydrated. This starts with education. Understanding the impact of clean water on daily performance helps people prioritize hydration. Whether you’re learning for your own daily habits or overseeing a team and trying to encourage them to stay healthy, start with the spreading of knowledge that is key to any long-term change. Then take steps to build healthy hydration habits that keep that clean water flowing all day long.

(The article is from brand desk. User discretion is advised.)