Here at Body Works Med Spa & Wellness, we do a lot of non-invasive body contouring. This involves fat reduction, muscle-building, skin tightening, and cellulite smoothing. Our devices including Emsculpt Neo, EmTone, Exilis Ultra, and Emsella use radiofrequency and high intensity-focused electromagnetic energy to accomplish these goals. For all of our procedures, we talk about the importance of hydration. This relates specifically to its effect on the results you get and how comfortable treatment will be. We wanted to talk a little more in-depth about why hydration is so important.
Why Hydration Is Important
Treatments including Emsculpt Neo, EmTone, Exilis Ultra Body treatments, and the Exilis Ultra Facelift use radiofrequency. With any treatment that uses radiofrequency, you need lots of water in your skin so that the energy can pass through your skin evenly. This prevents heat from building up in small areas and creating “hot spots”, which can make treatment uncomfortable. Also, when your body is consistently hydrated with lots of water flowing in and through it, your body can remove fat cells easier and faster. That’s often what we want!
Emsculpt Neo and Emsella use high intensity-focused electromagnetic energy to strengthen and build muscle. With this energy, being hydrated helps you tolerate the treatment better. In other words, if you do a treatment while you’re hydrated, you’ll likely find it much more comfortable than doing it while dehydrated.
In other news, lack of adequate hydration is one of the leading causes of your skin’s loss of elasticity and plumpness. Why, you ask? It’s because collagen, which is a protein in your skin responsible for elasticity and volume, needs water in order to do its job of creating structure. In fact, water is about 60% of the total weight of collagen. Experiments that remove water from collagen show that it dramatically reduces the collagen’s ability to create tension in the skin. This means that staying hydrated by drinking lots of water will help your collagen maintain the skin’s structure, elasticity, and plumpness while keeping lines and wrinkles at bay.
Why It’s Hard To Drink Enough Water
Why is it so hard to drink enough water, anyway? Unlike food, most people don’t get instant gratification from drinking water because it’s bland and tasteless. Drinking 2 litres of water a day can feel like a chore. Here is an interesting reason why drinking water is hard: researchers say that because your entire body is made up of almost 60% water, you may not feel the need to drink it because you are abundant with it. Whether you like it or not, your system needs to constantly replenish its water because you use it in every process and activity inside your body.
Many people associate hydration with thirst. This is the worst way to determine if you are properly hydrated because by the time you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated! Many people think that thirst is the only reminder that they need to hydrate, which is where some of the problem with drinking enough water comes in. Drinking lots of water on a daily basis – whether you feel thirsty or not – is the only way to consistently stay hydrated.
Below are some of the body’s functions for which hydration is essential. The functions in bold are important if you want to achieve optimal results and comfort when doing treatments at Body Works Med Spa & Wellness.
- Aids in proper digestion
- Helps to keep us from overheating
- Lubricates joints and tissues
- Maintains healthy skin
- Protects the spinal cord and other sensitive tissues
- Restores fluid lost through breathing, metabolism, removal of waste and sweating
Tips For Maintaining Good Hydration
We can probably now agree that it’s important to drink lots of water for both aesthetic and wellness reasons (for most people, 2 litres a day is good guideline!). Here are some tips on how to make it happen:
- Try soaking cucumber, lemon, lime, orange, or pineapple slices in your water overnight. This adds flavour and extra nutrients to your water. You can also freeze lemons, limes, and other fruit to use as ice cubes. This is another way to add a delicious hint of fruit flavour to your water. You can even get creative and include fresh herbs like mint leaves from your windowsill garden.
- Try eating your way to hydration. Yum! Fruit such as melon has a high water volume so it will help you stay hydrated. Herbal teas, juice popsicles, and soups are also food choices that can help you stay hydrated.
- Avoid consuming a lot of caffeine. For example, keep your caffeinated coffee, tea, and soft drink consumption to a minimum. Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it triggers your body to promptly remove water by passing urine.
Products To Help Hydrate Skin
Before and after using the Age Reverse System by Body Works Med Spa & Wellness
Despite consuming lots of water, some people still have dry, wrinkled, and sagging skin. Hydrating your skin with the appropriate medical-grade skincare products is a great way to improve your skin’s appearance. Since radiofrequency treatments can also have a drying effect on the skin, applying medical-grade skincare product is a worthwhile step in your post-treatment care routine. Body Works Med Spa & Wellness recently partnered with a dermatologist to offer high-quality, clinically-tested products.
For the face, we have a selection of hydrating serums and moisturizers. Our team members are more than happy to help you choose the right product or combination of products for your skin type and goals. HA+ Firming Boost is particularly good at hydrating the delicate skin on your face. We also recommend the Age Reverse System including our Camomile Cleanser, C-Stem Serum, and Ultra Benefits moisturizer as a starter routine for all skin types. Clinical studies show that after 4 weeks of using the Age Reverse System, 87% of patients saw improvement in lines and wrinkles, 80% saw an evening of skin tone, and 93% noticed smoother skin.
Before and after using the Restorative Body Conditioner by Body Works Med Spa & Wellness
For the body, our Restorative Body Conditioner revitalizes skin with multi-level hydration. It adds hydration, helps your skin retain moisture, and protects against environmental damage. The result is firmer, plumper-looking skin. Results of products and services always vary from person-to-person, but this image shows an example of how the Restorative Body Conditioner changed the appearance of one person’s skin during clinical studies.
Get In Touch
For more hydration and wellness tips, scroll all the way down the page and use the web form in the footer below to sign up for our e-newsletter. If you’re interested in our medical-grade skincare products, pop in to our downtown clinic to speak with a team member. For more information about our services here at Body Works Med Spa & Wellness, we invite you to book a free in-person or virtual consultation. You can click here to book online or call 902-405-0858. We hope to see you soon!
