Are you drinking enough water?

Do you need to drink 3 liters of water on a daily basis?

No.

In fact, the scientific literature doesn’t offer any specific recommendations simply because water intake depends on way too many factors and our bodies have a fairly competent water management system called thirst.

The most important factors that have an impact on your water intake requirements are body composition, weight, gender, level and type of physical activity, but also geographical location and season. For example, summers entail higher temperatures which lead to increased perspiration and by extension to a greater need for water. Hot temperatures and intense exercise can deceive your thirst so those two factors will have a big impact on your specific recommendation. That being said, for the vast majority of the population, drinking excess water preemptively is absolutely not necessary because thirst does regulates hydration just fine.

There must be a reason why every living (or deceased) fitness guru, every doctor and every parent recommend drinking a lot of water. Increased water intake does have quite a few nice benefits, so it doesn’t matter that the recommendations are given for the wrong reasons, the intention is good and so will be the effects. Let us take a look at some of the most interesting and fitness relevant benefits:

• Better workouts, better brain function – a decrease in hydration of only 2% or 3% can lead to a feeling of tiredness and cause that weights you normally lift feel heavier. Muscles are 80% water so that should come as no surprise. A similar degree of dehydration can also impact your ability to focus, your mood and even your memory. So drink more water to ensure a great workout or an optimal state before taking an exam (granted you have to have opened the book beforehand)

• Constipation – yes, water before, during and after a meal and an increased water intake in general can help alleviate constipation. There’s a piece of advice circulating all over the web that basically demonizes drinking water with your meals and this advice is first unfounded and second just plain wrong. The argument usually goes something like this: drinking water dilutes your stomach acids and it also pushes the food into the next stage of digestion before the right time. Both of these statements have never been shown to be true

• Good kidney function – higher water intakes increase the amount of urine streaming through your system which affects mineral concentration levels and prevents the formation of kidney stones

• Alleviates hangover – drinking a lot of water before parties and events, as well as during and after can be key in mitigating the dreadful effects the infamous hangover

• Weight loss – there are no magical effects of course, but it can help you lose weight if you drink a lot of water before a meal and feel fuller as a result. Water doesn’t really stay in your stomach for all that long but it can be enough to decrease food intake (causing you to be in a calorie deficit)

I recommend drinking 1 liter of water for every 20 kg of body weight and then increase or reduce based on your needs. The effect you should be striving for is 4 to 7 clear urinations during the course of a day. If you are too frequently dehydrated, a good idea is to drinking a glass or two or even a small bottle upon waking up as well as a couple of hours before going to bed. During summer or for people who live in warmer climate conditions as well as for people who train frequently, I suggest a larger daily water intake than for the average person so that their body and brain can function optimally.