By Heather Hurst
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28 Jan, 2022
The mornings now are early. And very busy. I find myself turning to coffee and lots of it! Now I have always been a huge coffee drinker – something I believe I inherited from my Dad. I love coffee!!! I drink it all day. However in the last few years, I have decided not to drink it in the evening – it seems to affect my sleeping. Anyway I digress. Suffice to say I love coffee!!! But with these early mornings, I am forgetting my water even though I am a huge fan. I don’t go anywhere without a bottle of water. I place re-usable bottles around the house for easy access. Water cures all! Got a headache? Drink some water. Feeling hungry? Start with water? Dizzy? Better have some water. Feeling lethargic or tired? Have some water. People who have reoccurring kidney stones should drink 8 glasses of water as well as women with recurrent urinary tract infections. According to Dr William Clark, who is a research scientist, kidney specialist and international expert in water research, teaching at Western University in London, says four glasses of water should suffice unless you are part of the two categories above. And not to be drunk too fast. However a study from the Journal of the American Medical Association did a test. Researchers took 631 patients with kidney disease and encouraged them to drink more water and the other group was told to maintain their current water consumption. The group who drank more water didn’t make any difference in terms of kidney function. The Dietitians of Canada suggest 2.2 Litres (nine cups) per day for women and 3 Litres (12 cups) for men. They also said these amounts take into account food moisture which is about one-fifth of the average person’s liquid intake … more for those who eat a lot of fruit and veggies. I read another comment which said you should multiply your weight by 2/3 to calculate how much water you need to drink in a day. For example, if you weigh 160 lbs x 2/3 = 3.5 liters of water per day. I found a water calculator (google Daily Water Intake Calculator) on line which will tell you how many cups you need. Plug in your weight and the amount of exercise you do in a day in minutes and you have the water you need for the day. For me, if I exercise 60 min in the day, I need about 13 cups of water, according to the Calculator. How do you know if you are drinking enough water? There are three tried and true ways to tell. 1) Are you thirsty? Do you have a dry mouth? If so it’s likely you are not drinking enough water. Try to get fluids in throughout the day and remember if you are thirsty, you are already slightly dehydrated. 2) Check your urine. If your urine has a dark colour to it and a strong smell, you may not be getting enough fluids. If your urine is light yellow or clear in colour it usually means you are getting enough. And of course if you are not “going” then you are truly not getting enough. 3) How are you feeling? How’s your mood? If you are light headed, suffering from headaches, tired and/or not able to focus, these could all be signs of dehydration. There is also something called overhydration. When you have too much water in your body the kidneys can’t get rid of the excess fluids and it starts collecting in the body which could lead vomiting, diarrhea and headaches. I also read if you notice some swelling or discolouration in your feet, hands and lips along with swelling of the skin you could be in trouble. Excess water in the body depletes the body’s salt and the cells start to swell. According to WebMD, cell swelling in the brain can bring about headaches which can lead to brain impairment and trouble breathing. So…that brings us back to the question from the beginning. How much water should we be drinking in a day? It truly seems as though there is no clear cut answer to this question. As we know there have been varying studies with varying recommendations. According to the Mayo Clinic your water needs depend on many factors including your health, activity levels and where you live. There is no one formula for all. But knowing more about your body’s needs will give you a better insight on how much YOU really need. I knew that this would not be an easily answered question. But what I do hope, is that this information gives you a better idea on what you require. If it makes you think more about what you are drinking, how much and when. Making you pay attention to the effects water has on you or better, how you feel when you don’t get enough. And then how you can improve moving forward. Remember your body is comprised of approximately 50-75% water. Learn to respect the magic it can give you. And regardless of how many glasses you drink, all parts of your body require water to work properly! And you only have one body so treat it well. Cheers!!!! The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.