How much water are you supposed to drink a day?

Heres an article for you Lahan. http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/NU/00283.html

Personally it depends on what you do, if you work out alot you'll need to drink a lot more! When I work out I usually have about 1.5 Liters during the work out, then I'll drink about half a liter afterwards.

 

Well I believe the traditional rule is 8 glasses of water a day. The cup is supposed to be 8 ounces, so it would be 1920 ml to follow that rule of thumb.

As CrimsonThunder offered, the article by MayoClinic.com for CNN.com says that the amount is depends on your health, diet, activity level, and environment.

 

The 8 glasses a day myth has been busted, so to say. There has been no link found with drinking that much water to improve health, it's important to stay hydrated and drink water as much as possible when you're thirsty instead of other bad drinks. The amount we need to drink goes up with heat, exercise etc. It's good to carry a bottle of water around with you, but they're is no real figure I could give you because you also get slightly in food and other drinks.

Rule of thumb 2: Drinking water when your thirsty if possible and you should be fine.

 

By the time your body tells you that you are thirsty, you have already dehydrated for a short while.

While drinking copious amounts of water may not help you medically, avoiding dehydration will help you avoid headaches, dry skin, loss of appetite, dry mouths and dizziness to name a few.

 

There are different theories on the amount of water you need each day. Hopefully JayHew will see this and post his opinion (which will be based on practical experience) soon.

I don't think about specific amounts or take note of how much I drink. However my position is:

If I feel thirsty, drink something. Drinking water rather than something else is good because it satisfies the body's need for liquid without adding any sugar, caffine, calories or food additives (sweetners, colours, flavourings).

Fruit juice (proper fruit juice, not the fruit drinks that are full of sugar and other rubbish) is good too as it helps to increase your daily intake of fruit and veg. Some people find too much fruit juice gives them headaches though.

You are more likely to need liquid in the morning because your body has gone through several hours of sleep with no liquid intake. So it is quite normal to drink more in the morning than in the afternoon.

If your pee is yellow then you probably need more water. You'll probably notice this in the morning (especially your first pee of the day) for the reason above. The more water you drink the more you will probably need to go to the toilet. however if it is not coming out clear then you know it is clearing rubbish from your body, which is good.

A common cause of constipation is dehydration. So if you have problems in this area you should drink more water and it will almost certainly help over a few days.

Headaches are often caused by dehydration too.

 

And for all those who work out alot and drink tonnes of water to rehydrate themselves. Read somewhere recently that milk rehydrates you faster... food for though i suppose, or some useless info - you decide

 

Lots of people don't drink milk to rehydrate though because milk is very fattening.