Experts recommend drinking 8 glasses of water each day, and the easiest way to do this is to drink straight from the tap. But have you ever stopped to think about what’s in your tap water and eventually ends up in your body?

Even though it looks completely clear, water contains a variety of elements. Some of these are harmless. But others, particularly fluoride, pose a threat to your health. When we first started looking into the effects of fluoride in drinking water on human health, we were stunned by what we found. Here’s what we discovered about how fluoride harms your body and brain.

Why fluoride water is harmful to you

Fluoride is added to drinking water in most regions of North America. Despite this, it can harm your health in the short term and long term. For example, researchers have found that fluoride affects the brain by disrupting hormone function. It calcifies the pineal gland, which interferes with your body’s ability to naturally produce melatonin. This not only disrupts your sleep but also limits intuitive and creative thinking. Furthermore, fluoride can impair thyroid function, which affects growth and metabolism.

Evidence also shows that fluoride binds to aluminum easily. This is harmful because it allows fluoride to carry aluminum across the blood-brain barrier, leading to neurotoxicity. In addition, fluoride inhibits the activity of acetylcholine transferase and dihydropteridine reductase, which can lead to microcephaly, hypotonia, hyperphenylalaninemia, mental retardation, and convulsions. Furthermore, fluoride has the ability to deplete the central nervous system of tyrosine and several neurotransmitters.

Fluoride disrupts the pineal gland

Of all the harmful effects we discovered, the impact of fluoride on the pineal gland was the most shocking. Also known as the conarium or epiphysis cerebri, the pineal gland is a gland shaped like a pine cone that produces melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that regulates sleep patterns in both circadian and seasonal cycles. If you have trouble sleeping properly at night, it may be because the fluoride in your drinking water isn’t letting your pineal gland do its job properly.  

An alternative to fluoride water

Fortunately, tap water isn’t your only option when it comes to finding a source of drinking water. Instead of relying on tap water for your daily water intake, consider switching to fluoride-free water. For less than the price of a coffee each day, you can get fluoride-free water delivered right to your home every few weeks.

Fluoride-free water tastes noticeably different than tap water, so you can only imagine how differently it affects your body. Give fluoride-free water a try to see how it can improve your sleep, energy, and overall health.