Water Retention: What can you do?

You feel puffy. Bloated. Sometimes your fingers swell. Legs feel heavy. The condition is called oedema or water retention.

So what is water retention and why did you get it?

Most people think it is excess salt. While it is one possible cause, it is not the only one. Your body is extremely intelligent and never does anything without reason.

Water retention happens when there is an imbalance in your body. As I love to say, your body craves homeostasis and imbalances occur when your body loses the ability to maintain homeostasis.

The reasons are many. Inflammation. Poor circulation. A stressed gut. Hormonal changes. Even sitting too long.

Your body is always protecting you. When it feels threatened, it holds on.

Water is one way it creates a buffer. It’s a signal. A message to act. Not a malfunction.

Allow me to illustrate with one example. Your cells need the right balance of sodium and potassium. If one goes up, the other adjusts. Eat too much processed food and sodium spikes.

Not enough potassium? Water gets trapped.

Inflammation makes it worse. Eat sugar. Sleep poorly. Stress constantly. Your gut lining suffers.

That creates chronic, low-grade inflammation. One way to combat inflammation is to hold on to water.

If you have woken up with a puffy face after a late night binge, this is the reason.

The fix isn’t just drinking less water. In fact, to the contrary.

It’s understanding why your body is holding it.

Move more. Slow down your breathing. Eat home cooked food. Get quality sleep. Your body heals at night. It resets.

Hydrate intelligently. Water with minerals works better than plain water.

Water retention is not a flaw. It’s feedback. When you understand why, you can change it. As always, solve the root problem, not the symptom.

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