How much water to drink a day

Although water is maybe the most important thing, not only for good health, but in life as well, the need to drink it differs from one person to the other. There is no accurate answer to the question “How much water to drink a day?”, because different studies have given us different answers over the years. A good thing to know is about the need of your body for fluids.

Functions of water in the body

Not only that water is a principal chemical component of your body, but it is 60% of your total weight and each and every system in your body depends on it. For example, when toxins need to be flushed out from your system, water does that. Dehydration is the thing that happens if not enough water is inserted into your system and, if that happens, your body will not be able to carry out its normal functions, while in the case of mild dehydration you will only lack energy. Because water is wasted when we breathe, urinate, even through our bowel movements, we must take foods and beverages that contain water, not only drink it a lot. How much water do we need?

Doctors recommend 8 or 9 cups of water for an average and healthy adult, who is living in temperate climate. In the next couple of sentences it will be shown some common ways of calculating how much water should be inserted in your system. We lose 1.5 liters, or 6.3 cups, through urine and approximately 4 cups while breathing, sweating and bowel movements. Now, through food, we insert about 20% of water into our system, so that leave you to take 2 liters, about 8 cups, of water or beverage per day to replace the fluids you have lost. “8 x 8 rule” is another way to drink as much fluids as your body needs. That is eight 8- ounce glasses of water that should be inserted in your system. Even though it is not supported by scientific evidence, it is easy-to-remember and that is why a lot of people are going by this rule.When it comes to dietary recommendations, The Institute of Medicine says that women should insert 9 cups, which is somewhere around 2.2 liters, and men 13 cups, 3 liters, of beverages per day.

If you do not want to follow any of the above methods, it is ok as long as you do not feel thirsty and produce 1.5 liters or more of colorless or slightly yellow urine per day.

There are people who suffer from bloating and are suspicious on whether to drink extra water in order not to make the bloating even worse, and that is not true. If your body retains water, it is most likely that you are not getting enough water in. Also, those who are trying to lose weight should drink a lot of water, because it helps flushing those extra toxins that you produce when burning fat, out of your system.