What are the health benefits of water?
To maintain a healthy mind and body, it’s important to ensure that we consume sufficient vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients. But one of the most important elements of our well-being is often overlooked—water.
Naturally, we all take in water every day—whether on its own or as part of coffee, soda, juice, another drink, or food. If we didn’t, we would expire in just a few days. Yet it’s not a simple case of consuming enough to keep our body alive.
Our constitution is generally around 60 percent water. All of the major organs, tissues, and bones contain this compound—meaning it’s essential for health.
Consider this article as your Water 101. It brings you all the positive effects consuming sufficient water brings together with guidance on how much you should be drinking each day and some handy tips on ensuring your water balance is always in top form.
How Much Water Should I Drink Per Day?
The health benefits listed below can only be achieved by drinking adequate amounts of water. However, the amount of water you should drink is a highly debated topic.
Many governmental health authorities recommend using the eight/eight water rule. Meaning, eight glasses of eight ounces per day. It’s easy to remember and will provide around a half a gallon (1.8 liters) of water.
This is generally considered sufficient for the average person leading a reasonably active lifestyle. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as an average person and the eight/eight rule is based on little scientific fact.
The truth is we are all different. Our water requirements vary from day to day and are dependent on age, sex, activity level, health, alcohol consumption, and food intake. With this number of variables, it’s difficult to ascertain exactly how much water you should consume daily.
Therefore, the eight/eight rule is just a guide. If you lead a relatively sedentary life, you can probably consume slightly less than this. However, if you’re completing high-intensity cardio exercise every day, you will need to consume more.
Remember, if you do wish to follow this guide, other drinks such as tea, coffee, and caffeinated sodas can be included in your count. Previously,these drinks were considered diuretics, so they should be discounted. However, research has shown that they actually have a very small diuretic effect.
One quick word of warning: alcohol shouldn’t be considered part of your daily water intake. As you will discover later, these drinks do indeed promote water loss.
Additional Rules
In addition to the eight/eight rule, consider these factors when taking control of your hydration levels.
