Can you give me some tips to help me meet my water consumption goals?
How many times have you been told to make sure you drink eight cups of water each day? Yet, how many days have you actually finished eight cups? Ensuring that you drink adequate amounts of water can be challenging.
But since high-quality water is definitely a cornerstone of nutrition, and about 60% of our total body weight, I wanted to share with you some easy-to-follow tips to help you reach your water intake goals and ensure that you are benefiting the most from your water consumption. When following these tips, however, always try to keep in mind how critical it is to start out with high-quality water!
In most cases, "high-quality" means filtered water, spring water, or natural mineral waters. Mineral waters can provide special benefits for the exact reason implied in their name-you'll find calcium, magnesium, and several other minerals to be supplied in significant amounts by these waters. What "high-quality" almost never means is plain, unfiltered tap water. Plain tap water may contain a variety of contaminants, including pesticide residues and heavy metals, although quality varies between municipalities. With this critical water quality step in mind, here are some easy-to-follow tips:
- Bring filtered or bottled water with you whenever you will have to sit for prolonged periods of time. These include times at work or movies, on car trips or commutes to and from work, bus rides, or just TV watching. Sip continuously during these times.
- Maximize water drinking at times of excessive water loss. For example, if you perspire after yard work or exercise, that's a perfect time to follow your thirst and increase your water intake.
- Be consistent, and keep your water intake adequate on a morning-afternoon-and-evening basis. Although the exact amount of water needed each day may vary, you can use a general guideline of about 13 cups of water each day for men and 9 cups for women, matching the suggestions set by the National Academy of Sciences in its Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) recommendations
- Be careful drinking too much water too late in the day. Experiencing sleep interruptions because you need to wake up to go to the bathroom will not help your overall health.
- Think of water as a nutritional necessity-the same as vitamin C, or calcium, or protein, or any other nutrient. It's equally essential!
Although it's possible to drink too much water, it's highly unlikely that you will do so! "Water intoxication," as it's commonly called in the medical world, usually involves imbalance in some of the body's physiological systems and not just excessive intake of water. Therefore, drinking more than eight glasses of water each day, if following the guidelines noted above, should be fine for most people.