One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to drink at least 5 big glasses of water per day (my “big” = pint glass size), which puts me in the bathroom at least once per hour if not more. I usually try to hold it for at least a little while, because running to the bathroom that much becomes a bit irritating, but at the same time, having to go all the time is irritating, too. I drink no more than 2 cups coffee per day, no soda, no tea, not a lot of alcohol. Do I really need so much water running through my body all day long?
This is an interesting link that might help you figure out about how much water you need to drink. It seems there is no set rule, just recommendations according to how active you are and what your diet is.
According to the link, I should be drinking 14 eight ounce glasses of water each day.
BTW, I have heard it can be bad for you to hold it when you have to go. I haven’t read a lot about it, but apparently it can stretch out your bladder (which is bad) and lead to other more serious problems.
You have a nearly ideal mechanism to tell you when you need water built right in. It’s called thirst. Under normal everyday conditions, you simply can’t go wrong with drinking when you’re thirsty and not drinking when you aren’t.
No, you don’t. Here’s a Snopes article debunking it. According to them, many of the claims may have originated from some guy who A) did no research and B) claims that drinking water can cure, amongst other things, migraines (which I personally can solidly refute).
Drink when you’re thirsty. By and large it doesn’t matter what you drink - all that about caffeine making you lose more water than it gives you is utter bunk.
I thought the adage was that if you’re thirsty, that means you’re already dehydrated…
p.s. I don’t hold it for that long, I just don’t rush to the bathroom at the first pang (or I’d never make it back to my desk!)
That may be true for very high temperatures or strenuous activity, but not normal circumstances.
A previous thread on this question.
And, let’s not forget this one and this one, either.
Despite their titles, here are two more threads about this issue.One. Two.
Well, yes. That’s what being thirsty is: your body is saying “water me!”. Dehydration in that sense is in no way serious*. Now, if you’re thirsty and decide that, instead of drinking water, you’re going to go try to run a marathon, you might develop some more serious problems. Even so, I’d imagine that it’s still fairly easy to treat by simply adding more fluids to your body.
*I’m not a doctor nor an actor playing a doctor, YMMV, contact your local branch for details, etc.
I found this article interesting:
Did a search for “drinking water” and came up with nothing in 4 pages of results- thought it was appropriate to post the query- thanks.
Perhaps drawing too simplistic a parallel, but I have been craving salty foods like a mother since I started drinking more water…
I rather doubt that’s entirely by coincidence.
According to many sources, once you’re thirsty you’re already somewhat dehydrated. At least this is what they tell you in dry climates.
Sure. And by the same token, by the time you feel hungry, you’re already slightly malnourished. So what?
My general rule is if it comes out clear, I’ve been drinking too much, if it comes dark or I haven’t had to go all day then I’ve been drinking too little.
Generally I would say if your going to the toilet every hour, that’s a bit too often.
All of the above comes from firsthand experience from an 18 year old with no scientific reasonings.
I hope it didn’t sound as if I was being critical or sarcastic - I surely didn’t mean to. Rather, each of the cited threads does contain some good info, although it does take a bit of “sifting”.
Argh! I wish this bullcrap about drinking x gallons of water a day would go away. You do NOT need to drink loads of water. A significant proportion of the fluid you need, you get from your food. The rest you get from other beverages. It doesn’t have to be water. I suspect that the whole thing started when someone misread the statistic about how much water the body needs in total, and decided that we needed to drink that much as plain water.
If you’re thirsty, have a cup of water. But there is NO benefit whatsoever in constantly drinking water, other than the extra exercise you get from trekking to the bathroom a dozen times a day!
I drink maybe two or three small cups of water a day, no sodas, and three or four cups of tea. I am not dehydrated, whatever the quacks say.
Ditto on the getting your water from food thing, and I might add that this is yet another reason to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, for they are a good source of water.
Plus drinking water in gulps is less effective than sips, but when excercising or visiting the water fountain, we tend to gulp a bit.
Other then becoming overly familiar with the restroom, are there any negatives to drinking more water then your body actually requires? Assuming no preexisting conditions, like reduced kidney function.
I don’t know anything specific, but I’d be willing to guess that low electrolyte levels can have negative effects even if they’re not low enough to kill you.