With the fad of the bottle of branded water and the challenges of water in a gallon a day trending to Tiktok, hydration is in and this is good news for health. The average human body is more than 60% water. Water is almost two -thirds of your brain and heart, 83% of your lungs, 64% of your skin and even 31% of your bones. He is involved in almost every process that keeps you alive. So, if you have jumped on the drinking bar, you make a large solid.
“Water is essential for the survival of your body,” says Crystal Scott, a registered nutritionist-neuructionist with the highest meal. “It helps to regulate your temperature, transport nutrients, removes waste, lubricates your joints and tissues, and also plays a decisive role in maintaining the delicate balance of electrolytes and fluids in your body.”
You lose water when you breathe, sweat, urinate and metabolize food and drink in energy. If you do not replace this fluid, your health can go down and quickly. Without food, your body can continue to tick as long as three weeks or more. But without water, you will only die in a few days. There are too many systems that depend on this.
“I like to compare my bodies with planet Earth,” Scott says. “Our land is made up of a large percentage of water. If this quantity is too low, what would happen to our food systems? Our forests? Animal Life? This is a domino effect.”
In order not to fall, Domino first, she says, drink.
“This is a starter when you look at any form of change or problems with your diet or your lifestyle – assigning water to water above all,” Scott says. “Helps with completeness signals, can improve cognitive function, mood, physical performance and can prevent health problems such as constipation, kidney stones and urinary tract infections. This is one of the fundamental building blocks.”
Lower row: Water is life. But how much do you have to download daily not only to survive, but to flourish?
How many ounces of water should I drink per day?
The general rule you may have heard is the 8 × 8 rule: Drink eight glasses with eight ounces of water a day. If you do this, you are doing well, Scott says. But it is possible to take advantage of some adjustments.
“I don’t think this amount is necessarily wrong, but I think time research has definitely evolved over time,” she says. “Water recommendations will vary depending on age, gender and activity.”
Your recommendation for admission may also vary in life circumstances. For example, if you live in a hot and humid climate, you get a lot of physical activity, you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you may need more water every day than the average adult. Your doctor can help you direct you.
National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine recommend an average daily water intake of about 125 ounces for men and about 91 ounces for women. If you do not fill a bottle of water to just that amount every day, you are probably still close or even finished because you also get food from food, says Scott.
“You can get a lot of hydration from foods such as celery, oranges, strawberries, watermelon and cucumbers,” she says. “All hydrate foods that can actually help supplement water intake.”
How much water is too much?
Although rare, it is possible to drink too much water. This is a condition called hyponatriemia, and it happens when the amount of water in your system floods your kidneys and they cannot keep up with the normal filtration rate. The sodium content of your blood becomes dangerously diluted and causes your cells to swell. Certain health conditions such as kidney failure and congestive heart failure put you at a higher risk of it and some high-level athletes may experience it if they do not replace their electrolytes after exercise.
How do I know if I drink enough water?
For the greater part of the population, the bigger problem is to get enough water. Although it is useful to maintain sections of actual ounces, the best indicator of whether you are well hydrated is your body. When you do not get enough water, your body will show certain signs.
“The color of urine is a really great indicator of the state of hydration,” Scott says. If your toilet water is pale yellow or clear after you pee, you are golden. Dark yellow or amber color urine are signs that your body needs fluid.
Headache, migraine, poor sleep, constipation, dizziness and feeling of lightness or confused can also be symptoms of dehydration. When you doubt, go to the spout.
Tips for getting daily filling
If you engage in optimizing hydration, Scott recommends that you start slowly. First, balance where you are and then set a goal for where you want to be.
“Half body weight in ounces is a great starting point,” she says. “So for someone who is 200 pounds, our first goal would be 100 ounces. And let’s just say that they only drink 20 ounces of fluid a day. So every week we would like to increase about eight to 10 ounces a week, slow and stable. Because if you make hydration too fast, people can feel really suffocated.”
Other convenient tips Scott offers:
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Experiment with drinking ice cold or adding sliced fruits to give it a taste.
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Use smaller bottles of water and fill them instead of filling a huge jug for the whole day, which may feel discouraged to conquer.
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Divide your day into steps and give yourself a mini goal in each section. In this way, you maintain a steady flow of hydration instead of trying to swallow it everything.
A version of this story appeared on Fortune.com on July 27, 2024.
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This story was originally presented on Fortune.com