Drinking sufficient water

You can tell whether you are drinking enough by the colour of your wee. It should be a mild yellow colour.

Aldom

Be careful not to overdo your fluid intake. Six to eight glasses of fluid (all types) is a healthy amount. Over drinking can dilute the sodium levels in the body causing serious issues even death. Many people end up in A&E as a result of drinking too much water.

The body needs salts too and 3 litres a day is too much

3 litres a day is ridiculous. You'd spend most of the day peeing it out again ...
Along with essential salts
Much of our food contains liquid too.
Read MaizieD's posts!

Read MaizieD's posts !

That wasn't addressed to you, Aldom as you agreed that 3 litres a day is too much.

It's to anyone who might think they need to drink that much water.

My yardstick also MOMB

mumofmadboys

You can tell whether you are drinking enough by the colour of your wee. It should be a mild yellow colour.

Yes, a good tip MOMB.

When we moved into our new house my OH picked up a bottle of orange liquid in the garden and said it was disgusting that a builder had peed in the bottle and left it behind. I replied that I would be very worried if my pee was that colour - it was a bottle of Irn Bru!

On the other hand in some circumstances it is important to ensure you have an adequate liquid intake. If you are doing strenuous exercises, playing sport etc especially in hot weather if you wait until you are thirsty before drinking you are in danger of dehydration. Dehydration can cause memory loss and confusion amongst other symptoms, which can be mistaken for dementia. Everything in moderation I suppose. 3litres is excessive.

BlueSky

The safest bet is to stick to about 2 litres of all fluids. We are told to drink more but not warned about drinking too much.

Ok! Have read with all comments with interest.

Will now reduce to 1.5l water (plus my cuppas. Wll only do it for two months. It's true, as Ashcombe quite rightly said.

I should add though that my doctor told me to incease my water to 2litres intake to cure my weepy eyes, which I though interesting.

...AS Ashcombe said: drinking water is boring!

I try, not always successfully, to drink a small glass of water after having a pee. A case of in one end, out of the other

By the way, my post was not really about how much water I drink but was a timid tip to help people remember how many glasses they'e drunk during the day.

My DM lived until 93, was never ill and never drank water. She claimed it was for washing in!
Her tipple was Canada dry ginger ale and occasionally tea.
When pregnant I suffered cystitis and was told to drink 5 litres of water each day by the doctor. It was very hard to get down.
I didn't realise I was putting myself and baby in danger.

Grammaretto love your DM’s way of thinking. And yes occasionally even the medics’ advice is not quite right!

My lunchtime half litre of beer is my way of upping my fluid intake. ?
My doctor once told me that food counts towards intake and a surprisingly large amount of water is ingested through vegetables, fruit, gravy, sauces etc.

I didn't drink enough water although I obviously drank tea, coffee etc. I ended up with kidney stones and in excruciating pain/agony.

Consultant advised me to take 2-2.5 litres of fluid a day, which I do...3 pints of water throughout the day as well as other drinks.

Kidney stones haven't reappeared after 18 years of this regime so I will keep it up. Dehydration can be dangerous in a number of ways and it can slowly build up over weeks/months. Urine should be straw coloured and I keep my eye on that.

Of course too much water is also not a good thing as mentioned. Moderation is the key I think.

My aunt is 85 and also forgets to drink water, she does drink a lot of tea and coffee. She now has a jug of water in the fridge that she sees every time she gets the milk for her hot drinks, and does try to have water too.

You get fluid from your food as well. The idea of around 2 litres a day includes the water that is in your food.
Nobody needs to drink litres of water every day.

You rarely see people out and about on walks unless they’re clutching a bottle of water, (or carton of coffee).
There is no medical evidence for the fashion for drinking extra fluid. Our bodies are generally self regulating (homeostatic) unless we are ill, and we know when we need to drink because we will be thirsty if we don’t.
Sometimes as people age they need to be reminded to drink enough fluid, of whatever sort, because their systems are not so efficient, similarly young children.
Water has no magical properties of detoxifying, healthy kidneys do a good job of that, as others have sensibly posted.
Urine colour as MoMB is a good guide.

This reminds me of my neighbour's very heavy drinking husband. He was hospitalised after drinking a lot of water due to the amount of alcohol in his system, nearly killed him.

What a brilliant idea ( dice )
Thank you for passing that on

As I have an ileostomy, my body is unable to take out the fluid from foods, so I do have to keep a careful check on the amount of fluid I take in. Only fluid taken as fluid works for me.

But for people without tis condition, then, Yes, fluid is extracted from foods and is part of your daily intake.

I have to drink a glass of water after my weekly alendronic acid tablet, first thing in the morning . I think I feel the bettr for the water.

I buy reduced- sugar fizzy ginger beer from Tesco to tempt me to drink more fluid. It works fairly well although I must say it's nicer with ice cream mixed in with it.

Caleo
If DM did drink a glass of water she made a face as if she was taking bitter medicine!

My yoga teacher refuses to allow water bottles in her class. She calls it "Gym culture" and claims none of us are going to dehydrate in an hour and a half of fairly gentle yoga, and we don't.

Good tip giulia , although I would decrease the amount down to four glasses ?

I keep a filter jug of water by the kettle, every time we have a cup of tea of coffee we have a small glass of water first.

I always have a glass of squash or flavoured water by me when I'm working round the house or doing crafts and just keep sipping it till it's gone. I try to make sure I have 2 pints a day as a minimum.

A lot of people think they have to have cold water, but it's much easier to drink cool water, rather than cold, and flavouring it makes it even easier.

If you like cucumbers it's worth noting they are 98% water, and pack their own minerals. In Afghanistan it's common to munch on them when they can't get water, so eating cubes of cucumber is another way to get your water.

AreWeThereYet, I agree about the temperature of the water. I prefer warm to hot water as it feels less like water and more like weak tea. Are there any herbal teas that make hot water feel less like water?