8 glass of water per day???

[gib65]

They say that the optimal number of glasses of water one should drink per day is 8. I'm skeptical though. If we really needed that many, wouldn't we crave it? Lucky if I crave more than 3 glasses per day.

[Dak]

one symptom of dehydration is a loss of thirst, so it could be that if you start drinking 8 glasses per day you will start to crave it again.

 

also, it depends on what kind of food you eat, i would assume. if you eat lots of fruit, you will likely get lots of water from the fruit and need to drink less (maybe).

[swansont]

They say that the optimal number of glasses of water one should drink per day is 8. I'm skeptical though. If we really needed that many, wouldn't we crave it? Lucky if I crave more than 3 glasses per day.

 

 

I recall being told that the original medical journal article (published years ago) that came up with this result did indeed conclude that we need ~64 oz. of water a day, but then noted that a large part of this is typically already in the food we eat. Subsequent references left that last part out, and it morphed into drinking 8 glasses a day.

[paleolithic]

I drink well more than 64 oz. per day and I still crave it all the time, I'm an active person though. I used to not drink very much water at all, and didn't crave it, but suffered from allergy symptoms and numerous other things, along with a sore throat and chronic dehydration. I recently stopped drinking soda at all and upped my water intake to well over 64 fluid oz. per day and now I have no more sore throats, no more allergy symptoms, and I feel a lot better overall.

[srh]

It's not hard to have at least 8 glasses per day. Just make a habit of it - everytime you walk past a sink (hygenic one is helpful), have some water...It's good stuff!

I have to admit, when I was younger, all I drank was cordial, and never drank water on its own. Then, about 5 years ago I was without access to my precious cordial for a week or two, and resorted to water...Since then, I don't think I've drunk cordial, and out of habit, drink a lot of water. So for a while, I was patting myself on the back for being so healthy, then I hear that too much water puts too much pressure on your bladder, and you can end up with a weak bladder. So I ease up a bit on the water...now I just drink as much as I want. What is up with this crazy world?

[buzsaw]

The quality of the water is very important, imo. Drinking clorinated water or flouridated water is rough on the kidneys and other which must deal with these poisons. Either good spring water or distilled water is best. We either buy our water or get it from friends who have sound tested wells.

[hyebeh]

the amount of water you need to drink depends on your metabolism and your diet (different foods contain different amounts of water).

 

on a side note, some animals don't need to drink water; they derive all their water from metabolic water.

[gib65]

I just did the math, and 64 oz. of water makes more sense now. That means each glass = 8 oz. I just checked one of my bottled waters and it said 16 oz. I always considered "one glass" to be roughly equivalent to one of these bottles, so I found it hard to imagine having 8 of those a day, but 4 sounds more reasonable.

[Mokele]

I'd also note that how much you need to take in depends on how much you lose. For instance, I usually don't drink very much water. But a few summers ago I worked for Fed-Ex throwing heavy boxes around (yes, throwing, which is why I advise you to protect anything you ship via Fed-Ex *very* well), and I was going through 2 gallons of water a day to to replace all that I sweated out.

 

If you're inactive and don't lose much water, then taking in too much might actually be a bad thing, in that it forces your kidneys to work harder than they need to in order to maintain your body's osmolarity.

 

Mokele

[Vladimir]

The eight glasses a day is just something that the mineral water companies made, what it actually is, is that you need the equivalent of eight glasses a day, including food and any other drinks, though drinking a fair amount of water is reccomendable

[aaronmyung]

The eight glasses a day is just something that the mineral water companies made

Makes perfect sense.

is it bad to drink too much water?

[husmusen]

That depends on

 

1.)What you mean by too much.

2.)How much salt you take in.

3.)Health status.

 

If you are a cardiac patient water can kill you fairly easily.

 

There are some medical conditions that give you polydipsia,

(excessive desire for and/or intake of water) either primarily or as

a side affect of the medications that are used to treat them,

but Gilded would be the one to give you specifics on that more

than me.

 

But if you are drinking 15 litres a day(i.e. stupid amounts), you will have

electrolyte problems, and your kidneys will be saying "captain,

we canna take much more a dis", infact if your electrolytes got

too messed up you could go into cardiac arrest.

 

And (a few thousand) other things that can affect it too.

 

Cheers

[Auburngirl05]

I have had 'hyper hydration' experiences before before (go here for more info on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication), it can make your heart arrythmatic, among other effects and is pretty darn scary when you get to a critical point. When I had an episode it has been the result of drinking a LOT of water in a very short period of time, not simply drinking more than average all day long.

[akcapr]

My english teacher almost died in a water drinking contest. he drank 1.5 gallons in a 1 or 2 hours

[Glider]

That much water will screw up the osmotic balance in your kidneys and you will go into renal failure. Shortly after that, the fluid balance between your central and peripheral compartments will also screw up, as will your electrolyte balance and you will go into heart failure.

 

The whole "8 glasses a day" or "2 litres a day" is a bit of a misunderstanding. The original data show that we excrete around 2 lites of water a day (mainly through urine, but also through perspiration and breathing, and the amounts lost by these mechanisms depend on local climate, levels of activity and so-on).

 

The idea is to maintain optimal hydration, which simply means replacing what we lose. It's a fairly simple equation: Intake = loss. However, what has been lost in the forming of this apocryphal 'fact' is that our total fluid intake needs to be around 2 litres a day, but much of the fluids we need are taken in through food. All we need to drink is enough to make up the difference, and this varies hugely depending upon other factors (e.g. activity and local climate).

[buzsaw]

I've noticed that when I neglect to take time to drink water while working I get sluggish. After a prolonged time without water and I then drink a glass of water, the first thing that comes is the urge to uninate. This is indicative, imo, that the kidneys needed flushing but were conserving body liquid until fresh water came in to do the flushing/urinating. Dehydration is sometimes subtile and can be counter to health. I try to consiously remember to drink regularly so as to keep the kidneys functioning smoothly and to thus keep the body clean.

 

It seems that habitually drinking too little water would contribute to the possibility of kidney stones.

 

Likely water intake is also a factor in keeping the glands healty and to prevent them from overloading and becoming inflamed with toxins.

 

Some of the holistic health advocates stress that the feeling of hunger is often due to dehydration. They suggest that when one feels hungry well before mealtime, drinking water will soften up the food in the digestive system so as for nutrients to assimilate into the bloodstream and energize body functions. Water, however should not be drank after a half hour before meals, with meals, or for 2 1/2 hours after meals. Why? Because it takes up to a half hour for water to assimilate and it takes about 2 to 2 1/2 hours for meals to digest. One does not want to dilute the enzymes which digest the food with water and other drinks during the meal, according to some health advocates. This seems to make sense to me.

[Auburngirl05]

Some of the holistic health advocates stress that the feeling of hunger is often due to dehydration. They suggest that when one feels hungry well before mealtime' date=' drinking water will soften up the food in the digestive system so as for nutrients to assimilate into the bloodstream and energize body functions. Water, however should not be drank after a half hour before meals, with meals, or for 2 1/2 hours after meals. Why? Because it takes up to a half hour for water to assimilate and it takes about 2 to 2 1/2 hours for meals to digest. One does not want to dilute the enzymes which digest the food with water and other drinks during the meal, according to some health advocates. This seems to make sense to me.[/quote']

 

I had never heard that theory before, do you have citations or links for it? I'm not challenging the fact that you heard it, I'm just interested in reading more about it myself.

[husmusen]

I'd be wary about that.

Most digestive enzymes are not produced/released on a constant

basis. They are only activated when there is a need for them, this is

done IIRC by sensor cells in the mouth, stomach, small and large bowels.

 

Even the composition of food seems to be important.

Bile for example would not be released in any great quantity, if at all,

if you drank some sugar cordial.

But if you eat a fat greasy hamburger large quantities would be realeased to go and emulsify all the fats.

 

The most important component of extracting nutrients

would I suspect be the relative surface area presented to the enzymes

combined with the permeability of the substance to those enzymes.

 

In other words, chew your food well.

 

Water would help I suspect, by softening the chyme and making it more permeable. (Within limits again obviously).

 

I'm not saying it will help much as saliva probably moistens it

sufficiently, but a glass of water with a meal isn't going to hurt your

digestion and may very well help, infact I would strongly recommend

tea, earl grey.

 

Cheers.

[Auburngirl05]

I had to wonder about that, I tend to drink the most water at meals, greater than 40 ounces sometimes, but had never considered its effect on stomach enzymes. Thanks for the additional view on it.

[buzsaw]

I had never heard that theory before, do you have citations or links for it? I'm not challenging the fact that you heard it, I'm just interested in reading more about it myself.

 

I've listened to a number of health programs on radio and watched on TV, so I don't have specifics on which ones said this. I've just done a search on google and I see it is quite a controversial viewpoint. It appears that the general concensus is that sipping a small amount of water with meals is no problem. One site said that older folks and folks who have weak digestion or a hiatal hernia would be the ones who should be most careful in this regard.

[JWerner]

This has been debunked. The 8 glasses myth has been popular for a while. Someone researched the the idea and there is no real basis for it. Google for eight glasses water myth and you'll see news stories that reported the findings.

 

Conventional wisdom is that if you are in normal circumstances, drink as much as you feel like. Shocking huh? If you are in a position where you won't notice dehydration, then make sure to drink enough.

[buzsaw]

Conventional wisdom is that if you are in normal circumstances' date=' drink as much as you feel like. Shocking huh? If you are in a position where you won't notice dehydration, then make sure to drink enough.[/quote']

 

I find that I'm prone to not notice dehydration. Actually imo, most folks don't notice dehydration; that is mild dehydration. When I begin to feel loggy and drink a glass of water it perks me up. Also I've noticed that when I've not drank water for a few hours, as soon as I drink some, the first thing that happens is the need to uninate. The body tends to conserve water until water is consumed then the bladder dumps it's waste. It stands to reason that the kidneys get flushed more adequately when one drinks somewhat on a regular basis though one does not feel thirsty.

[Nicholas]

I found I am used to dehydration.

I grew up that way. So I developed that way.

When I was younger I found I actually felt better

dehydrated. You get used to it.

 

Of course this is a sad commentary. Off topic though,

the first time I took enough B vitamins I realized

just how compromised I was. I must have had what

is called subclinical deficiency; not enough to be detected.

But enough to be functioning at a minimal level.

 

After starting vitamins at the age of 18 I hardly ever get sick

maybe once in 5 years. But before 2 to 3 times a year

dehabilitated for about a week each time. A flue for

me now is over before one night.

[Aardvark]

.

After starting vitamins at the age of 18 I hardly ever get sick

maybe once in 5 years. But before 2 to 3 times a year

dehabilitated for about a week each time. A flue for

me now is over before one night.

 

A good intake of vitamins will help maintain your immune system but i think it is an exaggeration to claim that flu can be reduced to one night. Perhaps you are confusing flu with colds?

[xnebulalordx676]

I hypothesize that most likely eight cups of water a day. Might that somehow got turned into eight glasses? Eight glasses has got to be two cups at a time. Kitchen measurements on glass term?