There is a lot to love about the summer months but it is also a time when you have to be more aware of your water bottle. In the hot weather, you’re more likely to sweat, which means your body’s water levels are more likely to be depleted. But exactly how much water should you be drinking? Should you follow the “eight glasses a day” advice or is that a hydration myth? To get to the bottom of what our water consumption should look like this summer, we talked with a registered dietitian.
“The 8×8 rule can be a bit oversimplified for some but it’s also not necessarily dangerous,” says Renee Fitton, dietetician autorizat și director de educație la L-Nutra, a nutrition technology company. Rather than using specific guidelines across the board, you can instead focus on straightforward habits that can help you get more water into your daily routine.
How much water should you drink every day?
Fitton says various factors affect how much water one needs daily, including body size, medications, gender, physical activity, climate, health status and altitude.
Most of us are also familiar with the old adage: Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily. The eight-by-eight rule guides us to drink 64 ounces (about 1.9 liters) of water each day. Many of us have blindly followed this advice for our entire lives, not knowing where it came from or why we need eight glasses of water.
Apparently, the eight-by-eight rule came out of a void, because there’s nicio dovadă științifică care să susțină acest lucru. It’s just another of those long-standing myths people believe because that’s what everyone believes. Drinking 64 ounces of water daily isn’t bad but it could be too much or not enough for some people.
“For some people, simple rules like these help them stay on track. If drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day helps someone hit their hydration goals, then it’s a fine starting point. But I wouldn’t call it the gold standard,” says Fitton.
Other guidelines exist but there’s still no true consensus. There’s no formal recommendation for how much water people should drink daily, perhaps because everyone needs different amounts of water.
An “adequate intake” of water for adult men and women does exist but it can vary from person to person. This adequate intake includes water from non-water beverages, such as milk, băuturi sportive, tea and da, chiar și cafeaua. It also includes water from fruits, vegetables and other foods (think of how much water goes into a bowl of oats or soup).
Cel/Cea/Cei/Cele adequate intake is 15.5 cups (3.7 liters or 125 ounces) for average men and 11.5 cups (2.7 liters or 91 ounces) for average women. How you choose to consume these 125 or 91 ounces of fluid is up to you. Although this is the closest figure we have to a recommended daily intake, even these numbers differ for each person based on their stare de sănătate.
Motive pentru care ai putea avea nevoie să bei mai multă apă
You have an active job: Those on the go all day (especially folks who work outdoors) may need more water than most people. The more you move, the more you sweat, and you should replace lost water (and electrolytes) through fluid intake.
Dacă lucrați afară în timpul unui val de căldură, Centrele pentru Controlul și Prevenirea Bolilor din SUA recomandă drinking 8 ounces (1 cup) of water every 15 to 20 minutes during work. Drinking water before and after work can help prevent dehydration.
You exercise often: If you don’t have an active job but you do exercise a lot — whether in the gym or through recreational activities — you also need more water than most. Even if you don’t realize it, you lose a lot of fluids during physical activity (chiar și pe vreme rece). Up your water intake to account for activity (especially travel activity).
You live in a hot climate: Hot weather means increased sweating and replacing the lost fluid is important. Dryness compounds fluid loss in hot weather — people in desert climates may need more water than those in tropical climates.
Ești însărcinată sau alăptezi: Femeile însărcinate au nevoie de mai multă apă pentru a încuraja o circulație îmbunătățită, un aport caloric crescut și alte procese fiziologice care susțin creșterea bebelușului. Femeile care alăptează au nevoie de apă suplimentară pentru susține producția de lapte matern.
Urina ta este închisă la culoare color: The color of your urine can tell you a lot about your hydration levels. “The color of your urine is the best and most personalized, consistent and immediate way to measure hydration throughout the day. We want to look for light yellow pee, not fully clear (over-hydrated) but also not deep yellow or amber (under-hydrated),” says Fitton.
Aveți gura uscată, buze crăpate sau crampe musculare: Yep, when you are dehydrated your body will let you know. “Water is such a critical substance for life so when we’re lacking, our body will no longer work at its peak capacity and this can persist in many ways and uniquely from one person to another,” Fitton says.
Trucuri de hidratare care te ajută să bei mai multă apă
Reguli diferite de hidratare sunt diferite pentru fiecare persoană. Aceste patru reguli comune te pot ajuta să rămâi hidratat, indiferent de stilul tău de viață.
Bea când ți-e sete
Există unele controverse în jurul acestei metode. Unii profesioniști din domeniul sănătății spun că nu ar trebui să complice prea mult hidratarea iar corpul tău îți spune când are nevoie de apă. Alții spun că a aștepta până când ți-e sete este așteptare prea lungă — că ești deja deshidratat atunci când simți că ți-e sete. Se pare că unele persoane au mecanisme de sete mai puternice decât altele, așa că această metodă s-ar putea să nu funcționeze pentru tine.
Beți un pahar înainte de mese și între mese
This isn’t bad advice. Structuring water intake around a ritual like mealtime can ingrain hydration as a habit. Your total water intake will vary depending on how many meals you eat. If you eat three meals, you’ll drink five glasses of water according to this rule, which may not be enough (unless they’re big glasses). This rule probably won’t work for you if you don’t have a routine eating pattern.
Beți opt pahare pe zi
Generic health advice rarely works for everyone. If you feel adequately hydrated on 64 ounces of water each day, then that amount is likely sufficient to keep you hydrated. If you feel overly hydrated (clear urine, very frequent urination or swelling), cut back slightly. If you feel dehydrated (dark urine, headaches, infrequent urination, lightheaded or fatigue), eight glasses may not be enough for you.
Bea jumătate din greutatea ta corporală în uncii
Aceasta este o regulă simplă, ușor de reținut și, de obicei, ușor de aplicat. Dacă cântărești 78 kg, încearcă să bei 2 litri de apă în fiecare zi. Aceasta este singura regulă generală care ia în considerare diferitele dimensiuni ale corpului, dar nu ia în considerare setea, clima, nivelul de activitate sau alți factori.
Faceți apa vizibilă și accesibilă
Fitton spune că faptul că menținerea apei la îndemână în permanență oferă o reamintire vizuală pentru a bea apă. De asemenea, ea recomandă utilizarea unei aplicații precum WaterMinder care trimite zilnic mementouri să bei apă.
Asociați consumul de apă cu obiceiurile zilnice
Another great way to get your daily water intake is to make drinking water part of your daily habits. This can look like drinking water right when you wake up, after eating a meal or right before you leave the house. “These mini habits build on things you already do, so you’re not trying to remember to do something new. The more you tie hydration into your daily routine, the easier it becomes,” says Fitton.
Experimentați tehnici de hidratare pentru a descoperi ce funcționează pentru dvs. Atâta timp cât nu vă luptați cu oboseala cronică, amețelile, durerile de cap sau alte... semne de deshidratare, probabil că faci o treabă destul de bună. Ca măsură de siguranță, poți oricând să stabilești dacă ești subhidratat sau suprahidratat pe baza culoarea urinei tale.
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