The “8 glasses of water per day” argument gets thrown around a lot in pretty much every diet/nutrition/piece of advice you can find. Your doctor has probably suggested it too. But is it really necessary? Is it the right amount?
Here’s the thing — there was a study published in 2008 from the University of Pennsylvania (click here for the link), which suggested that a lot of the big claims that get attached to drinking large amounts of water — weight loss, cleansing toxins, stopping headaches, keeping your skin healthier — had very little evidence behind them.
So — should we still be drinking all this water, if it’s not solving all those problems we thought it was?
MOST DEFINITELY.
There are two main reasons for doing so.
1. If you’re following any of the exercises on the site, you are sweating, and you are doing some intense physical activity. There is absolutely no doubt that you need a lot of water to keep your body hydrated. If you’re exercising in any way, drinking water is beyond fundamental. The nutritional boards of most countries suggest somewhere between 1 to 2 litres per day for an ‘average-sized’ person. But do remember — if you have a big mug of tea, that (mostly) counts towards your quota, too. We’ll explain why below. But first, to reason #2:
2. While huge amounts of water don’t contribute directly to weight loss, consuming a good amount of water can temper your hunger — a lot of which is mental, anyway. If you eat out of habit, or too often, try switching to water (sparkling, if regular water bores you terribly), and your “hunger” suddenly won’t be as bad.
Those Water Drinking Myths.
What some of these recent studies found is that we still manage to take in a lot of water during the day, and that many of the common things we hear about ‘diuretics’ aren’t really that severe. Stop me if you’ve heard this one — “drinking coffee, even though it’s full of water, doesn’t give you any of the ‘benefits’ of water.”
It gets even crazier — it often feels like coffee and tea are placed on the same level as beer. Now beer is definitely a water-based drink that will make you dehydrated, because the amount of times it will send you to the bathroom (and all the other fun things alcohol does to your body and brain) can throw your fluid intake right off, especially if you drink a lot of it.
But when you drink 8 cups of coffee in a day, your body is still receiving a huge amount of the water that’s in that coffee. The presence of some ground coffee beans doesn’t suddenly render that water completely useless — the real issue is simply the 8 cups of coffee per day. That’s a lot of caffeine, and probably a lot of milk and sugar for some, too.
If you can replace half or more of those coffees with water (we know, it’s not easy), 99% of the benefit will come from reducing the coffee/milk/sugar/caffeine intake, not from some inherent, magic quality ascribed to huge amounts of water. But that argument applies to a lot of diet-related issues — it’s not always the positive qualities of the new food/drink that matter, as much as the reduction of the old, harmful one.
What to Avoid!
- Flavored water drinks with extra ingredients.
- Energy/Sports drinks.
When you start downing these — especially the sports drinks — after a workout, you’re looking to rehydrate yourself, which makes it all the more likely that you’ll over-consume what is essentially a sugar-filled soda. Besides — we should save our sugar intake for something that tastes better, anyway — something we can eat in relative peace — without the post-workout demands of our body bearing down on us.
Let’s Talk About It.
We’re not trying to be intentionally controversial — even if some of the claims are a bit dubious, the drink lots of water claim is fundamentally good and sound in the end. And there’s no discounting the placebo effect, either — if we feel like lots of water is making us healthier, it probably is, even if it’s not doing everything the claims always say.
But we still want to know — what do you think? Feel free to start a conversation in the comments. We love reading everything you have to say, especially when tons of different viewpoints get involved!
My father is 74 years old and knock on wood, very healthy. He comes form a family who is prone to type 2 diabetes (mainly age related) and my dad has been the only one of 5 siblings to not contract this disease. We believe it’s for 3 reasons: 1. He drinks A LOT of water (he carries it everywhere he goes and drinks 8oz per hour). This habit of his goes back 34 years; at age 40 he had a health scare and his family doctor at that time put him on a strict low acid diet add made the water drinking mandatory. At the time my dad even used to carry around a little alarm clock which he would set to go off every hour; I was a young child and actually remember being embarassed by his alarm which ould ring in ackward places! Anyway, I have recently looked up that doctor, who is still practicing in Montreal, Quebec, and I personally thanked him for giving my dad that simple yet life changing “diet” plan. Secondly, my dad does not drink any hard alcohol, although he has a single glass of home-made red wine per day. thirdly, he avoids refined sugar, and also has not smoked in over thirty years. I’ve adopted these same habits, and love the water consumption idea. i personally believe that it “purifies” the blood, and helps eliminate toxins more efficienetly through urine. So those are my thoughts, I had no real science to back them but I do feel that my dad’s doctor was ahead of his time…thanks for reading :)
It is really important to stay hydrated especially if you work out a lot. I notice that if I don’t drink enough water, I tend to retain water and start bloating, if I drink 1.5 litres which is my usual daily consumption, the bloating goes away and my skin looks a lot better.
I don’t drink soda of any kind or Gatorade I add a little powdered electrolyte to my water when I do hot yoga which really dehydrates me. Coffee I can only really drink one small strong cup (black) in the morning. The wine is actually my vice and I have been working hard at keeping it under control.
I am really enjoying everyones comments here, thanks for the links and the discussion.
Hello, I agree that water is one of the most essential things we can consume. I drink a large amount when I first wake and when I go to bed, I also drink throughout the day. I live in the high desert and it is always very dry here. I also ride my bicycle on average about 40 miles a day. With that said were do you recommend getting electrolyte additives for my water??
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Luis M, Giovanni Farotto. Giovanni Farotto said: Should I Be Drinking A Crazy Amount of Water Every Day?: The “8 glasses of water per day” argument gets thrown .. http://tinyurl.com/ya2njl5 [...]
So all i know is, i switch over to one soda a day and the rest water and i notice a change in my skin and my energy. it might be the lack of sodas but hey like it said in the article let me belive in the placebo effects lol.
The human body is made up of anywhere from 55% to 75% of water, depending on body size. It isn’t clear exactly how much water intake is needed for a healthy person but 8 glasses a day seems a bit extreme. You should drink anywhere from 5-7 glasses (about 1-3 liters a day) to maintain proper hydration.
Your water consumtion also depends on if you have been sweating from excercising or if its hot outside, then you would need more than 2 liters of water a day.
But a person can also drink too much water putting them at risk of “water intoxication” or (hyperhydration) which can be fatal. Mostly all deaths related to water intoxication have resulted from people in “water drinking contests” or marathon runners who have long bouts of excercise during which electrolytes are not properly replenished, yet excessive amounts of fluid are still consumed. So, non of us have to worry about it but I just wanted to remind people that they don’t need to drink excessive amounts of water.
If you feel dehydrated, by all means, drink more water, but one way I can tell that I am fully hydrated is if when I go to urinate and my urine is clear… (and its not because of alcohol) then that usually means that I am well hydrated. Or if you pinch the skin of the back of your hand and hold it there for a several seconds, the skin should bounce right back to where it was before, if it doesn’t and the skin kinda stays gathered where you had pinched it… then that means your dehydrated.
hey zuzan is it true that drinking beer causes to get fat ?
Is there a routine to do for eliminating what the call beer tummy ?
greetz
Yes you can get fat by drinking a lot of beer :) There is no special routine for beer tummy. What you have to do is start working out on a regular basis. Whole body workouts a great for burning fat, so if you start following my daily workouts, you will make nice progress.
Hello, I really like all your videos, I love the workouts because I can do it at home and it’s really fun and since I’m doing it I feel much stronger. But… I have one problem with my diet. I’m slim and I’ve got nice metabolism, I’m eating plenty of vegetables and fruit every day but I’m addicted to sweets, I can’t even resist a day without a chocolate or something like this..
Do you think it is a big problem? Should I worry about it?
Also – I’m a teenager and I have acne. I heard that eating that kind of food will make the problem stronger. What do you think about it?
Eating sweets will certainly not cause acne, or make it worse. This is definitely a myth. And having a sweet tooth isn’t a bad thing, I have one myself : ) As long as you aren’t over indulging everyday, a piece of chocolate a day won’t hurt you. I prefer dark chocolate since it it tastes better (I think) then milk or white chocolate. Plus it has more antioxidants in it since it’s closer to its natural state, so it’s actually beneficial. Just don’t go overboard because you know it’s not that bad for you : )
Hope this helps.
Hi Barbara,
I used to have flawless skin until my HSC year (the final year of schooling and entrance exams into university).
The stress and a lot of personal issues going on at the time started to make me angry. I didn’t realise at first, it was all kinda bottled up. Soon I started to get the odd spot here and there. This snowballed and I was a full time pimple popper. I’m now 21, have dealed with my anger and make a conscious effort to stress less and am virtually pimple free.
Seriously my take on it is that when your mind is in turmoil, so is your body. I think everyone on this site knows something about the miracles mind power can produce. Don’t forget that this can work both ways. If you are always thinking stressful/angry thoughts, guess what’s going to happen to your body?
It may sound a little koo-koo but it works. Try it. Every time you have a negative thought, make it a positive one.
Here in South Africa we have the one thing that is equivalent to water,it’s called “rooibos tea”.
Rooibos,unlike other teas doesn’t contain any caffiene(yes tea also has caffiene in it,not just coffee!)
and is high in antioxidants.
Here’s more info about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos
Best thing about it is that it also tastes a lot better than any regular tea and it’s good for you too :)
In the past I only drunk juice.
Nowadays I drink “lots” of water (1-2 liter) . I think that’s the reason why I get thirsty faster than most people in my surrounding field.
But I really like to drink still mineral water. Because it’s the to only drink that refreshes me.
And water cleans my body inside and outside. Or would you ever clean something with juice?
I also have concern’s on the amount of chlorine (bleach) that water treatment put into the water. I prefer bottled spring water or even better because it’s not in plastics is just reverse osmosis water (RO) nice and pure! you can’t even put tap water into fresh water fish tanks without some sort of chlorine inhibitor, and into a salt water tank?? that would kill everything!! really makes me wonder what it does to us especially in the long run!!! :P
Most people are in a dehydrated state, so drinking alot of water is good. Sometimes when your stomach feels hungry all your body wants is water. We get confused and eat something and that somewhat satisfies are body but next time you feel hungry try drinking a glass of water, might be all your body is asking for.
Well i think that water is just plain awesome! I drink almost 3/4 of a gallon a day, and like a buttload of green and white tea. Plus, if you drink it with ice in it, it burns some extra calories because your body has to work to heat it up ;) So yeah…water is your friend, guys :P And i agree with Nick, the guy above me.
Now, i have a question. I hope it doesnt turn into another milk topic ;)
Alrighty, here it is: Are microwaves really THAT bad for us? Iv’e heard a lot about this subject, and i hardly use a microwave. Which i don’t mind, i know it IS better for you, but sometimes i’m really in a hurry! (alas, the American lifestyle) So then i just don’t eat what i really want to. I still eat, just…not that which needs to be heated up. Thanks for any information on this!
Love, Kandi :)
I drink a lot of club soda. The sugar and chemicals in regular soda is what rots teeth and contributes to weight gain. I also loathe that sickly sweet taste of aspartame. I found that it’s the fizz that I want, not the sugar, so I’m really happy with the “ultimate” diet drink.
Hey Zuzana and Fred,
So, I heard this theory that when you crave salty foods a lot, it’s because your body is dehydrated (because salt makes you retain water and would prevent further dehydration), and that when you crave sweets a lot it’s because your body is lacking protien (a.k.a., the sugar gives you a quick burning energy to replace the slow burning energy of protien). The logic behind this seems sound when you think about it, but I’ve always been curious, because I drink a lot of water but I also crave salty snacks. It’s been floating around in my head for so long that I can’t even remember the source I heard it from. Is this something you guys would be interested in researching for one of your hot button diet topics? It would be pretty awesome for a lot of people if their cravings for chocolate cake could be sated by, say, some beans.
Hey Zuzana I love your videos! I have a quick question. Do you drink green smoothies/juices? :)
Love,
Leila.
The 8 glasses of water is very true. But you have to remember that is also from anything that you drink or EAT. Almost all food that you eat has liquid in it and that counts to the 8 glasses.
This was really an interesting read, because I think all of us suspected this. None of these companies have expert reviews or scientific studies behind them – it’s just companies pumping out hormones into drinks and selling them. Melatonin? Since when was relaxing the same as falling asleep? Really? Sleeping should never be equated the same as falling asleep. I used Ichill and just got knocked out. Great, so much for relaxing and doing my work? I tried this thing called Mini Chill, and first of all it has NO Melatonin! And yes, it’s a relaxation drink among relaxation drinks. I wish I could hear what the article writer would have to say about Mini Chill. It’s backed by a peer-reviewed scientific study and was formulated by a doctor.
Hi Zuzana, I was just wondering if water could help cellulite really? Many people say it can but Im only willing to let go of soda pop if its true. I have a 2 year old and after my pregnancy was left with cellulite and what looks like a double butt. its like a pouch under my butt. I hate it, I cant even wear bikinis. help please!
coffee and your brain.
Legend holds that “Kaffa” or coffee, was discovered in western Ethiopia by a man who one day who one day noticed his goats were more active after eating coffee beans.
Today caffeine is the most widely used brain stimulant in the world. Caffeine works by blocking another chemical called adenosine from bonding to receptors on your neurons. Adenosine is an inhibitor that keeps in check many brain regions, including one called reticular activating system (RAS), which basically amplifies brain activity.
When adenosine is blocked, this region goes into overdrive, sending a wake-up call to the rest of the brain.
Is caffeine addictive? Some scientists think so. But it´s not as bad as other drugs, because it doesn´t strongly affect the dopamine pathways related to addiction.
Your brain does learn to balance with the caffeine, though, which is why stopping cold can be a real headache. And while the equivalent of 100 cups of coffee can kill you…
.. Studies have found that in moderation it may help protect against Alzheimer´s and Parkinson´s disease.. and it is filled with antioxidats – So perhaps our craving for coffee isn´t all that bad ;)
It is definately addictive. This is why there is a gazzilion coffee houses per square block. Drank it regularly for an early morning economics class and had major headaches and cravings when I went cold turkey. Your body will adjust, but like anything else, moderation is key – drinking a pot of coffee every day is probably not good for you – but a cup wont hurt. I would definately like to see a goat on coffee.
Hi, I’m someone who is also interested in fitness and being in shape. After reading this article, I have a couple questions:
What about Vitaminwater(By Glacéau)? Are certain flavors (revive, focus, xxx, energy) worse than others? Or do you consider Vitaminwater to be an energy drink, like Gatorade?
Thanks,
Warren
Since I was a child I’ve always been drinking large amounts of water. Water is still my favorite drink and I love it. They say you’ll have less cellulite/fat if you drink more water. That’s nonsense…I didn’t start losing my weight until I started to exercise daily, and of course I decreased my food intake:)
yes, i agree with that. we should drink plenty of plain water. not those flavored or energy drinks.
I heard I am supposed to drink half of my body weight in ounces. This seems correct but I don’t know. And I very much agree with water curbing hunger cravings. Thank you for the shared knowledge :o)
But, when you sweat, you loose salt from your body. Just drinking water doesnt replace that salt. Some Energy/Sports drinks do. I really do not enjoy plain water either, i never drink flavoured though. I usually add a little lemon to it myself. Any tips on how to be able to replenish my body’s salt after sweating alot of it away?
I notice you drink coffe before you’re workouts in some of your videos. SO, seeing as your mentioning in this too, I figured I’d ask. I’m curios as to how you drink your cofee since you watch your calories and portions.. just black? or sugare substitutes or what??
I like to put just a little bit of milk in my coffee ( I don’t count calories)
I drink a lot of camomile tea and green tea.(Without sugar) So can I or can`t I compare it with water drinking ? Actually I am more confused now, after those comments about water . I mean herbal teas withaut sugar and milk = o calories and same thing with water. So if I drink 8 cups of tea instead of water…. will I get the same result. (Stay hydrated) Sorry if i had some mistakes. I am not a user of English.