What would you say is the most important thing you need to stay healthy? A healthy diet? Thirty minutes of exercise a day? Plenty of sleep?

If you answered yes to any of these things, you?re wrong.

While these are all essential to saying healthy, the most important thing your body needs is plenty of water. The same thing goes for your skin. In order to keep your skin looking and feeling great, you need to drink plenty of water.

It is important to remember that you lose water even when you?re not sweating. If you don?t replace the moisture you lose, your skin can?t be replenished and will get very dry. When skin cells are dry, they crack, peel and change colors. Dry skin can also be itchy and painful, as well as unsightly. While lotions and creams help, they usually are not the answer to your dry skin issues. As-a-matter-of-fact they are just like putting a band-aid on a cut. It may help the problem in the short term, but as with most skin issues and health problems, the real healing comes from within.

There are many people who have unsightly skin issues that could be resolved by simply drinking more water.

To properly hydrate your skin, you need to drink plenty of water. The proper amount of water to drink on a daily basis is half of your body weight. So if you weight 150 lbs then you need to drink 75 oz of water. The old adage of 64 oz per day or eight glasses is perfect for a person weighing 128lbs but for a 200 lb person it is just not enough. Your body is made with more ater than anything else and when it gets lost, it needs to be replenished.

Water is what flushes all the waste products away in your body. Without water, there?s nothing to get rid of all the harmful toxins that build up. This keeps yours cells from working properly and prevents them from being as healthy as they can be. Your skin cells are no different. And if your skin cells aren?t healthy, it shows.

Do you have problems with puffy bloated skin? You may be tempted to cut back on water so it doesn?t fill your skin cells, but the problem is actually lack of water, not too much. If you?re not getting enough water, your cells are aware of the lack. Once they realize what is going on, it triggers a response for them to hold on to as much water as they can in case they don?t get more water later. The result of such a process is puffy, unhealthy looking skin. If your cells are regularly hydrated, they?ll have no reason to hold on to excessive water, giving you smooth even skin.

People have always complimented me on my skin and ask my secret. Well in addition to good genes, I drink about a gallon of water per day. As I lose weight I won’t drink as much because my body won’t require as much but for now a gallon does my body good.

Now let me say that tea and coffee are not considered water. I know I know they say it does but it really doesn’t because caffeine, sugar and other additives the value of water to your body is depleted with teas, coffee, and even juice.

You may be asking if water is so good for your skin, shouldn?t you take a lot of baths and showers?

Actually, taking too many baths or showers, and swimming in pools can remove moisture from your skin. Excessive contact with water, particularly if it?s hot or contains chemicals like chlorine, breaks down the lipid barriers on your skin and actually makes your skin look and feel drier. If you can?t avoid being in water, just remember to drink more water than you normally would. If necessary, water vapor does not have these affects and can be used to hydrate your skin.

If better looking skin isn?t enough of a benefit for you, remember that other cells in your body need water as well. Drinking enough water can help you look better, feel better, and even lose weight. So stay healthy and beautiful by getting your water daily.