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?
ridicully: (Default)

[personal profile] ridicully 2007-03-16 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
The most basic formula we use to keep animals hydrated (if they refuse to eat or drink anything but don't lose higher amounts due to diarrhea or vomiting) is 48 ml/kg/d.
I see no reason not to apply this to human beings. The only thing needed to put into acount is the amount of fluid in the things you eat and drink. I seem to remember something about about thes containing about 1-2 litres depending on the kind of food you eat.