Eight glasses a day?
We've been told we need to drink at least eight glasses of water a day, but Taylor says there's no scientific evidence to support this. Health professionals agree men's bodies need around 2.6 litres and women's around 2.1 litres of water a day (pretty much eight glasses a day). But it turns out you get some of this from other drinks and food, Taylor says.
"Approximately four glasses of water, or a litre a day, is obtained from the food that we eat. So we get that from solid foods and things such as watermelon, tea, coffee, milk and yogurt, which all contribute to our total fluid load," Taylor says.
You can also include caffeinated drinks in your fluid intake. While these drinks do have a mild diuretic effect (ie they promote water loss) you get more fluid from them than you lose. However, alcohol makes you dehydrated.
On top of what you get from food and drinks, your body produces another 250mls of water a day when metabolising substances in the body, such as fat, protein and starch.
Taking all this into consideration, Taylor suggests you drink four to six standard glasses (250ml) of water per day. Obviously, you will need more if you are living in an extremely hot climate and are very active. Likewise, if you live in a very cold climate you may need to drink a little less.
So how do you know when you need to drink more water? It isn't rocket science, your thirst can be a guide or check the colour of your urine – it should be pale yellow.
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