Do you drink enough water?
It is often said that we don’t drink enough water and i am certainly guilty. The more I read about the subject the more convinced I am that it is a simple solution to better health. I try to drink at least a gallon a day.
From about.com
Symptoms of mild dehydration include chronic pains in joints and muscles,lower back pain, headaches and constipation.
A good estimate is to take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half. That gives you the number of ounces of water per day that you need to drink. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink at least 80 ounces of water per day. If you exercise you should drink another eight ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you are active. If you drink alcohol, you should drink at least an equal amount of water.
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43 Answers
It’s all I drink, so I’d hope so =\
I drink water like a diabetic.
which I’m not.
I drink water like a diabetic.
which I am.
I actually gave up soda about 14 years ago. All I drink now is water and the occasional ice tea/coffee.
I drink water continually throughout the day for several reasons. I live in Phoenix, Arizona where the climate is mostly dry and hot, I run several days a week and need the constant hydration, and because I had kidney stones several years ago which is a by-product of dehydration according to my doctor.
On an average day, I drink about one half gallon to three-quarters of a gallon of water and that seems to suit me pretty well. I’m a diabetic also.
@cprevite
Thanks for sharing that.
@Bluefreedom
I always find that if I drink more in a hot, dry climate or place that my sinuses aren’t as clogged. Everything just flows
I don’t drink any water.
I was hospitalized a couple times while pregnant, for dehydration. I tried so hard to drink water, but I just don’t like it.
@casheroo
That’s terrible about the hospitalization. Especially while pregnant. I would imagine it’s more pronounced with all the fluid needed for the baby. My niece was hospitalized twice for it. She’s petite and probably doesn’t retain much water to begin with.
@casheroo Have you tried flavoring it with orange or lemon peels?
@casheroo
Or Gatorade, Vitamin Water. Less calories than soda but still pretty healthy
I did drink a lot of gatorade, but my OBs said it wasn’t enough. I would water down my juices, too. The thing that dehydration during pregnancy causes, is contractions. So I was having contractions from 30 weeks on. Going to the hospital for rehydration always made me 100x better. I wish I could do it whenever I’m sick. haha
My mom’s taught me to drink tons of water ever since I was little. I drink like, 4 of those Aquafina bottles a day (filled with just tap water)... now I can’t stand most any other drinks.
I read that some policemen keep 2 liter bottles of Coke in the back of their cars to wash blood off the road… so… I’ll pass on the pop, thanks.
Most people don’t drink nearly enough water. I used to get ridiculously harsh headaches as a kid and as soon as I upped my water intake they disappeared. Thanks water!
After reading posts such as this, i am encouraged to drink water. However, every time i drink lots of water, i have trouble going to the washroom again and again!!
Anyway thanks for reminding….....
I drink almost a gallon a day. I really think it makes me function a lot better and my skin looks pretty healthy too.
I really don’t. It’s probably why I’m sick all the time. I’ve been trying to drink more but it’s hard to change old habits.
I drink almost 2 liters per day
Yep. Tons. Like bluefreedom said, my locale has a lot to do with it. I live at an altitude of 7800 feet, and it is incredibly dry here. I pretty much think it impossible to go a day without drinking plenty of water.
Water drinking helps you lose weight (takes up room in the stomach). My doctor said that the recommendation to drink so much water includes all fluids you take in (juices, milk, soda, etc.) Of course, the other drinks contain a lot of sugar, as those with diabetes know. That’s why for them, and maybe most of us, water is the best form with which to ingest fluid.
I drink roughly two gallons a day. I have a nalgene bottle I constantly refill with RO Water, and chug chug chug.
@shrubbery
Sorry to hear that.
@discover
After you’re body gets used to a larger amount of water, I find that the body regulates fairly well. You don’t feel that constant urge but just go LONGER.
Even ice cream and jello contribute to your fluid intake. Anything that is liquid at room temperature is counted. Including soda and coffee. I have kidney disease and my nephrologist told me that it is a misconception that it must be water for it to count.
Edited to add: That said, I have never felt better in my life than when I was re-hydrated by IV in the hospital. I was pregnant and dehydrated, too.
@daloon
Another benefit. It fills you up and can lessen cravings for sugar
@asmonet
Reverse Osmosis? Do you make it yourself?
Brings up another issue. Some studies indicate that bottled water is no safer than much tap water. From a recent 20/20 episode:
“There was actually no difference between the New York City tap water and the bottled waters that we evaluated,” he said.
Many scientists have run tests like that and have consistently found that tap water is as good for you as bottled waters that cost 500 times more.
Of course it all depends on the area etc. but the FDA restrictions are actually more enforced, not to mention the lessened impact on the environment from bottle production and waste
No, we have a filter that has a negligible amount of waste water. A thin stream that rarely is more than a drip.
Water is the core of every liquid I consume. I have a cup at work which I keep filled with water all the time and drink from (it’s a great way to time getting up and off the computer for a stretch). At home I consume coffee and juice (watered down an extra can or more, I can’t stand it at full strength), and some water but not a lot as my freezer doesn’t have an ice-tray stand, so I can’t really make ice cubes and I love icy water.
Bottled water is tap water. Flat out. They buy it from the municipalities, put it through their machines, and sell it back to you. Those machines make jobs, they also can add contaminants as well as obviously adding to the price. A brita filter on your tap, and using a Nalgene bottle instead of a disposable plastic one, is a much better cost to benefit ratio than buying bottled water.
Brita is load of crap, people use the filters too long, and you don’t filter out as much as RO. Still, better than bottled.
I hate the taste of RO water. I never drink it.
I do admit to leaving the Brita filter on for longer than when it tells me it needs replacing, but that’s just logical – who would believe the Brita filter needs replacing when it’s the Brita company that benefits from you shelling out another $15! The taste difference between filtered and non-filtered tap is very negligible as well.
Bottom line, I would drink regular tap water before RO or bottled. Our tap water is very high quality and it’s easy to find info about it. Even when there was a recent sewage overspill causing high level of e-coli in the river, the drinking water post-filtering was not contaminated.
I always drank regular tap water when at home – but a couple of weeks ago we received a notice from the town saying not to drink it due to unusually high amounts of certain minerals. WTF?
Actually, in every place I’ve lived or visited, France, Ecuador, Florida, Virginia, New York… I am repulsed by the taste of tap water. RO is all I can stand.
I can taste the chemicals it’s disgusting. I’ve even tried it blindfolded, I can still tell. Just thinking about it grosses me out.
Ummm… pardon my ignorance, but what is RO water?
We have the Brita on the sink and the pitcher, so we double-filter what wedrink, and single filter what weciok with. I can taste the difference in what comes straight from the tap and the Brita filtered water… that’s all the proof I need.
I still need flavor to make fluids palatable, so I buy Celestial Seasonings Zingers To Go, which are packets of zero-calorie powdered tea… 2 flavor are herbal tea (caffeine free) and 2 are green tea which naturally has caffeine. They’re kind of hard to find, but the Celestial Seasonings website has a product locator and I think they can also be ordered from there, too.
I also like my beverages at moderate temperatures, rather than ice cold or piping hot. I find that it is easier for me to drink that way.
reverse osmosis (based on google search—I was wondering the same thing)
@daloon: Thanks! Did you see on the Wiki page that it’s used to remove water from Maple Syrup?
I’ve also read the army uses RO filtering in their mobile water trucks. :)
@hearkat: thanks. Interesting. I’m not quite sure I understand the process. To me, it sounds like when you run lemon squeezings through a sieve; you get less dense lemon juice and the pulp is left in the sieve. But they say you need two solutions, and I’m not clear on why. Now how you can get the process to reverse.
@discover
Thanks and yes it does have a significant function on brain function and my experience is that when I am becoming dehydrated I often can get headaches and even dizzy. So I guess since our blood is 95% water this just makes sense.
At one point I was drinking too much water—probably close to 6–8 liters a day. I was even considering writing a short memoir entitled Too Much of a Good Thing. I kid. I kid.
In case you are wondering I’ve cut back to a healthier amount.
My Dr said 2 litres a day is the correct amount. I am now being disciplined with my water intake for the first time.
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