How Much Water Should I Drink A Day?
I see there is much confusion online as many people Google ‘how much water should I drink a day?’
So here is the answer in a nutshell. Drinking too much water can almost be worse than drinking too little water.
How Much Water Is Too Much Water?
It is possible to drink too much water, and if you are guilty of the following, or have the following symptoms, then maybe you are one of the guilty ones.
- You carry a water bottle around with you all day and immediately refill it when it runs out.
- You drink water even when you are not thirsty.
- The colour of your urine is clear.
- You urinate frequently during the night.
- Nausea and vomiting after drinking too much.
- Constant headaches (could be over or under hydration).
- Swelling and discolouration in the lips, feet and hands.
- Muscles cramp and feel weak.
- You feel tired all the time.
If you are constantly drinking water, you can end up with low sodium levels in your blood. This can cause the cells in your body to swell. If your brain starts to swell this can become dangerous because your brain can only swell up 8 to 10 percent before it touches the skull and pushes your brain stem out. This will cause severe headaches.
When you drink too much water, your kidneys become unable to get rid of the excess liquid and water starts to collect in the body. This can cause a number of unpleasant symptoms, often including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
If you’re drinking the right amount of water, the colour of your urine should be straw-coloured to transparent yellow.
As a guideline, most people should be drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water or liquid a day.
Thirst is everybody’s individual monitor that lets them know if they need more. The more water you need, the thirstier you get.
Here is a mini guide on how much water I should drink a day and when you should be drinking water each day.
Correct timing to drink water will maximize its effectiveness on the Human body.
Two (02) glass of water – After waking up – This helps to activate the internal organs.
One (01) glass of water – 30 minutes before a meal. This helps with digestion.
One (01) glass of water – Before taking a bath. This helps to lower blood pressure.
One (01) glass of water – Before going to sleep. They say this aids in avoiding a stroke or heart attack
Then you only have about three glasses to go. Drink these in little amounts throughout the day to keep your inner entrepreneur healthy.
Pass this information on ‘how much water should I drink a day’ to all your friends, as this will help them too.
As a runner, I know how important drinking water is. I remember when I was young and I used to just run around not really caring much about drinking water. But as you get older, your body just needs it more and that’s when I realized how important it is.
A quick tip: I suggest to always keep a bottle of water by your desk or by where you work. It’s so much more likely that you will drink water that way than without it. Personally have been doing so great with drinking water just by using this method.
Thank you for the great tip on drinking enough water Parmi. Having the water where you can see it definitely does help.
Hi there,
I rarely post comments on the internet, but I couldn’t go without thanking you for this amazing article which contains a lot of helpful information.
This type of information is valuable for everybody. I must also say that after reading your article, I learned quite a lot and will definitely make some changes in my life!
Thank you,
Nick.
Thanks for the comment Nick and good luck with changing those bad habits into good ones.
Hi Michel,
Thanks so much for this article about drinking water. I really enjoyed reading it. Due to increased awareness, a lot of people drink much more water nowadays than they did just a few years ago. Some people definitely take this to the extreme and don’t think that it is possible to drink too much water. However, your article clearly shows that it is in fact possible to drink too much.
Nevertheless, I still believe that most people drink too little water.
On average they do Ios, but there is the exception to the rule.
I really did not know that too much water can cause some consequences. I am drinking 2 liters a day because I am active person and I have training regularly. I agree that we should not exaggerate with water but we all should agree that water is very healthy for our body and for our line.
True Daniel, water is the healthiest beverage that there is. If you sweat a lot, then you will need more water than somebody who is not exercising.
I have been trying to open up your page and my internet maybe too slow because it’s been loading for what seems like forever and it never opened. I will only talk a little about the topic. It’s a great topic and I am sad that I cannot read the whole article. I have always been wondering how much water is appropriate to consume for one day. Great topic and I will be back to revisit the page again when my connection is better.
Hope to see you back soon, and in case you can’t read the entire article, you should be getting 8 to 10 glasses of liquids or water a day.
Hi
Thank you so much for your advice on drinking too much water. Very helpful and useful information.
I had not really thought about drinking too much water, rather the other way around and not drinking enough water.
I find that today a lot of people are drinking a lot of liquids but not enough water and pure water at that.
But as you say drinking too much water can have similar effects as not drinking enough so this information is really good to know.
I will be sharing this on social media because you have a really good and useful guide on when to drink water and I think that this is really valuable and helpful information.
Thank you
Jennifer
Many thanks Jennifer.
It’s amazing that nobody focuses on drinking too much water, only too little but they can both have dire consequences.
Hey Michel, your post was awesome.
To tell the truth, I didn’t always like water or drinking it, but these days I can’t get enough of it. You’ve made several good points in your post; points that people would be foolish to ignore.
How much water do you drink a day? I drink soda and I drink brisk tea but I definitely drink water and I love the taste especially when its ice cold. I can’t tell you how many times that ice cold water kept me from passing out from heat exhaustion when I would cut the grass on almost 100 degree days. I’m going to bookmark your page. Good job!
Thanks for the kind words and the comment R.J.
Hi Michel,
Thanks for the tips. Appreciate the mini guide of when to drink your daily water intake. I have heard that drinking in the morning when you wake up helps flush out toxins accelerated over the evening.
I am guilty of carrying a water bottle around with me all the time. I try to drink 32 – 64 ounces a day. But I do this because I’ve noticed that dehydration can cause headaches too. Similar to how too much water can cause headaches as well.
I will try following the guide schedule to see if I notice any differences. It’s important to drink water and listen to your body for the amount you need or don’t need.
Thanks for sharing these tips. Helpful.
Thanks,
Kim Wolfe
Yes I agree Kim. Everyone is different, so definitely listen to your body.
I know it’s an ongoing discussion, what’s the optimal amount of water per day. Most of the times you read, the more the better. I’m glad you talked about, that too much drinking can harm your body as well. Of course, it has to be taken into account, how much physical exercise you’ve done throughout the day and/or outside temperature.
I didn’t know about the beneficial effects of drinking a glass of water before taking a bath. Great tips in general!
Thanks Felix,
The amount of water you will need differed from person to person. If you are active you will need more. If it is hot weather, you will also need more. If you are thirsty all the time, then you obviously are not getting enough.
I wouldn’t exceed 8 to 10 glasses on any normal day. If you feel like you are floating, or have any of the symptoms above after drinking a lot reduce your intake.
This quota includes other forms of liquids, not only water.
Wow, I didn’t know that one can drink excess water.
I have always thought that the more water one drinks the better one feels. Thanks for this enlightening piece.Should I take water before training at the gym? Because I tend to really get thirsty as I work out even though I have been drinking water throughout the day.
Yes Emmy, you should drink water before, during and after you have trained, as when you sweat you will tend to loose water and you need to replace it. During training make sure to take small sips at a time to avoid getting cramps.