Water…water…water – How much is enough?

Believe it or not, we run into people who forget to drink water. Or perhaps “forget” is the better way to state that. I don’t know if that trait is better or worse than those unicorns who supposedly forget to eat in a given day. And while it is common sense—at least I hope it is—that water is important for us, there are still some valid considerations out there regarding how much water we should drink, what “counts” towards our levels of hydrations, and just where did eight glasses a day come from?

If you think back to that physical science class in school, you would remember that maintaining proper hydration is important for cells to function properly. Imagine if you ate the pizza but didn’t increase your water intake. It would throw your electrolytes out of balance, and you’d be extremely thirsty.

Like overall macronutrient intake and lifting volume, it depends on a variety of things. Dehydration risk increases in the elderly, but before that, the estimates of dehydration in adults is about 16-28%.[2] Moreover, Gandy notes that there is a link between water consumption and chronic diseases as well as cognitive function. But the point of note is that there needs to be an improvement in methodology to determine accurate intake of fluids.

What About my Eight Glasses a Day?

We lose about a liter of water via the respiratory and some parts of the excretory system. Breathing, defecating, and sweating, namely. Add to that, we expel at higher levels, a liter and a half of water through urinating, and that puts the total loss at 3.5 liters. Your activity and other levels determine that, so it makes sense to at least drink about that much.

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