karen2205: Me with proper sized mug of coffee (Default)
Karen ([personal profile] karen2205) wrote2007-03-14 11:13 am

Water/hydration

I'm sure I've rambled about this before, but I've never managed to come up with a good answer to the question of "how much water do I need to drink to stay hydrated?" that's founded on decent science.

Points made include:

'8 glasses of water a day' = 2 pints or so. [More is needed in hot weather, I know]
'coffee + tea + other caffeine containing drinks don't count 'cos they're dehydrating' - how does one make up for this? Do they simply 'not count' or does one drink additional water, on top of the 2 pints, to make for them?
'there's lots of water in some fruit and veg' - can this be deducted from the '8 glasses'?
'thirst isn't a reliable indicator of dehydration, by the time you're thirsty you're already 2% dehydrated'
'urine should be pale & copious'

What points am I missing? How do I coordinate them all into a nice, easy to apply strategy for drinking enough water?

[identity profile] vicki-t-veg.livejournal.com 2007-03-14 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
was just about to say that, ha great minds think alike and all that.