By Barry Lees, founder of The Health Improvers · May 2026

You woke up this morning and your ring was tight. By mid-afternoon, your shoes felt like they belonged to someone else. By the evening, you caught your reflection and saw a face that looked slightly puffier than yesterday.

If any of that sounds familiar, you're experiencing something most adults deal with at some point. Some weeks it's barely noticeable. Other weeks - usually for women in the days before a period, or for anyone after a long flight or a salty meal - it can feel relentless.

I've spent a long time looking into water retention. Not because it's glamorous, but because it's one of the most common things people ask me about - and most of what's written online about it is either selling a quick fix or reciting the same five tips that don't actually explain what's happening.

So here's the honest version: what water retention actually is, why your body does it, when it's normal, when it's not, and what genuinely helps.

What "water retention" actually means

Your body is roughly 60% water. That water is constantly moving between three compartments: inside your cells, between your cells, and inside your blood vessels. When everything's balanced, you don't notice it. When too much fluid leaks into the space between your cells, you do - that's the puffiness, the rings that won't come off, the sock indents that don't fade.

The medical term for this is "oedema". The everyday term is water retention. Same thing.

Your body holds onto water deliberately. It's a survival mechanism. The two main hormones involved are aldosterone (which tells your kidneys to keep sodium, and water follows sodium) and ADH or "antidiuretic hormone" (which tells your kidneys to keep water).

When those hormones spike - because of stress, salt intake, hormonal shifts, certain medications, sitting still for hours - your body keeps more water than it would otherwise release. The result shows up on the bathroom scales, in your face, in your ankles, and in your fingers.

The most common reasons your body holds water

1. Sodium imbalance

This is the big one. Most people in the UK eat far more sodium than they realise - not from the salt shaker, but from bread, processed foods, condiments, and ready meals. Your body holds water to dilute excess sodium and protect your blood pressure. The next morning, that pizza shows up as a puffy face.

What helps: not just "less salt" - but enough potassium to balance it. Potassium tells your kidneys to release sodium. Foods like bananas, sweet potatoes, leafy greens, beans and avocados are practical sources.

2. Hormonal shifts (especially for women)

In the 7-10 days before a period, oestrogen and progesterone shift in ways that increase fluid retention. This is normal. Pregnancy, menopause, and starting or stopping hormonal contraception can all trigger it too.

It feels disproportionate because it often is - sometimes a kilo or more of water weight in a few days. It does pass.

3. Sitting or standing still for hours

Long-haul flights, long drives, desk-bound days. When you don't move, your circulatory system doesn't pump fluid back up from your lower body efficiently. Gravity wins. Your ankles and feet swell.

What helps: walking, calf raises, compression socks for flights, and crucially - drinking more water, not less. Most people who fly try to "dehydrate" themselves and make the problem worse.

4. Drinking too little water (counterintuitively)

Your body interprets persistent low water intake as a threat and starts holding onto whatever you give it. The fix is consistent hydration, not chugging two litres in one go. Sip throughout the day.

5. Stress and cortisol

Chronic stress raises cortisol, and cortisol affects aldosterone - meaning more sodium retained, more water retained. This is why exam weeks, work deadlines, and difficult life events sometimes leave people looking puffy as well as tired.

6. Certain medications

NSAIDs (ibuprofen, naproxen), some blood pressure drugs, hormonal medications, steroids, and some antidepressants can all cause fluid retention as a side effect. If you started a new medication and noticed puffiness, talk to your GP - it doesn't mean stopping the medication, but worth flagging.

7. Diet patterns

Very low-carb diets cause initial water loss (you lose a lot of stored carb-bound water in the first week). Coming off that diet rebounds the same way. High-carb days after low-carb days, or salty meals after clean eating days, can all cause swings.

When water retention is something more than annoying

Most water retention is benign. It comes, it goes, your body sorts itself out. But sometimes it points to something that needs medical attention.

See your GP if you have any of the following:

• Swelling that's asymmetric - one ankle but not the other, one leg significantly larger

• Swelling that doesn't go down after a night's rest

• Sudden, severe swelling combined with shortness of breath, chest pain, or fatigue

• Persistent swelling around the eyes (especially in the morning) that lasts for more than a few days

• Swelling along with significant weight gain over a short period (more than 2-3kg in a week without obvious cause)

These can indicate heart, kidney, liver, or thyroid issues that need investigating. Don't panic - but don't ignore them either.

What actually helps day-to-day

In rough order of impact, from "biggest difference" to "small improvement":

Eat more potassium

This is the most consistently useful change. Bananas, sweet potatoes, white beans, spinach, avocado, salmon. Aim for at least one substantial potassium source per meal. Your kidneys will release sodium more readily.

Drink water consistently

1.5 - 2 litres a day spread out, not in bursts. If you find this hard, drink a glass first thing in the morning before tea or coffee - it builds the habit. Herbal teas count.

Move every hour

Set a timer if you sit at a desk. Two minutes of walking or standing per hour makes a real difference to fluid pooling in the legs. It's not about fitness - it's about circulation.

Reduce processed food, not just salt

Most sodium comes from bread, cheese, processed meats, ready meals, and sauces - not from your salt shaker. Cooking from scratch even 50% of the time helps more than agonising over how much salt you add yourself.

Sleep well and manage stress

Cortisol management is part of fluid management. The relationship is real - a week of bad sleep and high stress often shows up as puffiness even without dietary changes.

Consider gentle herbal support

Several traditional botanicals have been used for centuries in the UK to support healthy fluid balance - dandelion leaf, parsley, juniper berry, uva ursi and buchu. These work alongside lifestyle changes, not as a replacement for them.

Dandelion leaf in particular has been studied for its diuretic action in modern research, with results suggesting it supports the kidneys' normal function. Parsley has a long tradition of similar use. None of these are dramatic interventions — they're gentle support that pairs well with a sensible diet.

Our own Water Retention Tablets blend these traditional herbs with vitamin B6, which contributes to normal regulation of hormonal activity (relevant for cyclical water retention). It's not a magic pill - but for people doing the basics right and wanting a daily nudge, it works well alongside lifestyle changes.

You can read more about our formula here: [Aqualibrium Water Retention Tablets]

What doesn't help (and what to avoid)

A few things people try that aren't worth your time or money:

• **Prescription diuretics for cosmetic puffiness.** These are powerful drugs with real side effects (electrolyte imbalance, dehydration, kidney stress). They have proper medical uses for high blood pressure and heart failure - they should not be your first stop for "feeling bloated".

• **"Detox teas" with senna or buckthorn.** These work by causing diarrhoea, which causes temporary weight loss through dehydration. They're unkind to your gut and don't address water retention itself.

• **Drinking lemon water in huge quantities.** A glass of lemon water in the morning is fine. Six glasses won't flush out fluid retention. The lemon does nothing meaningful here.

• **Cutting water intake.** The most counterproductive thing you can do. As mentioned, your body holds water harder when it's under-hydrated.

The honest summary

Water retention is one of those things where the boring answers are the right ones. Eat more vegetables, drink water steadily, move every hour, manage your stress, sleep enough, and avoid quick-fix products that promise to "drain" you in 24 hours.

If you're doing all that and still want gentle daily support, traditional herbal blends with dandelion, parsley and B vitamins can be a useful add-on. They won't make a difference if your diet is mostly bread and crisps. They might make a noticeable one if your lifestyle is already in reasonable shape.

And if your swelling is severe, sudden, asymmetric, or coming with other symptoms - please see your GP. Not every puffiness is benign.

Barry

The Health Improvers · UK-made supplements · thehealthimprovers.uk