Eight Glasses of Water A Day Is A Myth
I've always been somewhat dehydrated, which probably has something to do with my not liking the taste of water and therefore not drinking very much of it. Anyway, it turns out my mom (and probably yours) has been wrong all this time—not only do we not need to drink those eight glasses of water a day, but many people can meet the bare-minimum needs without having anything to drink during the day.
Also news to me: people who drink caffeine regularly, like coffee and sodas, become accustomed to it and don't lose fluid; a glass of Coke can provide the same amount of hydrating fluid as the equivalent amount of water! I'm still going to try to drink more water than I've historically done, but it's good to know I've not been completely parching myself all this time.
Photograph from Kid A* on Flickr
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4 Comments:
I love it when myths are debunked. So much of the conventional wisdom and concensus thinking we are fed every day is baloney (sorry, I meant bologna, this is a food site). I'd bet that all the 'information' fed to us regarding health is probably worse for us than my vanilla rum buttercream cupcakes!
biscuitbaker at 7:42PM on 04/17/07
I never really thought "8-10 glasses of water a day" meant that you had to drink that much water, but rather 8-10 glasses worth of water should somehow enter your system, whether through food or other liquid. (Although I wouldn't recommend just drinking soda!
...And yeah, I probably shouldn't talk considering all the other crap I eat...um.)
After I got dehydrated a few times when I was younger without feeling thirsty (it took me a long time to realize what went wrong), I became more motivated to drink water. So if you're not passing out n stuff and you're going to the bathroom enough, you know you're okay! Maybe. Whatever part of my brain that tells me to hydrate myself doesn't work well at all, so I have to think about drinking water a lot. :\
roboppy at 9:10PM on 04/17/07
An ex-boyfriend's sister heard about the whole eight glasses thing and thought you had to drink them all in one sitting. She made it through about six glasses before starting to cry at the idea of having to do it every day for the rest of her life. The worst part is that she wasn't six or seven at the time, like you'd expect from the story, but a college graduate.
Lia Bulaong at 9:47AM on 04/18/07
has anyone else heard "if you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated"? i think that one's also a myth. back when i never drank water (except for a swallow or two from a water fountain at the gym) i NEVER got thirsty. i would drink a soda twice a day at meals, but otherwise, i never drank anything. it's like my thirst mechanism was broken. now that i drink water all the time, i'm thirsty quite often which makes me drink even more water.
erica.a at 4:30PM on 04/18/07