How much water should you drink?
While exploring the web for mindfulness blogs this week, I stumbled upon Tiny Buddha. I liked what I found there, and so I subscribed to their weekly emails.
You may be wondering what this has to do with drinking water. Hang on…I’m getting there.
As a gift for that Tiny Buddha subscription, I received a copy of Tiny Buddha’s 30-day Healthier You Challenge. It contains a list of 30 simple activities. The instructions say, “You can complete the challenges in order, pick and choose each morning, or build the challenges on top of each other so that you finish the month with 30 new habits to continue throughout the year!”
Being the straight-forward kind of person that I am, I chose the easiest, most-direct path: do the day’s recommended activity and move on to the next on the following day.
Day 1 instructed me to drink an extra glass of water. Since I don’t typically track my water intake, I wasn’t sure how to determine if I’d had an extra glass that day, so I simply waited until I put my water bottle away at the end of the day, got out a glass, filled it with water, and drank it down. Voilá…one extra glass of water!
But that got me thinking…how much water should I be drinking each day. I think I get enough. I carry a water bottle around with me, and I don’t let myself get too thirsty. Is that sufficient? Does the old guideline of eight glasses a day still hold, or do the experts now recommend something different?
So I did a little digging…or surfing, as the case may be.
How much water should I be drinking?
This is the part where I remind you that I am not a doctor or medical expert of any kind. I’m just passing along the nuggets of information I found on websites I trust. The Mayo Clinic seems like a trustworthy place to turn for wellness advice. Here’s what they recommend for an average healthy adult living in a temperate climate:
- 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) a day for men
- 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) a day for women
Now, before you panic, this is total water consumption, including water contained in other beverages and food. They estimate that about 20 percent of water consumption comes from sources other than drinking water. My rough calculation tells me that on average, men should be drinking about 12 cups of water and women roughly nine.
Of course, these guidelines can change based on your level of activity, your environment (temperature, humidity, and altitude), and your overall health.
Other sources, like WebMD, point out that one size doesn’t really fit all. They recommend that you drink half to one ounce of water for every pound that you weigh, depending on your level of activity and your environment. “If you’re living in a hot climate and exercising a lot, you’d be on the higher end of that range; if you’re in a cooler climate and mostly sedentary, you’d need less.”
Perhaps all this is too complicated for your daily living. If so, the Mayo Clinic suggests that you will likely get enough water if you do the following:
- Drink water with and between meals.
- Drink water before, during, and after exercise.
- Drink water whenever you feel thirsty.
And just to be sure, there are two easy-to-read signs that generally indicate you are getting enough water:
- You rarely feel thirsty.
- Your urine is colorless or light yellow.
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.”
~Loren Eiseley
Your turn
- Do you enjoy drinking plain water, or do you prefer to spice it up with something else?
- Do you have a go-to website for health and wellness advice?
- What else is on your mind? Anything at all; I just love to hear from you.
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Hi, Christie – Great post! According to the traditional guidelines, I do not drink nearly enough water. But I do drink water with almost every meal, drink water in between meals, after exercise and I sip on it throughout the day. So, I’m going with the Mayo Clinic suggestions and will assume that this is fine. Old dogs, new tricks = sometimes just too hard! But I will have an extra drink of water right now just in case! :d
Hi Donna. I bet when you factor in the water content of all the produce you typically consume, you are getting plenty of water. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!
Hi Christie – I’ve never been a water bottle gal – I just don’t get the whole concept of carrying one around with me everywhere and then having to pee every 5 minutes! We have a rainwater tank and I just drink a glassful when I feel the need, I tell myself that the water in my coffees counts too. I’m never thirsty (unless I’ve eaten chips!) and I check the colour of my pee – and give myself a high five when it’s the recommended straw colour (too much information??!) 😀
Hello Leanne. I like the comfort of knowing if I get thirsty, I have easy access to water…thus I keep a water bottle close by. And yes the water in coffee counts! It sounds like whatever you are doing is working if you are getting straw-colored pee. And no, it’s not TMI for me.
Hi Christie, I drink water, but am not mindful of how much. Having suffered from dehydration a few times in my life, I appreciate the reminder to be diligent.
Drink up, Suzanne! I’ve never had severe dehydration, but can remember being pretty thirsty after a hike on which I didn’t bring enough water. I’m much more careful now.
I’m pretty sure that I drink significantly less than the recommended number of glasses but would struggle to think of anytime when I have shown signs of dehydration. I’ve deliberately increased my intake in recent years although it still varies depending on what I am doing. One of the real benefits for me is that it has a noticeable and beneficial effect on my skin in circumstances where I suffer from psoriasis. I’ve also read that sometimes when we think we are hungry, it’s actually thirst meaning that a glass of water instead of a snack can help with weight control.
Good points, Caree. Drinking sufficient water has a noticeable effect on your skin for sure. Also, I suffer from dry eyes, and my doctor told me to make sure I drink plenty of water, so I guess it’s good for your eyes too.
Hi Christie, this is a real issue and I’ve been trying to drink more water each day as a result. It’s good to know that some of the food we consume also counts towards our water goal but I’m notoriously bad at keeping a log of what I’m drinking! I don’t think I’m alone there :). Thanks for the reminder and the information.
You’re definitely not alone, Debbie. I have a general idea of how many times I fill my water bottle or glass during the day, but I think I was overestimating how much those containers hold. I don’t feel the need to measure all the time, but I think it’s good once in a while to touch base with where you are and to remind yourself to drink more.
I read this post before you linked up and of course, I challenged myself about the intake of water. I could drink far more. I take a small water bottle with me everywhere due to post cancer mouth dryness and helping food go down but I do not drink quantities. I will be making more of the effort to do so at my age…
So pleased to see your blog post for this week’s Wednesday’s Words and Pics. Looking forward to next week if you are sharing a post then. Thank you for being part of the WWandP community. Denyse.
I too sip water most of the day, Denyse, but it was interesting to pay more attention to how much that adds up to during the day. I am trying to be a little more conscious and add a glass here or there. Thanks again for hosting the WWandP link-up. I enjoy the exposure to other bloggers.
Many of us have worked with the the ‘8 glasses a day’ recommendation for a long time – there’d usually be some at breakfast, mid morning, maybe lunch time and often mid afternoon. With a jug/pitcher and glass on the bench for a ‘quick slug’ as you were passing it is/would be easy to achieve. If I had to think about litres drunk I’d lose interest for sure.
Cathy #wwandp
Hello Cathy! Thanks for stopping by. I’m with you, I don’t want to measure every day. It was a good exercise to track how much I drank for a day and make adjustments from there, but I don’t feel the need to keep tracking on a regular basis.
This was so interesting and just the reminder I needed to drink more water because right now I’m not drinking nearly enough. Here’s to not being thirsty!
It’s good to check in with ourselves occasionally, isn’t it Sammie? Cheers to you…with a big glass of water of course!
Hi Christie, I’m terrible at drinking enough water! Whenever I try and increase how much I drink I have to do it on a day I’m staying home because it also increases my trip to the loo … a lot! However, it IS a lot easier to do in summer rather than winter. I generally like a bit of diet lime juice cordial in my water to flavour it a bit. I do have a few coffees each day which I guess ups the amount of water but coffee is also a diuretic. Anyway – this post is a good reminder to me to drink more water on those days I’m at home at least!
My first stop when I get home is always the loo, Min! My husband teases me about that. I haven’t tried lime juice cordial in my water. I do like a lime or lemon in water though.
I love to drink plain cold water, which is healthy, BUT impossible to do if I’m not sure where or when I’ll see a bathroom again. So when traveling I’m dehydrated just when I should be super hydrated. It’s a conundrum.
I love plain cold water as well, Ally. I am a little cautious if I’m not sure about the restroom situation, but I also know I feel crappy if I don’t get enough fluids. My husband is now trained to periodically ask me if I need a restroom when we are out and about. That, and if I need something to eat. He knows me too well! 😂