Dehydration: How Much Water Does Your Body Need To Stay Healthy?

Dehydration is something that can sneak up on you without your detection.  Many people become dehydrated before they ever realize that their body is in need of more fluids.

This happened to me recently.  After a week of vacation in which I spent hours laying on the beach, I found myself in the ER not long after returning home, suffering from a health issue that was brought on by dehydration.  I had no idea that I was dehydrated.  I hadn’t been thirsty or noticed anything out of the ordinary.

The truth is, you need more fluids than you realize to prevent dehydration.  Women need a minimum of 10 glasses of water a day and 12 glasses is preferable.  Drinking less than this is sure to cause you problems that result from not taking in fluids properly.  If you are out in the heat, such as I was at the beach, you need additional fluids.

Juices, milk and sports drinks can count toward your daily quota of fluids needed.  Coffee, tea and colas do not and in fact, add to the problem.  They are all diuretics which will cause your body to lose fluids more rapidly than it needs to.  Of course, the best drink is always water.

If you are having trouble making sure you drink an adequate amount of water each day, there are some tricks that you can use to help you make sure you get your fluids in.  You can pour a pitcher full of the amount of water that you need each day to drink.  If you prefer to drink bottled water, you can place the amount of bottles you need to drink in a certain place in the fridge each morning to keep you on task.  There are also apps you can download to remind you how much water you still need to drink each day.

Drinking enough fluids will make sure you never have the problems caused by dehydration.

Image Credit: Hiindialive

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