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8 glasses per day? Maybe not.

D

Demon Hunter

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 30, 2004
2,284
39
I found this article online, and I thought it was interesting...

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/dms-al080802.php

This doctor claims "8 glasses of 8 oz." water/day is exaggerated and false.

I frequently drink large amounts of water, especially during workouts, because I'm paranoid and it's supposed to be healthy. I also do this so I'm at my "best" and dehydration is not a factor.

I think what he says makes sense... do you ever really consider the water contained in an apple, for instance? ;)
 
If I dehydrate I get a migraine - simple as that. I drink 3 to 4 litres a day without even thinking about it.

When my osteomyelitis was at it's worst I was drinking about 6 or 7 litres a day - when they took me to hospital the day it started it's flare up my temperature was running at 42°C and I was so dehydrated it took them about 30 to 45 minutes to draw enough blood for a bunch of blood culture tests, the syringe was a big one but the blood was just so thick.

So yeah, I don't care abut drinking lots of water - I'd say 80% of what I drink is just plain old tap water, the rest made up of mostly milk, some beer, juice, lattés, and Baileys.

If you don't count Lemon Lime and Bitters, I have had soft drink maybe 6 or 7 times in my life. I hate coke, pepsi, basically anything fizzy unless it has alcohol in it and even then I still hate coke/pepsi.
 
I drink about 20 glasses of water a day because I like it and I am thirsty. Water is free, I would not be able to afford that quantity of diet coke a day so thats why water.

It is definately healthy to drink water, how much depends on many things: the size of your body, your age and your daily habits (exercise etc).

Basically, drink when you are thirsty, or before if possible, and drink water instead of coke etc.

Did you know that drinking coke and coffee can actually dehydrate you! Also, most of the time you get a headache it is due to dehydration.

If you are drinking enough, your wee should be clear :p
 
I also had problems with dehydration induced headaches, still do but not as bad. So I drink a lot of water every day, definitely more than 8 glasses.

I find that water is the only thing that I feel like quenches my thirst. ALL other drinks I feel the need to wash down with some water, even juice or Gatorade. And carbonation is just unpleasant.
 
I guess I'm in the minority on this issue. I drink very little water. A little milk for breakfast, a diet coke for lunch, and a couple of glasses of milk or juice in the evening. Maybe I'll have a few sips of water at work if I'm thirsty.

The only time I drink any significant amounts of water is when I ride my bike, then I take a liter or two but never drink more than half of it anyway.

I've tried drinking more water because everybody says it's healthy but all I end up doing is having to take constant bathroom breaks every 30 minutes. I drink when I'm thirsty and that's it. Maybe I just have a small bladder or something.
 
joshysquashy said:
Did you know that drinking coke and coffee can actually dehydrate you!
Click to expand...

No, I didn't, because I know the inverse is true: coffee and cola drinks are very mild diuretics that will not dehydrate you.

If you are drinking enough, your wee should be clear :p
Click to expand...

The tint of your urine is irrelevant to your health unless you're pissing blood. A deep yellow often simply indicates the presence of B vitamin metabolites, for instance.

Drink when you're thirsty, eat when you're hungry and all will be well.
 
Some days I drink lots, some days I don't. I've only had a cup of tea today... I had a bowl of cereal that had milk in I guess. Hmmm... that's not very good. Other days I drink pint after pint after pint of water. Some days I drink several litres of diet coke or 20-30 cups of tea. It really comes and goes.

I can't believe I've only had one cup of tea... that's crazy.
 
dferrara said:
I found this article online, and I thought it was interesting...

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/dms-al080802.php

This doctor claims "8 glasses of 8 oz." water/day is exaggerated and false.

I frequently drink large amounts of water, especially during workouts, because I'm paranoid and it's supposed to be healthy. I also do this so I'm at my "best" and dehydration is not a factor.

I think what he says makes sense... do you ever really consider the water contained in an apple, for instance? ;)
Click to expand...

I saw a similar article in news paper a couple years ago.
 
Any dietician work their salt will tell you that 8 glasses of water has always been a bit of an overkill. The "8 glasses" statistic has always included water you'd absorb as part of dietary intake of solid foods. From bread to fruit all of them are loaded with water. The rhetoric of drinking lots of water has come into fashion by fad diets and advertising such as for sports water drinks. Not the best place to be getting dietary advice although it seems to invade people's subconcious.

Either way drinking a lot of water isn't a bad thing to do. It's far better than drinking lots of sugar-filled carbonated drinks/cordials/sports drinks/tea or coffee. But at the same time don't drink too much water or you'll get hyponatraemia which can be fatal. People have died drinking from as little as 4 litres in rapid successsion :(.
 
I don't drink too much, usually 2 20oz bottles of FlavorSplash (from Aquafina), sometimes 3, but I never really believed that 8 glasses/day thing.

That and if you drink too much water in one day you could do something to your brain (I lost the link to the article, but I remember reading something about it).
 
amacgenius said:
I don't drink too much, usually 2 20oz bottles of FlavorSplash (from Aquafina), sometimes 3, but I never really believed that 8 glasses/day thing.

That and if you drink too much water in one day you could do something to your brain (I lost the link to the article, but I remember reading something about it).
Click to expand...
8 x 8oz = 64oz

3 x 20oz = 60oz

So on the days you drink 3 bottles of aquafina you're basically right at the 8 glasses mark.
 
I drink at least 8 glasses of water. At least.

I'd say prob more in the 15 range. I drink tons of water.
 
Yeah, in actuality I've heard that 4-6 glasses a day suffices depending on one's diet.
Water is good, drink what you want.

And I probably drink about 4 cups of water a day, but I eat tons of fresh fruit and vegetables generally throughout the day, and some unsweet iced tea and coffee and hot tea and such.
 
i probably drink a gallon (16 cups) of water on average a day (including tea/milk/juice, i don't drink soft drinks), then again i work out a lot.

during football season i'd say i drink a solid 2 gallons a day, most of that during practice that gets sweated right back out again..
 
I usually drink between 3 and 6 quarts a day.
It sounds like a lot, and it is. Water is great for your skin, your overall health, and it's the very best thing you could drink...hands down.
 
I drink various amounts each day, but it won't be purely water. I drink 1-2 cups of tea per day (each cup being around 250 ml ~ 8 oz), and probably 1 cup of water each day. Sometimes I'll get thirsty (like right now), but then I go and drink a glass and all is well again for half the day.

Drink when you get a bit thirsty, regardless of what people say about this being an indication of "dehydration." It's not like it's completely unnatural. I think it's more unnatural to be completely hydrated all the time, and drinking water when you're not thirsty.
 
Basically water level is the most important thing for our existence (i.e. ionic gradients throughout the body, enabling us to think, walk, breathe, basically just be). And therefore the body has pretty good mechanisms to keeping us appropriately hydrated. Drink when you're thirsty. Don't force yourself to drink, unless you're doing a boat race :D
Coke and Pepsi now own most of the water companies so how to make more money. Get the good old "4 out of 5 doctors agree you need to drink $10 of bottled wa, oh wait... eight glasses of water a day", BS out there. Phooey.
Do what works for you, and you're body will most likely take care of your water consumption needs (if it doesn't, then what the hell are you doing in our gene pool, away with you)
 
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