Do you need 8 glasses of water in a day/what benefits of water have on your health?

Okay, so you’ve heard all about the benefits of drinking water: it keeps the body functioning at its best, flushes toxins and fat from your system, improves your skin tone, helps take care of your joints, and can give you an energy boost. So it stands to reason that you should drink 8 glasses of water every day to be healthy.

Well, that’s not exactly true! Even though 8 glasses is a significant number to go by if you want to know how much water you need per day,

Many other factors play into how much water is enough for you—

Your age, sex, diet, exercise routine, the climate you live in, or even your daily routine can affect how much water is enough for your body. The usual rule of thumb is that ordinary people in everyday circumstances need around 2 litres of fluid a day (about 8-10 glasses). But if it sounds like a lot. You’re right! It can be hard remembering to drink so much water every day on top of everything else we have to do.

 

How much water do you need to drink?

Do you know just how much water your body needs daily? It depends on many factors, like age, weight, and activity levels. The recommendations for your daily fluid intake range from 8-13 cups per day—that’s 64-104 ounces! But did you know that we can find almost all of this fluid in our food?

• Most fruits and vegetables are made up of about 80 percent water
• Dairy products contain more than 70 percent water
• Even lean meats contain about 50 percent water

So next time you decide to skip your glass of H2O, reach for some fresh fruits and veggies instead. Just remember to drink plenty of fluids between meals to stay hydrated throughout the day.

 

How does water improve your health?

 

• It keeps you hydrated. While the human brain is only composed of 70 percent water, your muscles and kidneys are around 79 percent water. Water keeps these organs working correctly by lubricating joints, regulating body temperature, transporting nutrients, and flushing toxins. If you’re not drinking sufficient water, you risk becoming dehydrated.

 

• Aids digestion. Because water helps to break down food so that your body can absorb the nutrients more quickly, insufficient amounts of water in your system may lead to constipation or digestive problems.

 

• Helps with weight loss: Drinking a glass of water before meals may help you feel fuller faster and eat less overall, translating into weight loss over time.

 

• Flushes out toxins: Your kidneys need plenty of fluid to do their job filtering your blood effectively. When there’s not enough fluid in the system to do their job efficiently, they struggle to filter out waste from the bloodstream and flush it out later as urine. By drinking more water throughout the day—thereby helping your kidneys filter waste more successfully—you’re also less likely to have kidney stones than those who don’t drink as much water regularly because you’re keeping yourself better hydrated overall.

 

Other ways to increase your water intake

• Drink herbal tea. Herbal teas have several health benefits and may count toward your daily water intake. Mint and ginger are perfect for the stomach and help cleanse the body of toxins, but you can try many other flavorful options depending on what kind of effect you’re going for.

 

• Eat more fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables that are high in water include cucumber, tomatoes, watermelon, strawberries, grapefruit (which is also high in vitamin C), lettuce, celery, and zucchini. Many people don’t meet their daily recommended intake of fruit or veggies, which is around two cups per day. So if you get bored with plain old H2O (and who doesn’t?), eating more fruits and veggies can be an excellent way to feel like you’re getting more variety without sacrificing your hydration goals!

 

• Add citrus slices to your water. Lemon slices can make any glass of water seem fancier. They do more than add style points to a boring beverage. The vitamin C present in citric acid can help to restore moisture lost due to perspiration or exposure to windy weather conditions, such as those often experienced during winter months, when skin tends toward dryness anyway due to its lack of sun exposure causing lower levels than usual production from its natural source retinol (vitamin A).

 

Drinking water and staying hydrated are essential, but the amount that you should drink depends on your size, age, and activity level.

 

Because you’re made up of 60% water, drinking enough each day is essential to stay hydrated. But how much is enough? The amount you need depends on your size, weight, and activity level. A good rule of thumb for most people is to make sure your urine is light yellow or clear—if it’s dark yellow (like the color of lemonade), you’re dehydrated and should gulp some down. Exercising, drinking alcohol, and living in a hot climate can also increase your water consumption needs.

 

If you want to lose weight, you should be drinking water.

 

If you want to lose weight, you should be drinking water.

When we say “lose weight,” we don’t mean just body fat. We also mean water weight, a significant component of your total weight.

Many people don’t think about this, but your body carries around a lot of water—your muscles are 75% water, for example. When you’re dehydrated, that means you have less water in your body overall and, therefore, less muscle. So by drinking more water, you will make up some of that lost muscle mass and give yourself a slight boost in metabolism (which is good if your goal is to burn more calories). This may not seem like much on its own, but it can have an impact over the long term.

 

It’s okay if you don’t drink precisely eight glasses of water in a day, but it’s helpful to think about water intake as getting eight servings in a day.

 

It’s okay not to drink 8 glasses of water a day! Our bodies are different, and many important factors go into how thirsty you might feel.

But it can be helpful to think about water intake as getting eight servings in a day. Why? It’s similar to why we think of vegetables in terms of servings—it’s hard for most people to know when they’ve eaten enough vegetables honestly, so suggesting that they eat more than one serving is hard to do without providing some measurement.

Some ways you can get more servings each day:

• 8 oz glasses: The traditional way of thinking means drinking eight glasses (or 64 ounces) throughout the day. If you’re feeling ambitious, set up an alarm on your smartphone or watch so that you remember to keep sipping! We’ve got reusable bottles here at the store if you want something BPA-free (and cute).

 

• Salads: Did you know that lettuce is mainly made of H2O? It sure is! So eating a few salads will help boost your water intake. And if the lettuce isn’t your thing, there are tons and tons of other options—cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes. You name it! Here are a couple of recipes for yummy salads that also incorporate hydrating ingredients like fruit and yogurt!