Drink THIS Much Water Daily
The Institute of Medicine, an independent group of experts that advises the federal government on health issues, has issued a specific, but controversial, recommendation on how much water we need to drink daily for proper hydration: Rely on your thirst to tell you how much water you need.
Beyond that, the Institute issued these guidelines:
Women should consume about 91 ounces (2.7 liters) of water a day.
Men should drink about 125 ounces (3.7 liters) per day.
What's controversial about this? The Institute says that water contained in food, coffee, beer, and other drinks all count toward the recommended daily amount.
Sports medicine experts beg to differ. Loudly. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has other advice for serious athletes and weekend warriors during prolonged exercise or hot weather: If you rely on your thirst, you won't be drinking enough water. In addition, some drinks, such as coffee and beer, actually dehydrate our bodies.
"Our fluid intake is mostly behavioral," said Dr. W. Larry Kenney, the president of the ACSM and a professor of physiology and kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University, explained to Reuters. "On a daily basis, people drink when they eat meals, when they get a little thirsty, when they walk past a water fountain." He agreed that most of the time relying on thirst to dictate when and how much fluids you drink is acceptable.
But the gotcha is during exercise. When we exercise, our thirst may not accurately tell how much fluid has been lost from sweating. So relying on that alone could do our bodies harm. What should you do? Kenney advises exercisers to weigh themselves before and after a workout. "Strive to drink enough to get back to beginning body weight," he told Reuters.
The ACSM recommends the following guidelines for thirsty athletes:
* Eat a nutritionally-balanced diet.
* Drink adequate fluids during the day before exercise or an athletic event.
* About 2 hours before exercising, drink about 17 ounces of fluid.
* While you are exercising, drink early and at regular intervals so you replace the water you are losing through sweat.
* The best drink for athletes is cold water.
* If you're exercising less than an hour, you don't need specialized sports drinks that contain electrolytes and carbohydrates
The More I Learn, The Less I Understand
