Research shows that approximately 2.5 litres of water is required each day for a fairly sedentary adult in a normal environment to replace the total loss of water that occurs though urine, faeces, skin and lungs. To replace this water loss about 1 to 1.2 litres needs to be in drinks, (mainly water or cold herbal teas), 0.9 litres needs to be taken though food and 0.3 litres (about 1 glass) can be made by the body.

If you don’t drink enough water studies show that there may be an increase in pulse rate, an increase in respiration, tingling and numbness of fingers and feet and a diminution of blood volume. All these bodily changes can cause difficult breathing, poor circulation, gastro-intestinal upsets, blood sugar swings, nutritional deficiencies, nausea, poor concentration, aches and pains and mood swings.

And because thirst begins after you are already mildly dehydrated you shouldn’t wait until you are thirsty to begin hydrating.

The message is simple: raise your glass and drink between 6 and 8 glasses of water a day normally; more if you are exercising vigorously.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 2:08 pm and is filed under General Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.