How much water do you drink? I ask this question to all my patients. Surprisingly many don’t have a clue, while most consume far less water than they should.
That brings us to the question, how much water should one drink?
When asked this question I usually come up with a counter question: How much money should one earn?
What I want to imply here is, the amount of water intake depends on requirements. Like Ambanis need to earn crores, an athlete may need to drink 10 liters of water on a match day. But generally speaking anything less than 3 liters and you may fall below the poverty line of water intake. Consider this: your kidneys filter 180 liters of blood in a day, so 3 liters constitutes just around 1.5% of the daily volume.
Why hydration is important?
All the tissues of the body have water as their major ingredient. Dehydration thus creates an overall negative effect in health. Most visible signs of inadequate water intake are constipation, tiredness, poor skin quality and texture, lack of flexibility, cramps, and poor efficiency of muscles.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY ONWARDS:
A. Monitor water intake:
Allot a specific bottle for yourself which constitutes a known quantity of water(1ltr/2ltrs).
today onwards drink water only from that bottle.
B. Try to increase water intake to at least 3 liters every day.
C. Drink water the right way:
Some people can and do gulp down a full bottle of water at one go. That is not an efficient strategy. This is because the excess amount of water is immediately flushed out by the Kidneys. One should drink small quantities of water throughout the day at regular intervals.
Problems with increased water intake:
Frequent urination- in the initial few days to go to the loo often. Over a period of time the body gets adjust to the increased water and this becomes less of an issue.
Urination at night-This problem affects your sleep you may want to time your water intake, reducing it in the latter part of the day. If the doctor has advised reducing water intake: This is sometimes done in certain disease conditions like heart or kidney issues.
Kindly stick to your doctor’s advice.
So that was the healthy step for today.
Come back tomorrow for another easy yet important tip towards better health.
About the author
Dr Subhanjan Das (PT)
BPT, MPT (MSk & Sports), CMP(NZ), Diploma in football medicine (FIFA)
Consultant Physiotherapist of Apollo & Reliva Clinic, HSR Layout, Bangalore
Contact: +91 8967549104
Dr Subhanjan Das (PT) has over 14 years of clinical and 12 years of academic experience. A friendly professional with lots of patience and skilful hands, Dr Subhanjan has worked with thousands of his patients for instant relief of pain and rapid return to activities. He has treated elite athletes for recovery, injury prevention and performance enhancement.
Dr Das is specialized in Orthopaedic and sports physiotherapy and has keeps himself updated with the latest advancements in the field of physiotherapy. He has undergone training on advanced orthopaedic techniques such as Dry Needling, Mulligan Concept, McKenzie method, Pilates, Cupping therapy, McConnel and kinesio taping from the best faculties around the world.
Dr Das has taught in 5 universities across India and has trained physiotherapists in 50+ workshops within and outside India.
It’s a great idea about to drink water to stay healthy. It will many people for their better health and Lifestyle. Thanks a ton for your care corcern.
Thank you so much sir!
Very nice idea to keep us healthy.
Thank you sir.
Looking forward for next 59 days….
Good information.
Very informative Sir .
Good morning sir, I t is such an informative article for everyone’s health. I try to balance the water intake but sometimes I fail to do it properly. But from today I’ve started to follow your advice and strategy to get better result on health.
Thank you so much for the article.
Thank you Abeda.
Helpful article in this corona pandemic..Thank you so much Sir
Thanks Dr. shubanjan sir! As always, this is so helpful.
Very well written Dr Subhanjan! Best wishes for your mission to educate public about healthy living.
Thank you so much!
It’s a very useful and informative article sir. Thankyou
Very well said sir, it’s very imp becoz winter is coming and our water intake is less so this article very helpful for us and our patients too.. 🙂
Yes Nikhila. In winter it is especially important as the body channelizes a lot of fluid to central circulation to preserve heat. That means lesser amount of water in the limbs. Probably one of the reasons why we get more cramps in winter/AC.
Very informative and use full article about importance of water for our health
Thanks a lot Devraj
Very useful article…..
Good one sir
Very useful
Thank you so much sir it’s was informative to maintain good health
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