It’s all about balance when it comes to the amount of water that you should drink
We’ve all heard that we’re supposed to drink eight glasses of water a day, right? I’m guessing that few of us actually do that and probably even fewer of us count the glasses that we do drink. Generally speaking, I think most of us drink water or another beverage that has water in it, when we’re thirsty. And we don’t drink anything when we’re not thirsty.
Maybe if we knew the real reasons we’re supposed to drink eight glasses of water each day, we would make it a higher priority in our lives. I found six important reasons for drinking plenty of water each day, and I want to share them with you here.
• The water inside you, which makes up about 60 percent of your body, serves a variety of purposes. It helps your circulation, creates saliva, helps digest your food, helps maintain body temperature and moves nutrients around to where they should be. Drinking plenty of water maintains the proper balance of fluids that your body needs to function the way it is supposed to.
• Drinking water can lower your calorie intake and reduce your weight. This occurs when you’re thirsty (drinking water instead of beverages with calories) and when you’re hungry (drinking more water than usual and eating less food than usual, or eating food with high water content).
• Drinking water can energize your muscles. Your cells need a good balance of fluids and electrolytes. When they don’t get it, you experience muscle fatigue. It’s especially important to drink plenty of water before and during exercise because that’s when you lose fluids and electrolytes through sweating.
• Drinking water helps your skin look better. When people start to get dehydrated, you can see it in their skin, which appears dry and wrinkled. Your skin absorbs the water you drink and can act as a barrier to fluid loss. Moisturizer on your skin can also help.
• Drinking water helps your kidneys function properly. Your kidneys do a great job of getting rid of toxins in your body, but only if enough water is flowing through them. Help your kidneys do their important job by drinking plenty of fluids.
• Drinking water helps your bowels function normally. Without enough fluids, constipation will occur. The combination of fiber in your diet and plenty of fluids should keep your bowels functioning properly.
I don’t know about you, but after going through each of those reasons for drinking water, I’m going to follow this advice better. I may not count my glasses of water each day, but I’m going to make a conscious effort to drink more.
How about you? Do you keep track of the amount of water you drink each day? Do any of these six reasons make you want to drink more? Let me know how you feel about this.
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A portion of those ‘8 glasses’ can come from the foods we eat… fruits, vegetables, and dairy. People can actually drown from drinking too much water…. common sense required.
Good morning Frank. Water filtration is SO important but more than just drinking water. Contaminates are in all the water we use for everything. I’m wondering if you have a recommendation for a whole house water filtration system?
due to a medical issue , I need to drink 64 oz. a day minimum day to 8o Now before my issue I drank about 1 glass a week by a swallow now and then at the water fountain. It’s been a few years now and I cant imagine not having my water. Drawback is definitely the can at night, the trick is to get the water in early 3 to 4 hours before bed. good luck and feel better with water.
Frank,
This is a good wake-up post. I just read about well water being made unusable due to fracking nearby and people in Los Angeles using 1/2 of their water supply for lawns and landscaping despite a four year drought. People in the Netherlands think we are crazy to use potable water for such purposes. Conserve and enjoy every drop!
8 glasses for the 300 pounder as well as the 100 pounder? Doesn’t make any sense! I would need to move my desk as well as my bed into the bathroom!. In 20 years of trying to find out the scientific support for that “8 glasses per day” statement, I can find nothing!
I think that drinking 1/2 your weight in ounces of pure spring water and using the straw colored urine check as your guide (dark means need of water) is better and does make more sense!
Also, if “when you are thirsty, it’s too late”, is true, all but humans on this planet are in deep dodo!
Well Mr. Mitchell, I guess you are looking in all the wrong places for your answers about water. So I suggest you listen to sage advice and just get those 8 glasses of water inside you, despite your dreaded trips to the bathroom.
What you need to realize that all these answers come from higher education – college courses in the sciences, physical fitness specialists and yes, your government. But if you really need convincing, then listen to your body. Your body starves for water. So why starve it when you can just feed the need by drinking 8 glasses of water before you rely on your body demanding better treatment.
Water helps the blood remove all the waste products from the body. Water helps with the sodium/potassium pump system in your body. (Something I learned in college, look it up.) Water helps keep the skin elastic and viable as a barrier between the inside you and the elements in a harsh environment. Water helps you see better by maintaining the fluid in your eyes. Water helps your body maintain its steady temperature. Otherwise you will behave like a reptile trying to stay warm and cool. Finally, Drinking Water is the COOL Thing To Do. So have another glass of water, its free.
Flouride is not good for any of us. With all the waste dumping in our water systems, no matter where you live, we are exposed to those chemicals. Evening being found in acquafer now. Everyone needs a very good filter for water going into homes, cooking and drinking. I do not drink any bottle water at all, not only does plastic stuff get in water but those bottlers do not have to tell where water comes from. Find a way to get more O2 in water for drinking and baths. No virus can live in O2 rich body, none. Do not drink H2O2 unless a doctor tells you too. Do not drink O3 unless doctor tells you to. O3 is in ozone which surrounds earth stopping sun from burning all of us and providing things in rain water which all plants need.
You should always use purified water for consumption, such as drinking, brushing teeth, washing vegetables, etc. The problem isn’t what they’re putting into the water, it’s the treatment process itself that’s ineffective. Every day we bathe and clean, dumping down the drains chemicals like shower gel, shampoo, bleach, etc. The treatment plants can remove most of the physical garbage (anything bigger than a condom, and I have seen first hand condoms that slip through the nets), however, when it comes to the chemical mixtures, they can’t separate toxic chemicals like bleach from the water itself. That’s only possible on a molecular level, and water treatment plants aren’t capable of that kind of filtration. We as consumers should recognize that we are part of the process which poisons our water in the first place.
Dear Frank.
EXCELLENT ARTICLE!!!
All these things are why we make such a big deal about water in our book, SURVIVAL 101 – HOW TO BUG OUT AND SURVIVE THE FIRST 72 HOURS, available right here through Power4Patriots!
Remember the Rule of Three. It starts with, “Go without water for 3 days and you die!” The other two are, “You can die in 3 hours due to hypothermia or hyperthermia” and “You may survive for 3 weeks with no food.”
Respectfully, we remind all your readers that under any survival scenario there are five things you MUST address to live; WATER, Shelter, Fire, Food and Security.
God Bless America and all our troops!
Your Friend,
Orrin
Correction: “You can live 3 minutes with out air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food.”
Dear Frank,
Excellent article! All these reasons are why we make such a big deal about water in our book , SURVIVAL 101 – HOW TO BUG OUT AND SURVIVE THE FIRST 72 HOURS.
Just be careful over doing it. Years ago I had a friend
who did & wound up passed out on the floor & rushed to the hospital finding ‘fats’ in his blood from
OVER DRINKING that could have killed him. He was a ‘die-hard’ on everything he ever did.
Great advice. I know from experience that we need to drink all the water we can.
We absolutely need to drink more water! My wife and I moved to Haiti in September to live and work after our retirement. We just got back from a quick Trip to the states due to am unresolved medical issue. It was a complicated mixture of symptoms. Although we eliminated any major problems, we still don’t have any definitive answers. However, I’m convinced a big factor was insufficient water intack. Believe me, I will be reminding her (and myself) to be drinking more.
Thank you Frank for that – everyone has been telling me to drink more water… already got my glass demi-johns and off to the local artesian well/spring… however everyone needs to watch out for either added or natural fluoride content in their water… I’m told fluoride (in whatever form) has no benefit for the human body at all and most important – babies are only tiny things and they still get the same dosage we adults get.. they are far beter off with mother’s milk as far as fluoride content is concerned…fluoride is nasty stuff! Thank you again Frank, good man!
One of the things I’ve used to help keep my weight in check is extra water. If you still feel a little hungry after a good meal, skip the dessert and take a glass of water – sip and enjoy it. Our local government has added flouride to the culinary water. We have installed a 3 phase water purification and filtering system for our drinking water. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! We have friends and family who compliment us on the taste of our drinking water. I have heard that you should not use flouridated water to mix baby formula. Any comments???