8-10 Glasses of Water a Day is the OLD standard! New guidelines released

[moltar]

Keep an eye on the waterline

[bdp]

Does (or did) anybody actually follow the advice to drink 8-10 glasses a day? I've always considered it to be ridiculous, much like all other common diet advice.

If you're body is thirsty, drink. If it's not, don't. When did we stop trusting our bodies to lead us to health?

[beautyscientist]

I review a paper on the effects of mineral water on the skin on my website.

[carenkh]

Originally Posted by bdp

Does (or did) anybody actually follow the advice to drink 8-10 glasses a day? I've always considered it to be ridiculous, much like all other common diet advice.

If you're body is thirsty, drink. If it's not, don't. When did we stop trusting our bodies to lead us to health?

I had to "teach" myself to regularly drink water, and that guideline is what I followed to do so. Perhaps I was out of touch with my body, and its needs? Not sure - but before I did that, I would find myself really cranky, very low energy, then I'd realize I had drunk NO water all day! Somehow I missed the thirst cues, or just didn't pay attention to them. Following that guideline made such a HUGE difference in my energy level.

The "new" guidelines don't sound new... 11 to 16 8 oz. glasses for an average sedentary individual in an average climate, including water gained from veggies, fruit, etc. and not excluding caffeinated beverages. Sounds like 8 - 10 glasses of water to me.

[Sam988]

Yea i find this "drink daily all water you can" BS too. I drink when i'm thirsty, and thats it.

And "drinking more water let us with more energy" thing never worked for me, once i did an experiment for one week i'd drink more water, a lot of water per day, all that happened was that i had urinate A LOT more, and i didnt feel any more energy at all.

[moltar]

Drinking when thirsty is sort of like seeking cure after getting sick. It's much more effective to prevent the thirst rather than wait when it attacks.

Another analogy is like adding oil to the car when it runs dry and your engine starts to grind. The better way to do it is to check oil levels periodically (once a week) and add oil when necessary.

[finandom]

Everyday I just drink 3L of water. But I heard from a doctor before that we should not drink to much of water.

[bdp]

moltar, do you also suggest eating when not hungry?

I don't recommend waiting until dehydration occurs to drink water. I do recommend listening to the body and drinking water throughout the day as needed.

One of the main reasons we are advised to drink so much water is because most people eat high quantities of sodium and low quantities of water-rich food. Those of us consuming mainly fruit and vegetables and <1 gram of sodium need maybe 2 or 3 glasses of water a day.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

I've heard that the feeling of thirst means you are already dehydrated. I think maybe that's what moltar was talking about. You should make sure you are drinking liquids (primarily water) throughout the day to avoid this.

From this Wikipedia article:

Symptoms of mild dehydration include thirst, decreased urine volume, abnormally dark urine, unexplained tiredness, lack of tears when crying, headache, dry mouth, and dizziness when standing due to orthostatic hypotension.

[Sam988]

Originally Posted by {aspiring_to_clarity}

I've heard that the feeling of thirst means you are already dehydrated.

So the feeling of hunger means i'm already under nutritioned?

Or the feeling of pain means i'm already almost dead?



I mean, the body makes us notice when something is not right by making us feel certain sensations, so when i feel the sensation of thirst, it means THEN ITS TIME TO DRINK something, instead of drinking it before we have any feeling of thirst.

[Shamou]

Most of the food that we eat already contains a high percentage of water... so I don't think that we should go banana on drinking gallons of water...

I believe that a few glasses a day should do the trick...

However, to each his own... the stuff is free and easy to get...

.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

Just going by what I've always heard (yes, I understand that doesn't make it fact)...take it or leave it...makes no difference to me. I have also heard that it's better to eat small meals dispersed throughout the day rather than wait until you get hungry and that a feeling of pain in your body could show up after you've actually been sick for a while.

Notice that the article stated that those are symptoms of mild dehydration. Why not avoid that state altogether by staying well hydrated? It doesn't hurt you any to drink a glass of water when you aren't "thirsty" but even mild dehydration can affect you negatively as the above qoute explains.

[Shamou]

I believe that the following excerpt on dehydration from Wikipedia may be helpful on deciding if our water intake is sufficient... see here for complete article...

"A person's body, during an average day in a temperate climate such as the United Kingdom, loses approximately 2.5 liters of water."

"If one develops a full bladder at least every 3-5 hours and the urine is only lightly colored or colorless, chances are that dehydration is not occurring; if urine is deeply colored, or urination occurs only after many hours or not at all, water intake may not be adequate to maintain proper hydration."

.

[justfiverules]

The urine color tests work for me :-)

Being from the cooler more temperate UK, when I go early morning running here in Japan during the hot, sticky summer I can see the color changes to what I regard as normal within a few hours of finishing!

I did experiment with scheduled water drinking while working in a corporate environment with all the funky air conditioning and environmental control systems. Ended up with taking so many p-breaks I even surprised the smokers on the way for their regular puffing breaks! But at least that did take my eyes away from staring at computer screens all day.

Working at home now, I drink when I feel thirsty...it's just a short stroll away!

[Freelancer]

I've got it easy, whenever I'm even midly short of water I start to develop a headache (very minor but noticable) and its like my own little personal warning signal to drink water. So as long as I don't have a headache than I'm good to go.

I usually end up drinking about 2.5-3 liters of water a day dispersed throughout...

[Keith]

Originally Posted by moltar

Keep an eye on the waterline

If you read past the sensational intro paragraphs, there are no 'new guidelines'. It's just rehashing old knowledge.

Yes, when people talk about 8 glasses of water a day, they often forget to mention that the daily water requirement includes the water content of foods. But they're also generally talking to people on the SAD who don't eat many water-rich foods like fruit, vegetables, soups & steamed or boiled rice.

Note that they finish by saying that people can overdrink but it only happens when people drink a lot during long endurance events like marathons, and even amongst this high-risk group only 0.01% drink a dangerous amount of water.

Originally Posted by Sam988

So the feeling of hunger means I'm already under nutritioned?

It means your blood carbohydrate levels have fallen to a level where your body can't readily source the energy it needs. It can then fall back on fat, but it is a 'tank empty' warning light.

Originally Posted by Sam988

Or the feeling of pain means I'm already almost dead?

The feeling of pain means that you've already missed the opportunity to prevent the injury that it's reporting.

Originally Posted by Sam988

I mean, the body makes us notice when something is not right by making us feel certain sensations, so when i feel the sensation of thirst, it means THEN ITS TIME TO DRINK something, instead of drinking it before we have any feeling of thirst.

Like the pain signal, the thirst signal means "You should deal with this issue urgently". Moltar's car analogy was a good one: Yes, you can wait until the 'out of oil' light starts to flash, but you're better off topping it up regularly.

[impaul99]

I would be willing to bet that if someone posted a thread titled "How paying yourself first and saving 10% slowly but surely builds wealth." in the finances section, most people would ignore it.

If someone posted a thread saying "The Myth of Saving 10%, why it doesn't work.", most people would click on it.

Why? Because we already know that we need to save money by paying ourselves first, and we already know we need to properly hydrate ourselves, and most of us don't do it because of laziness, so when we see something pop up that gives us yet another excuse not to do it, to procrastinate further until "the final verdict is in", we jump all over it. THe path of least resistance.

Now, look at this. Here's what the Institute of Medicine says:

"The report did not specify exact requirements for water, but set general recommendations for women at approximately 2.7 liters (91 ounces) of total water -- from all beverages and foods -- each day, and men an average of approximately 3.7 liters (125 ounces daily) of total water. The panel did not set an upper level for water.

About 80 percent of people's total water intake comes from drinking water and beverages -- including caffeinated beverages -- and the other 20 percent is derived from food. "

(link here: Dietary Reference Intakes: Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate - Institute of Medicine )

So what does this say? It says that men require about 3.7 litres of water, which is about 7-8 glasses.

It then says that for the average person right now, about 80% of the total water comes from drinking beverages -- including caffeinated beverages. Ok, so all this tells us is that people are too lazy to drink water, so they try to get their water from coffee and coke and juices etc.

Now, if you look at the article that was linked in this thread, the author says:

"But according to the institute, there is no evidence that caffeinated drinks contribute to a negative fluid balance, so go ahead and drink tea and coffee."

Uhhh... what? The institute just reports what people are drinking right now. How does that translate to "go ahead and drink tea and coffee."? Yeah, sure, go order your Tall-Latte-Frapucinno-Caramel-Esspresso-Double Whip with Caramel on top. Drink 8 of those a day and you'll be healthy. Uhuh.

The right question they should be asking/answering is not whether drinking coffee/tea/juice/coke contributes to a negative fluid balance, but rather whether it contributes to health. If not, dont' say "go ahead and drink tea and coffee."

Anyway... if you really think about it, this article doesn't really say anything useful. We still need to get 3.7L of quality water (for men) to prevent dehydration. So what's changed? Nothing.

[Keith]

The sad thing is that a lot of people will go away from that article thinking that drinking water has been 'discredited'...

[Keith]

A couple more thoughts:

(1) It should be noted that "8-10 glasses of water" refers to 250ml (8 oz) glasses. If your glasses are anything like the ones in my kitchen they're more like 375-500mls (12-16 oz) so the target is actually only 1/2 to 2/3rds as many glasses.

(2) If you consciously drink 8 glasses a day it can seem like quite a chore. But I find that if I keep a glass of water within reach I've soon drunk it without even realising.

I don't know if the 8 glasses is overly conservative, but I figure:
(a) if my body is that eager to drink it, I'm probably not getting too much; and (b) better too much than too little.

[Steve Pavlina]

You won't need to drink so much water if you just eat more water-rich foods (i.e. fresh fruits and vegetables) and stop putting the dry, crusty, dead stuff into your body.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

You won't need to drink so much water if you just eat more water-rich foods (i.e. fresh fruits and vegetables) and stop putting the dry, crusty, dead stuff into your body.

Very true. As noted earlier, my comments are geared at people on the Standard American Diet.