Water/hydration

[karen2205]

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?

Comments

[rougeforever.livejournal.com]

I find the easiest way to tell if I'm drinking enough (which I never am) is to check the colour of my urine. It's supposed to be a pale straw colour. (Drugs and some health conditions can interfere with this, but on the whole it's a good measure).

I think we get more fluid than we realise from our food - particularly if things like fruit and salad are part of our diet.