We all know the importance of adequate hydration.
However, water consumption requires a balance of sorts and it’s entirely possible to drink too much water.
Over-hydration and hyponatremia – although rare – can be a problem (particularly among endurance athletes).
What do the experts really say about water intake and how can you ensure you drink the right amount?
Keeping Count: The Traditional View
Guidelines are constantly changing. Back in 2004, the Institute of Medicine effectively overruled the 8 glass a day rule – with a new report.
They stated a general daily recommendation of 2.7 liters (91 ounces) of total water for women and 3.7 liters (125 ounces) for men. This includes water from all sources (foods and drinks).
Water intake from food will vary depending on your diet (higher fruit and vegetable intake means higher water intake). Some experts suggest that 20% of water intake comes from food.
Here are some tips to keeping count.
- Wake up to water–literally. Before you eat or drink anything else in the morning, have a glass of water.
- Drink out of a measured bottle or sports drink container. If you know 1 bottle = 12 ounces, you can figure out how many ounces to drink to meet your body’s daily needs. Know your numbers so you can meet your goal.
- Track your intake with a loose schedule. Don’t be too rigid, but find a general schedule that works for you (say, 2 glasses in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and 2 in the evening). This will help spread out consumption and regulate your water intake.
Winging It: Using Urine Color
If urine is dark in color – you are not drinking enough. Urine should be a light color and should occur every 2-3 hours (webmd). The trouble here is; what is “dark” to one person may be “light” to another.
Other Factors That Affect Intake Levels
The more you sweat, the more water you lose.
So heat and exercise play a major role, and, of course, any medical conditions that may affect fluid balance.
Controversy and a Thorough Debunking
In the American Journal of Physiology (2002), Heinz Valtin does a complete and utter debunking of the “8×8 myth”. He also goes on to question the need for a high water intake at all, and states that caffeinated and alcoholic beverages do indeed count toward daily water intake.
The Answer?
It seems no-one really agrees. May I suggest that for the average sedentary person – there is no need to overdo the water intake. For those aiming to manage body weight – it may assist in the feeling of fullness and thus lead to less food intake.
For those doing exercise – increased water intake is important. Where considerable sweating occurs, then it is very important to maintain electrolyte balance (see a discussion on Gatorade).
The Irony
While we obsess about the correct water intake, there are still 1,067,789,000 people that do not have easy access to clean drinking water (WHO/UNICEF).
It makes you think.
And while you’re thinking about that – contemplate the words of Todd Jarvis, associate professor at OSU.
- “in America we’re spending $20,000 every minute of every day on bottled water.”
- “tap water that originally cost maybe five cents a gallon can be sold now for $4 a gallon.”
Ever thought about the environmental consequences of creating up to 2.5 million tons of plastic bottles each year?
Someone’s making a lot of money from our obsession with “adequate hydration”.
LOL who knew water would bring up so many crazy opinions. I think the best way to judge how much water one should drink, in general without factoring extreme health conditions, is this:
your weight x 0.01 = L
150lbs x 0.01 = 1.5L
This way your factoring your personal body weight not a general recommended number based on averages.
Drinking water can help with skin problems as you’re hydrating your skin. I am not saying that this is the cure for all skin conditions but that it helps. I have also heard that animal fats can worsen skin problems so it’s best to limit them but not eliminate them as they definitely have nutritional value. I personally take calcium pills instead of drinking milk as the body doesn’t have the enzymes to break down milks from other animals and I am really not fond of soy or rice milk. I use a simple cleanser and lotion and drink lots of water as my skin remedy.
I find when I don’t drink enough water for a while I get headaches which I attribute to dehydration. I don’t generally take meds so usually drinking a glass and waiting a while the headache goes away. Again, not factoring into medical conditions.
As for losing weight and flushing the system of toxins? When you are working out you sweat. To keep your pores from getting clogged yes of course you should keep up your water intake and hydrate your muscles to avoid cramping. I definitely believe you can drink too much water and flush out the nutrients because your body didn’t have time to absorb them. I’ve always heard that if you’ve had a higher calorie meal to drink more water to aid in getting it out of your system…but I’m not sure how much fact there is to that. I think it’d be easier to avoid the higher calories.
In short. You are made up mostly of water. I truly empathize with the person that is allergic to themselves and truly don’t understand how that could come to be. You can definitely survive without water by obtaining your water from foods and other liquids (not alcohol! Duh!). Though I am certain you would be much healthier to get your water from the source….water?
I grew up on bottled water but that’s only because my mom worked for a water company. I don’t know if you necessarily have to drink bottled, unless your tap water is gross like it is here. Our Spring run off turns the water a lovely shade of brown (gag!). As to Flouride – not a poison in the levels of what is added to your water. I don’t know if I necessarily agree with it in the water system. I think there are definitely pros and cons to that. There is also Ozone added to your bottled water which acts as a preservative and if you were to drink it on its own it would kill you. But again, the levels that it is added are not dangerous at all. If you were to drink too much alcohol, another common poison we drink, you would die of alcohol poisoning. If you drink to much pop it can result in many different medical problems.
I think the lesson learned is everything in moderation and use your common sense.
I. Agree wTer is better to. Drink if you need eletrolights there is water with eletrolights with no sugar sugar makes you slow
Guess what? Your body gives you signals telling you whether you are drinking enough or not. If you’re not, you would feel thirsty. Most people these days don’t listen to their bodies signals.
It really is a silly myth that you need to drink such and such an amount of water per day. Some idiot pretending to be an “expert” pulls this arbitrary number out of their bottom and thinks it can apply to everybody… yeah right.
As for detoxing, your body is design to naturally do this anyway… that’s largely why you produce urine to expel waste products anyway… drinking extra water, more than you really require, will simply make your blood thinner, meaning more water will be filtered out of it through your kidneys, and guess what, you’ll just piss it out into the toilet all day.
Wow, good one.
What a load of bollocks.
You may need more water because you are drinking so much tea. Tea makes you dehydrated. As well as coffee.
LMFAO…….wow guys…..good laugh:) Love it!!!!
Look up your DRI
Ok…..Lol- thats sound smart. I can see you need to take a nutrition class:)
The amount of water an individual requires also depends on whether their body is burning carbohydrate or fat to produce its energy (to produce ATP). Burning fat to produce ATP requires about 1.5 times the amount of water as conpared to buring carohydrate to produce ATP.
What about water that comes from your food? Normally I could drink 64+ ounces easily, because I’m thirsty or hungry for most of the day. But eating alot of fruit recently, I haven’t even drank plain water, except for a few sips here and there, and I’m not thirsty. Or hungry. Drinking that much water would be nearly impossible unless I was exercising alot everyday.
Diabetes insipidus is an endocrine disorder where you don’t pruduce enough anti duiretic hormone it makes you urinate a lot and thus need a lot of water you can have normal blood sugar and have it because it isn’t related to blood sugar it is often caused by a tumor on the hypothalamus or something. I don’t really know the details I learned about it in 2nd year physiology but hopefully that is a starting point to get some answers as it can be dangerous to drink too much water.
Your body is made up of 75% to 80% water, its not fat, muscle but water! That is why it is important to ensure you drink enough to keep the body going and your organs functioning, water if vital for your existence. Think about, the body can survive for several weeks without food, as it uses stored fat, and then its organs (unfortunately) to fuel itself. However the body can not survive without water for as long. Alcohol does not count as as a water, infact it alchol and caffine does the opposite to water, it actually dhydrates the body, so the person who entered the first post, needs a rethink their health regime, if you have one at all. Dont forget water provides all natural minerals that the body is made up of ( as we derived from the earth mass), so need it to continue to regenerate and function.
if it’s toxic then why do dentists put flouride on your teeth? or make flouride water for toddlers?
I’ve heard that once your thirsty, your body is past the point of needing water…
I drink 8oz every hour…
Me too. I hate to say it now, but I doubt I drink more than 60 oz max of any liquid a day. I drink about one or two cups of coffee, one or two diet sodas, maybe one bottle of water, and a cup of milk in my cereal. Sometimes I have a cup of tea at night. Especially in the winter, I feel too cold to drink, the thought makes me cold.
It would be awesome.
Unfortunately all the junk, and hidden junk like preservatives, all that added sodium, sugars, food coloring, and everything else leaches minerals, vitamins, and water from our body. So depending on your food choices you might need more then the recommended amt just to get all that crap out of the system.
Normally 2 liters is good, up to a gallon a day.
it sounds like a lot but i think we are supposed to drink half of our body weight…
If you drink too much water too fast (any nutrient is the same way, particularly calcium) your body just flushes out the excess and only handles what it can at that moment. This is why taking multivitamins is just stupid, and a huge waste of money besides.
Phew! The comments are overbearing! It’s just not that complicated to figure out how much water you need to drink.
Urine color is a good way of telling – light yellow or clear is the best way to be and if you’re drinking enough water you’ll see it when you go.
To ensure you’re getting enough water drink between 300 to 500 ml (depending on your size) with each meal (5 to 6 meals per day). If you work out like crazy you might as well double those volumes (spread over one day).
Okay, this article never answered the question. Is there a link to some chart, or do I have to Google it myself?
Fantastic
My body has, through much abuse and neglect on my part, become unable to differentiate between hunger and thirst. My system is: whenever I am hungry, I dring eight ounces of water. If I am still hungry after a few moments, it’s hunger. LOL
I can’t drink mineral water nor can I drink filtered water from the tap, even bottled water or distilled water gives me cramps, hives, and occasionally makes me vomit… I have to watch every gram of copper zinc and iron I take in as I have an intolerance to all three…even distilling comes out with contact minerals from the distilling process. At 42 years old I am a living testimonial to the fact that YOU CAN go through life only getting water from the things you eat even if it is a very bland diet like mine. I get my fluid from broth occasionally…you couldn’t get me to drink a bottle of water if your life depended on it…showing in the crap is bad enough
I probably only drink about 24-50 oz of liquid per day no matter what I do. I don’t know why.
apparently, Davis is a f@g
You cant stand water?
Your body is made of it!
If you only drink soda and tea and stuff like that*those things are full of caffine, sugars, ect.*
you can gain weight and become really unhealthy.
The best thing you can do for your body is to drink water!!!
That is quite often to be going to the bathroom, but it all depends on if you are drinking too much water on an empty stomach and the temperature of the air in which you are living in. If it is cold, you don’t need to drink that much water, but if it is hot you need to drink more. As far as the color of your urine goes, that too can also depend on what you are eating and what kind of supplements you are taking. If you are taking large amounts of vitamin-b you will pee neon green or funny colors all day long until it is out of your system, regardless of how much water you drink. As long as you are urinating daily(every eight hours), your eyes aren’t yellow and there is no blood in it, you are ok.
Stop drinking your water so cold, instead try drinking it at room temperature, your body will absorb it better and stay more hydrated. Cold water can actually dehydrate and tax your body more while it is being processed. Plus drink some water first thing in the morning when you wake up. I would also recommend cutting out any soft-drinks in your diet as well, just drink water or tea. You might also want to drink gatorade for a day or so as well as up your sodium intake slightly to help retain more water. If you are not getting a proper diet or eating solid foods enough, then you are probably over doing it on the water intake too. Good luck.
You tell em` Alex!
It’s pretty common for me not to feel like i am thirsty. I only drink about 8 oz of fluid all day long. And like today ‘s almost midnight and I just realized I have not had the first drink today. I know that’s not normal.
No Anonymous, you don’t die instantly unless you’ve consumed too much liquids for generally your own body. I have the same problem that was described in this chain as well.
I drink 5-12 17 oz. water bottles a day and that’s well over the suggested amount written on this site. I have not died of food poisoning and i’ve done blood tests that the doctor told me I was completely healthy and normal on.
I actually crave water myself and it’s just better than a can of soda. I might need to go check-up and seriously talk to my doctor about that hidden diabetes… :/
theres flouride in the drinking water its toxic
Sorry, I meant to reply this to Kayla:
Yes, especially in the early a.m. and before bed. Make sure you drink after you shower. Also try some extra Vitamin E and Vitamin D intake for skin health.
Yes, especially in the early a.m. and before bed. Make sure you drink after you shower. Also try some extra Vitamin E and Vitamin D intake for skin health.
If you want to stay in shape and lose weight while adding muscle, you need at least 30 min. of cardio and 30 min. anaerobic exercise per day. Complement that with 1oz. of water and 1 gram of natural protein per pound of body weight over 6 small meals per day and you will stay in phenomenal shape. That simple, but easier said than done. =) Good Luck to everyone trying to reach their goals
Apparently Jeff, you are the only one who can spell correctly here…lol
No that is no true as you would have died from water poisoning by now
I usually never feel thirsty. Is that weird? I also have bad skin. Would drinking more water improve my skin? Anybody know?
Actually, it is you who is stupid. You type like a 3rd grader.
umm… u’r very abnormal… no afence though… its just that you think your not abnormal.. but you are from the eyes of nomal people
if you drink water youl becoume healthier and youl feel better… and youl loose alot of weight =)