Why we should drink more water (all year round)
Image: Globencer at Unsplash
At birth, we are about 78% water; by the time we reach adulthood this has fallen to 55% (women) and 60% (men). Other side-effects of ageing also affect how we use, and lose, water. Muscle mass naturally decreases with age, and as that’s where much of our body’s water is stored, we retain less of it, and our kidney function also tends to deteriorate over time, which means our urine is less concentrated, so we lose more water with each loo visit. We’re also less aware of the sensation of thirst as we get older.
What does water do for us?
Throughout our lives, water is used in all of our cells, organs and tissues. It helps us regulate our temperature, by sweating, keeps our eyes, nose and mouth moist, as well as lubricating and cushioning joints. Water prevents constipation and urinary tract infection, and helps us break down our food and absorb its nutrients, as well as digesting soluble fibre, and allows us to excrete waste by sweating, urination and defecation.
Are you getting enough?
The fact that we can survive for only three days without water demonstrates how vital it is. Symptoms of dehydration include – guess what? – feeling thirsty, passing urine that’s dark yellow and smells strong, peeing infrequently and fewer than four times a day, dizziness or lightheadedness, feeling tired, dry mouth, lips and eyes.
Dehydration can occur more easily if you have diabetes, overindulgence in alcohol, copious sweating after exercise, overexposure to the sun, a raised temperature (over 38°C), or you’re taking diuretic medication. Combinations of these factors make us dehydrated faster. For example, when exercising in a hot climate we can lose 1.5 to three litres of water an hour as sweat.
Ask anyone how much water we should drink each day and they’ll probably say ‘eight glasses’ or ‘two litres’. However, this isn’t universally agreed. The NHS recommendation for daily fluid consumption is six to eight cups/glasses, equivalent to around 1.5 to two litres, which includes water, low-fat milks and low-sugar and sugar-free drinks; the European Food Safety Authority recommends two litres (three-and-a-half pints) of total water (including that in food) a day for adult women and 2.5 litres (four-and-a-third pints) a day for adult men.
Needs vary from individual to individual so you should be guided by feeling thirsty, and by the colour of your pee, which should be clear to very pale yellow.
If you’re concerned that constantly knocking back water will leave you needing to get up in the night for a wee (a side-effect of menopause caused by reduced oestrogen), try drinking more earlier in the day, then tailing off. Take a water bottle with you when you’re out and about; you can refill it free in lots of places – download the Refill app to see where.
And if you’re worried about water retention, drinking more water actually reduces it, by helping the body to excrete excess sodium, which causes water retention.
Ways with water
If you don’t like the taste or smell of tap water, try filtering or flavouring it. In 2019, we spent more on flavoured water than plain H2O, but commercially produced, flavoured water can contain sugar and/or sweeteners, acidity regulators, plus preservatives. And let’s not forget all those single-use plastic bottles – currently more than three billion of the 13 billion sold every year are incinerated, or end up in landfill or as litter.
And as for those ‘iced tea’ teabags marketed especially for your water bottle… just use an ordinary ‘hot tea’ teabag of your choice with cold water, or hot water left to cool.
There are loads more ways to flavour water: just add…
• a couple of slices of lemon, lime, tangerine, satsuma, clementine, orange, kumquat, grapefruit
• a sprig of fresh mint, rosemary or lemon balm
• a few berries
• sliced fresh root ginger
• slices of cucumber
• any combination of the above
Freeze chunks or slices of fruit to flavour the water and keep it cool, in your glass or water bottle. (Bonus: you’ll always have ‘ice and a slice’ ready for your G&T.)
Adrienne Wyper is a health and lifestyle writer and regular TNMA contributor.
Discussion (12 Comments)
Boadicea says:
Thank you for this. I know I should be drinking more but rarely feel thirsty enough to do anything about it. I do try to stay aware and not leave it too long before traipsing off to the tap, but get sidetracked far too easily. I find that ordinary tap water, nice as ours is, isn’t a real thirst quencher for me, I need a proper taste to my Adam’s ale so plan to make myself a brew using some of Adrienne’s suggestions and see if I can guzzle more often. Then I can look forward to even more trips to the loo. Sigh…
judith waring says:
Thank you, this is such a timely article as we constantly need that reminder to drink more water as it’s so easy to forget about that bottle sitting beside you on the desk when you get caught up in work.
I’m also continually telling my 89 year old mum to drink more water too and keep repeating how important it all is for her body, her eyes, her muscles, and just everything quite frankly. It’s scary to know how much water we lose as we age.
Thank you for this, it certainly made me (guiltily !) reach out my hand at the prompt and take a couple of swigs ! Cheers folks !!!Anne Murphy says:
Crikey….if after all info that’s been thrown at us, for some considerable time, about drinking water we’re not choosing to, it ain’t going to happen now!!!
Nicola says:
I do drink a lot of water. Apart from one double shot of coffee a day, all I drink is black tea and water. Recently I’m sure I heard someone ( maybe Michael Moseley) say not to drink too much carbonated water which has worried me since as I have a couple of glasses of that every evening ( made in an Aarke – no plastic bottles). I wonder if you can shed any light on why that might be?
Kim says:
I was once told to drink a glass of warm water first thing every morning to prepare my body for the day ahead -a little strange at first but I soon really enjoyed it and to this day alternate between hot and cold water throughout the day. I’ll never forget leading a team once who thought I was a crackpot with my hot water when I joined them and within 9 months they were all doing it!
I too was warned against too much carbonated water but no idea why….
Hi Kim – you have reminded me that my godmother drinks hot water with a slice of lemon in. She was always regarded as slightly odd for this habit when I was a child but she is well into her 90’s, and fit as a flea so you may well be on to something!
Martine Large says:
I read that the ‘drink two litres a day’ message came from an advertising campaign by a bottled water company. They cited research that people needed that amount, but somehow missed the rest of the findings that people would get most of this from their food.
Helen says:
I think it’s that carbonated water – or any fizzy drink – is very acidic and can irritate the bladder. Not particularly good for teeth either. I’ve managed to wean myself off it but it does help to find still water you like the taste of. I’m not keen on our tap water here in West Devon but I’ll still drink that over some of the more salty brands ugh! I’ve tried using a filter too but it’s such a faff…
Lindsey says:
The answer’s in the name – Carbonic acid creates the fizz. Very bad for the teeth, according to my dentist!
Thank you Helen and Lindsay – both those explanations make sense. Looks like fizzy water is another pleasure to be limited then. Damn!
Wanda says:
I made the switch to only drinking water with my meals a year ago. GI problems limited my beverage selections. After awhile you really only want water. Also a glass when you first wake is a good first step. Drinking it sans ice also made a huge difference in how much I drink.
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Arghh, the guilt. I have never drunk water – something that would never cross my mind to do. Is it a generation thing? My adult children drink litres of it and my grandchildren are encouraged to do the same. It is very hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I shall do my best to drink some of the stuff.