Our daily water consumption has an impact on our overall health. Drinking insufficient water can lead to serious health issues. The question then becomes, how much water should we drink per day to maintain our health?
This article will go over the benefits of drinking water as well as the recommended daily water intake.
How much water should we drink each day? That’s a difficult question to answer. This question has received varying responses from experts. However, we can draw one conclusion from all of those experts’ recommendations: your health and activities influence how much water you should drink per day.
When it comes to water consumption, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. However, knowing when your body requires water will help you determine your daily water intake.
Benefits of drinking water
The best water to drink is always the one that benefits our body, whether it is spring water, bottled mineral water, or even tap water. When it comes to benefits, good water must be safe, clean, tasteless, odorless, and mineral-rich. Drinking good, healthy water is important because it quickly mixes with our body’s fluids after we drink it.
Water makes up 50 to 70 percent of our bodies. Water moves all of our body’s cells, tissues, and organs in the same way that oil does in a machine. Consider this: if we do not drink enough water, nutrients and oxygen cannot be carried to the body’s cells, bacteria cannot be flushed, digestion is hampered, there are no cushioned joints, the body’s temperature rises, and, worst of all, organs and tissues are not protected.
Staying hydrated entails drinking plenty of water in order to provide the body with enough fluids to perform those complex tasks.
Our bodies will become dehydrated if we do not drink enough water each day. Dehydration is a condition in which our bodies lose a significant amount of water. Dehydration symptoms include weakness, low blood pressure, dizziness, confusion, and urine that turns dark in color.
Dehydration can harm our body organs if it is not treated seriously for an extended period of time.
So, from this section, we can conclude that the benefits of drinking water are to keep the body’s organs and cells functioning properly and to avoid dehydration.
Recommended water intake per day
We lose water every day through breathing, perspiration, urine, and bowel movement. It is necessary to know how much water to drink per day in order to replace fluids that have escaped from our bodies.
So, how much fluid should an average healthy adult consume? Even though there is no one-size-fits-all solution, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine of the United States recommend:
- Women need to drink about 11.5 cups (2.7 liters of water).
- Men need to drink about 15.5 cups (3.7 liters of water).
However, the water needs of a healthy person will vary. It is dependent on our health and activities. People with kidney, liver, or heart problems should not drink as much as healthy people. Athletes who exercise on a daily basis may require more water than people who work in an office.
Finally, to know exactly how much water to drink per day, we should consult with doctors, who can recommend our daily water intake based on our health.