Doctors have discovered the key to healthy aging

 There are many ways to ensure a more comfortable and healthy aging, but this time doctors from the US National Institutes of Health have found the simplest of them: you just need to drink more water.

This is stated in an article published in the journal eBioMedicine.

It is known that old age proceeds differently for different people. While someone keeps a younger look for a long time, someone ages rapidly. While some live to their age without serious health problems, others suffer from age-related diseases.

As the average age of the population increases in many countries, the challenge for researchers is to find and develop ways to help people age comfortably. This will allow them to maintain their health and labor activity for many years.

Previously, scientists have already found out that lifelong restriction of mice in water shortens their life by about half a year, which is compared to 15 years of human life. Currently, researchers from the US National Institutes of Health have tested the hypothesis that an optimal amount of water in the diet of middle-aged people can slow down the aging process.

To do this, they used data collected as part of another study that linked lack of water with the risk of heart failure. The sample included 15,752 people aged 45 to 66 years who were followed up for 25 years. To determine how much water a person drinks, scientists analyzed the sodium content in their blood serum. To assess the relative rate of aging, biological age was calculated and the risks of chronic diseases and premature death were assessed.

People who didn't drink enough water in middle age were found to have a 40 percent increased risk of developing chronic diseases in old age. People with serum sodium above 142 millimoles per liter are at "risk group" for a number of diseases such as heart failure, stroke, diabetes and dementia, the researchers found.

While more research is needed to get people with "wrong" sodium to drink more water, a simple blood test can give patients a clue as to what they may face in old age.

According to researchers, about half of people around the world drink significantly less than the norm per day. And not always the reason for this is the lack of access to fresh water. Additional preventive work is needed to improve public health without significant financial costs.