Water is the single most important thing to drink when your body aches, but it’s not the only option that helps. Several beverages can reduce inflammation, support muscle repair, and ease soreness depending on the cause. Whether your body aches stem from illness, exercise, or general stiffness, the right drinks can speed up how quickly you feel better.
Why Hydration Matters More Than You Think
Dehydration doesn’t just make you thirsty. It directly increases how much pain you feel. When your body is low on fluids, water shifts out of your muscle cells to help maintain normal blood volume. That fluid loss inside the cells damages proteins responsible for muscle contraction and energy production. Meanwhile, the fluid that leaks out of damaged muscle fibers raises the concentration of particles in the surrounding tissue, which stimulates pain-sensing nerve fibers. The result: more soreness, more stiffness, and slower recovery.
General guidelines from the NIH suggest about 9 cups of fluids daily for women and 13 cups for men. But if you have a fever, vomiting, or diarrhea, you need significantly more than that. Hot weather and exercise also increase your requirements. The simplest test is urine color: pale yellow means you’re on track, dark yellow means you need more.
Plain water works. But if your aches are persistent or tied to heavy sweating, adding electrolytes helps. Magnesium plays a key role in nerve signaling and muscle contraction, and low levels are linked to cramping and spasms. Potassium and sodium help maintain the fluid balance inside and outside your cells. You can get these from electrolyte drinks, coconut water, or by simply adding a pinch of salt and a squeeze of citrus to your water.
Tart Cherry Juice for Inflammation
Tart cherry juice is one of the most studied beverages for muscle pain, and the results are genuinely impressive. In people with mild to moderate arthritis, drinking about two cups (474 ml) daily for six weeks reduced C-reactive protein, a key marker of systemic inflammation, by 23%. Even shorter regimens show benefits. Two days of cherry juice concentrate (just 30 ml per serving, roughly equivalent to 90 cherries) reduced systemic inflammation by about 35% below baseline by the third day.
The most commonly studied protocol uses Montmorency tart cherries, either as a juice from fresh-frozen cherries (two 355 ml servings per day) or as a concentrate (two 30 ml servings per day). Studies on exercise recovery typically start the juice a few days before strenuous activity and continue for a few days after, but there’s no reason you can’t use it when aches are already present. Look for 100% tart cherry juice or concentrate without added sugar. The concentrated form is more practical and appears equally effective.
Ginger Tea
Ginger works through many of the same pathways as over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, but without the harsh effects on your stomach lining. In a study of 63 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 1.5 grams of ginger per day significantly reduced two important inflammatory markers. That’s roughly a one-inch piece of fresh ginger root, which is easy to steep in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes.
You can grate fresh ginger into boiling water, strain it, and add honey or lemon. Powdered ginger works too if fresh isn’t available. Drinking two to three cups throughout the day keeps you both hydrated and supplied with ginger’s active compounds. It’s particularly useful when body aches accompany a cold or flu, since ginger also helps with nausea.
Turmeric Drinks
Turmeric’s pain-relieving reputation is well earned, but there’s a catch: your body absorbs very little of the active compounds on its own. Adding black pepper changes the equation dramatically, boosting absorption by up to 154%. Pairing turmeric with a source of fat (like milk or coconut milk) may improve absorption further.
A simple turmeric latte combines a teaspoon of ground turmeric, a generous crack of black pepper, warm milk or a plant-based alternative, and honey to taste. This combination ensures you’re actually getting the anti-inflammatory benefit rather than passing most of it through unabsorbed. Drink it warm in the evening and you get the added benefit of winding down before sleep, which is when much of your body’s repair work happens.
Bone Broth for Joint and Muscle Support
Bone broth provides a concentrated source of amino acids that support tissue repair. About 40% of the amino acids in bone broth come from two compounds, glutamic acid and histidine, that have demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects. Glutamic acid promotes cell repair and reduces inflammation in damaged tissue, while histidine helps lower levels of key inflammatory signaling molecules.
Sipping warm bone broth also contributes to your fluid intake and provides sodium, which supports electrolyte balance. Chicken or beef bone broth simmered for 12 to 24 hours yields the richest amino acid profile. Store-bought versions vary widely in quality, so check that bone broth is listed as the primary ingredient rather than flavored water with added protein.
Green Tea
Green tea contains a group of antioxidants called catechins that help protect muscle tissue from damage. Animal studies show that green tea supplementation before muscle-damaging exercise preserved muscle function and reduced markers of muscle breakdown. Human studies using polyphenol blends with green tea catechins found similar protective effects against exercise-induced muscle damage.
Two to three cups of green tea per day provides a meaningful dose of these protective compounds. It also contributes to hydration despite containing caffeine, since the amount in green tea (about 30 to 50 mg per cup) is modest enough that it doesn’t significantly offset the fluid you’re taking in. If you’re sensitive to caffeine, stick to earlier in the day or choose a decaffeinated version.
Chamomile Tea Before Bed
Chamomile contains a compound called apigenin that, at sufficient doses, can promote muscle relaxation and sedation. While the concentrations in a single cup of tea are modest compared to what’s used in lab studies, chamomile tea still serves a practical purpose: it helps you sleep, and sleep is when your body does the bulk of its tissue repair. Poor sleep and body aches feed each other in a frustrating cycle, so anything that improves sleep quality indirectly helps with pain.
Brew chamomile tea with boiling water for at least five minutes to extract more of the active compounds. Drinking it 30 to 60 minutes before bed gives it time to take effect.
What to Avoid
Alcohol is one of the worst things you can drink when your body aches. It suppresses the process your muscles use to repair damaged proteins, and it does so in a dose-dependent way: the more you drink, the worse the effect. Alcohol also raises cortisol (a stress hormone that promotes muscle breakdown) while lowering testosterone and circulating amino acids, both of which your body needs for recovery. Even moderate drinking during a recovery period slows healing without providing any measurable benefit to soreness or muscle function.
Sugary drinks and sodas are also counterproductive. Excess sugar promotes inflammation throughout the body, which is the opposite of what you want when you’re already aching. If plain water feels boring, add fruit slices, cucumber, or fresh mint rather than reaching for sweetened beverages.
A Practical Drinking Schedule
You don’t need to drink all of these every day. A reasonable approach is to build your day around steady hydration with water or electrolyte-enhanced water, then layer in one or two of the anti-inflammatory options based on what you have available. Ginger tea or bone broth works well in the morning. Tart cherry juice (or concentrate mixed with water) fits easily at lunch or as an afternoon drink. Turmeric with warm milk or chamomile tea makes a natural evening choice. The goal is consistent fluid intake throughout the day, with anti-inflammatory compounds distributed across multiple servings rather than consumed all at once.