https://www.gamebirdexpert.com/index.php/importance-of-water-line-sanitation/water-glass/
According to recent studies the tale of drinking 8 glasses of water a day might not be true after all. While yes drinking water is good for you, recent studies have shown one major factor that we are forcing ourselves to a schedule of drinking water rather than drinking when we are thirsty. Our brains have a mechanism that forces us to stop drinking water after an excess amount of water is drank to maintain the nice calibration of volumes of water in our body. Also shown is the factor that too much water intake can lead to a fatal water intoxication or literally drinking so much water you drown yourself from the inside which is not a nice way to go. At the normal rate you can drink about 4 cups or 1/4 of a gallon per hour for you body to process the water and filter it throughout your body. So if your body can only process 4 cups, which is half of the 8 that is “required” then something is not clearly adding up. There have actually been quite a few studies done on the idea of this mainly I will be talking about the Monsah University study of water intake. and ways it has implied water intake is dependent on the biological make-up of the person.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161007111027.htm
Monsah would take the route of using past experiments by asking the group under two condidtions how much effort would it take to drink water and these two conditions were after they had rigorous exercise then next time they were simply persuaded to drink as much water as they could in one sitting. After comparing both the results the researchers at Monsah concluded that there was a three fold increase in effort after over-drinking, which would imply that if you indeed drink too much water your body is going to try and get ways of releasing that excess water, whether it is through urination, sweating, or any other form of excretement. Monsah would also use the fMRI machine to measure brain activity when the participants would try and swallow water with much effort, the fMRI found that the prefrontal cortex, mainly the right side, was very active when drinking in excess showing that the biological mechanism to stop over intake of water is found somewhere in the right prefrontal cortex. This according to the scientist, proves there is some sort of drinking inhibition when you reach the point in where your body has a nice balance of water, which implies also that different people need different amounts of water to reach this point. Whether it is 8 glasses or 4 glasses or even more than 8 considering your job, such as athletes, construction workers, etc. Age is also a major factor to take into affect, mainly elderly people are not intaking enough water and therefore are needing more and more water as opposed to younger generations who seem to be drinking more and more water thus need to stem back on the water intake.
Finally the last point is a health issue in which drinking too much water might seem like its impossible to drinking too much water but as I explained earlier drinking too much is harmful to your body, if too much water is drank there is a danger of water intoxication, aka hyponatremia, which occurs when the sodium levels are dangerously low from too much water absorbing the salt causing lethargy all the way to convulsions or even more dangerous comas.
For more reading I would recommend also reading the research published by Monsah University here.
Let me know what you think!
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161007111027.htm
Zachariah,
I foundd your post interesting because I have always wondered this very question myself. I used to drink very little water a day, and as a result, I was often twice as tired as everyone else. So, I started drinking more water. Now I drink five or more water bottles a day. I find myself to be well energized and ready to take on my days.
Although there may not be a set amount of water we should intake a day, it is safe to assume that the more water we drink, the healthier we feel. Think of it this way: when you are sick you drink fluids- A LOT OF FLUIDS to flush the infection out. When you are doing physically strenuous activities, you drink water to energize yourself.
According to an article I read (http://water.usgs.gov/edu/propertyyou.html), I found that babies contain a higher body percentage of water than adults. The average adult body water percentage is around 60%. The article goes on to discuss the benefits of water to the human body. For your interest, you might want to take a read.
Overall, I think your post was well written, supported, organized, and informative. Great job!
I find this interesting and relevant because my mom is always nagging me that I need to drink more water. I bought a plastic refillable water bottle to help me with this, but it hasn’t really helped. My sister likes to drink out of the gallon of water which I not only find strange but also probably not too good for you. Heres an article I found on too much water consumption.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/drinking-too-much-water-can-be-deadly-new-guidelines-healthy-water-consumption-warns-340604
This is a really interesting post. It made me think of how at the beginning of this year Andrew said to not blindly follow the things we hear and I think this is one of them. I always just thought the more water the better but it makes sense how the amount of water you should drink is relative to other factors in your life. In an article I found, it says that the saying “drink 8 cups of water a day” is only so popular because it’s easier for people to remember that number. Check it out!
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256
I recently came across an article that chronicled a writer’s attempt to drink a gallon of water every day for 30 days. The writer noted that it was very much a struggle to complete the task, but that his overall wellbeing seemed to improve because of it. He drank less coffee, he had more energy, and his girlfriend even commented on his skin being more clear. Overall, it seemed that drinking a lot of water had many health benefits while not having many drawbacks
I found this interesting. I never drink enough water, so it’s interesting say to see what drinking different levels of water does to the body. It’s amazing to see how big of a difference drinking the recommended amount of water does.
I was interested in your post because I was always curious about how much water you should actually drink. I found an article ( https://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/10-life-changing-reasons-to-drink-more-water ) that mentions the health benefits of drinking water. According to the article, the more water you drink, the healthier your skin will look, the more energetic you will be, and you will be more healthier overall! So, although there is not much evidence to support how much water you should actually drink, we know that drinking water will benefit you in many ways.