Hydration

As this is an issue for my 8 year old son, I looked it up.

2.5 litres for most of us!!

Probably is climate/season/activity dependent too …

As this is an issue for my 8 year old son, I looked it up.

2.5 litres for most of us!!

Tack on extra if you drink diuretics (coffee, alcohol,) or if you weigh more than "average" or a million other things. I've heard half your body weight in fluid ounces for adults is a decent benchmark.

I shoot for 3 litres a day plus extra for exercise.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eight-glasses-water-per-day

Drink when you're thirsty. You can look up the original scientific articles from this general reporting in Scientific American.

I try to take in 3 liters a day if I'm inactive, more if I'm getting a sweat on.

A few years ago there was a study saying that even diuretics like coffee, tea and alcohol count towards your daily fluid intake. Seems totally backwards to me

I disagree. I do notice that I am more energetic and alert if I drink more water than I feel I need. however…

1) There is plenty o'water in the food you eat, which is oft overlooked in presentations like this.

2) If I drink a cup of coffee it doesn't count as water. But if I chew some coffee beans and them drink a glass of water, that counts.

3) Eating carbohydrates makes your muscles absorb more water, and increase your need for water. Macronutrient ratios are ignored in these 8-glasses-a-day recommendations.

4) Eating salt influences how much water you will require.

5) Drinking water before meals will dilute your stomach acid, opening up a possibility of poorly digesting your food and potentially lowering your first line of defense against harmful bacteria. Forcing yourself to drink 8 glasses per day might lead to this.

6) The more water you drink, the more water soluble vitamins and minerals you excrete.

7) Too much water can lead to hyponatremia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia

7) Too much water can lead to hyponatremia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia

Water is not the problem as the researchers found at Iron Lab in the 80's. The problem is the lack of sodium and electrolytes in the water you are intaking which increases the problem. It sure doesn't help the situation when we are told to drink lots of water while competing as many still do. They discovered that when taking in large quantities of water while competing especially in hot summer conditions. It is having sodium in the fluids that decreases this.

I always marvel at how bad our instinct is when it Comes to drinking.

We are having an issue with our son as well, turned three three weeks ago, and there are days when he has not drunk one small glass. He still likes his milk when we bring him to bed, so we think that it is ok - but I really hope that one day he is going to drink more.

As with coffee, I still do not believe that coffee is that strong a diuretic. I try to drink six pints of plain water a day, more when I work out or go for a ride. I have to remind myself quite often that I need to drink.

With the colder temps outside I really have to stop and sort of make myself drink when out for a ride or at home.

Dunno if its entirely a good idea but the old brit climbers used to say "drink till yer piss is clear as gin!"

I read in an old Bike magazine that if you really want to know how much fluid to take in during a workout you should weigh yourself before a workout and then again after without consuming anything. The difference in weight is how much liquid you should have consumed during.

I don't really practice it though. I'm also of the drink when I'm thirsty camp which probably isn't a great idea.

I read in an old Bike magazine that if you really want to know how much fluid to take in during a workout you should weigh yourself before a workout and then again after without consuming anything. The difference in weight is how much liquid you should have consumed during.

You also lose significant amounts of CO2 during a workout which may account for nearly the same loss of weight as the perspired H20.

http://rhinofitnesslivehealthy.blogspot.ca/2013/01/exhale-to-lose-fat.html

Dunno if its entirely a good idea but the old brit climbers used to say "drink till yer piss is clear as gin!"

I'd say it is sound advice, even more so if a Person eats a lot of processed foods with lots of chemical ingredients, lots of pork etc - basically the less you drink I think the bigger the chance that your system might be developping kidney Stones.

I could be wrong though. And the above assumptions are VERY simplistic, I know. Armchair science it could be called.

Still, I try to drink that much water so that my urine is as clear as possible.

PS: Does anyone have any info on why daily water/fluid intake revolves around the 2.5 l mark? Where does that figure come from?

Where does that figure come from?

"Perhaps it came from a series of studies in the 1940s after which the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine opined that the “RDA” for water should be roughly 1 ml per calorie consumed. At their recommended 2000 calories a day, that worked out to 2 liters a day, or roughly 8 eight-ounce glasses. Lost in the translation somewhere was an important caveat that much – if not most – of the water we required could actually be obtained from the foods we eat. In other words, it simply was not necessary to actually drink 8 glasses a day. And since the recommended diet at the time included substantial portions of water-sopping grains, maybe that initial recommendation was too high for someone eschewing grains altogether."

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/8-glasses-of-water-a-day/#ixzz2pkPptpoW

a way to tell if you're well hydrated is by the colour of your urine, but there are some exceptions to that such as the use of medications and supplements.

http://blog.nasm.org/nutrition/monitoring-hydration-levels/