You’ve probably heard about the 8 x 8 rule in regards to your daily water intake. For those that do not know the rule, it states that you should drink eight 8 oz. glasses of water a day. This equates to about half a gallon. Yet what you should be drinking is a little more complicated than just a standard amount.
First thing to keep in mind here is that when discussing how much water you should be drinking, it’s not just about glasses of water. The food you eat and other beverages you drink all contain different amounts of water. So keep in mind when needing to know what your daily water intake is you need to consider everything you are consuming.
Water’s Importance to your Health
It’s basic instinct to crave water, especially when you are extremely thirsty. In fact that is what thirst is, it is your body telling you it needs water. And different levels of thirst correspond with how dire you need water. Some signs of dehydration are fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath, and confusion; and they worsen the longer you are dehydrated. Getting the right amount of water will keep you hydrated and avoiding these side effects. Water has shown to also provide numerous of other health benefits as well. Check out this site to review all of them.
How to calculate it?
The amount of water intake you should have is all based on your body’s weight. Depending on how much you weigh will determine how much water you need to be drinking. Take your weight and now multiply it by 2/3 and now you have the amount of water you should be drinking daily in ounces. So essentially you should be drinking about 66% of your body weight. But keep in mind you are only using the number you get from the calculation for example if you weigh 145 lbs.; 145 lbs. times 2/3 gives you 96.67. Therefore if you weigh 145 lbs. then you should be drinking about 97 oz. of water. As you can see this is far lower than 64 oz., which is what you would be drinking using the 8 x 8 rule.
You also need to factor in your activity level. Two people can be the same weight, yet depending on their activity level one may need more daily water intake than the other. This is all obviously subjective so its important that you test out how much you should be drinking till you find that happy medium. A good place to start is to add 18 oz. of water for every 30 min. you workout.
To calculate how much water you need daily, use this site’s water calculator.