Importance of Drinking Water

While humans can survive without food for several weeks (documented cases have shown lengths of up to two months), we can only survive a few days without water. Thirst is a signal that your body needs to be re-hydrated, but by the time you are thirsty it’s already too late. Just a fraction of a percentage drop of your body’s water supply can result into huge performance decreases. Even slight benefits of drinking water can be critical. In the recent sports season, a few deaths resulted from dehydration.

Contrary to popular belief, “chugging” a gallon of water is not going to provide your body with the water it needs. When too much water floods your system at once, your body will pass most of it on to your bladder, and only absorb a slight amount. Weight in the stomach is a signal for digestive processes to begin, and a number of biological chemicals enter your stomach and change the pH balance. This can result in indigestion and stomach pain. The best way to get benefits of drinking water is to steadily sip it throughout the day. You should also eat plenty of fruits and vegetables - most of the produce you eat is filled with water, and the body can process this water very efficiently.

So - how much water? There are a million theories and equations. I’ve heard to drink “eight cups a day,” which is better than nothing, but how can every adult, with so much variety of size, shape, metabolism, exercise habits, etc, require the exact same amount of water for the benefits of drinking water? Then there is the complicated equation that involves computing your basal metabolic rate and energy expenditure. I had to throw that one out, too - who wants to run a computer program every day just to figure out their water needs? I just prefer to drink like a fish and then I’m done with it. Just kidding.

What I’ve found is two ways for computing water benefits of drinking water that both work incredibly well. The first is a little too vague for some people to follow, but very effective - it is recommended by nutritionist Will Brink. Will says to drink enough water to have two or three absolutely clear urinations per day. If you do not have these clear urinations, then either you are not drinking enough water, are not eating healthily or have some type of infection or other illness. For a normal, healthy adult, two or three clear urinations is a great “ruler.” If you do not have these, then increase your water intake until it happens and you'll see benefits of drinking water.

If that is a little too general or explicit for you, another way is to take your weight and divide it in half. This is a “baseline” amount of ounces to drink every day. For every cup that you drink that is not water, drink a cup that is water. For every bout of exercise, drink a cup before and after, and one extra cup for every hour that you exercised (round up!). That’s benefits of drinking water . Let’s take me as an example.

If I weighed in at 200 pounds, 200 / 2 = 100 ounces of water, or about 12 cups.

Let's say I also ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes. One cup before, one cup for the exercise, and one cup after is three cups total. 12 + 3 = 15 cups.

I drank two cups of coffee, so I should have two extra cups of water. 15 + 2 = 17.

That’s it - today’s water requirement for me is 17 cups! And I have no problem getting those benefits of drinking water - I have an extra large mason jar that holds about 64 ounces. I fill these up and keep them full all day long. I sip them constantly. I probably end up drinking between one to two gallons today because I love my coffee and my exercise.

The type of water to drink is the subject of much debate. I prefer filtered tap water because of the potential for harmful agents in “raw” tap water - although many health gurus recommend benefits of drinking water due to the fact that they provide plenty of vitamins and minerals. Keep in mind that if you drink too much non-filtered water, you may increase your chances of acquiring kidney stones if there are many foreign materials that your body has to filter out. When you look at a water filter before you toss it out, that is exactly what your body’s filter - the kidneys - would have had to process as well. Distilled water is also an option for benefits of drinking water.

Now go out and drink some water!