How Much Water Should You Drink In a Day?

How much water to drink in a day- this should be as per your body weight, activity level, climate and medical condition. Lets know how to measure these to drink optimum amount of water in a day!

Water has been equated with life and there's no exaggeration to that. You can not concentrate on your work when thirsty. You just get crazy when you do not find water! However, as we all know that human body can get adapted to any situation, you can even do without taking a glass of water for a manageable period of time. It all depends on your will power and you feel brave when you suppress your urges, including the urge to drink water! How many times has it happened that you feel thirsty and in dire need of water but you behave good in front of clients and don't get up to drink water? And when you are busy preparing that final meeting report or the balance sheet or any other important document, it feels worthless to leave your seat to get just a glass of drinking water! But see what happens to your body due to lack of water! If you don't have your share of water intake per day, you will suffer from dehydration that will further lead to other medical conditions.

Consequences of Dehydration

There are many symptoms of dehydration that will tell you that you are not drinking enough water per day.

Headaches like what you get during a hangover
Muscle cramps
Decreased blood pressure or hypotension
Dizziness or fainting
Unconsciousness, swelling of the tongue and, in extreme cases, even death. (you knew that!)

If you do not change your habit of drinking less water than required, you might also experience the following conditions

Increase in pain of all types
Stress
Increased blood pressure
Imbalance in body weight (now you know why aren't you losing weight or gaining weight for that matter!)
Allergies and skin disorders
proneness to tumor formation
Weak immune system ( that means, you are more prone to get infected by bacteria, viruses, parasites, and even candida and cancer)

Now you know the significance of water and are well prepared to drink required amount of water per day but you don't know how much water should you drink in a day? Here's the answer.

How Much Water To Drink Per Day

Generally it is said that you should drink at least 8 glasses of water a day but everyone has a different requirement based on body weight, activity level, certain health conditions and climate.

Water Intake Per Day - On Basis of Body Weight

Measure your weight in pounds or kilograms. Divide your weight in pound by 2. If you weigh 160 pounds, you will get 80 when you divide it by 2 and that is the number of ounces of water you should drink in a day (80 ounces of water). If you have measured your weight in kilograms, divide it by 30. If you weigh 75 kgs, dividing by 30 will give you the number 2.5. That means, you need 2.5 liters of water per day. A regular glass of water is 8oz. When talking of liters, a standard glass holds 200 ml. However, this is only a general view for getting a quantifiable measure of water intake per day. The amount of water you should drink in a day will also depend upon the activity levels, climate and your health conditions.

Water Intake Per Day for People with High Activity Levels

If you are exercising, you will need to consume extra water to compensate for the loss of body fluid due to sweating. Take a couple of ounces of more water every fifteen minutes if you are doing mild exercises. However, if you are indulged in heavy exercising activities like running a marathon, you should increase your water intake considerably.

Water Intake Per Day in Different Climates

If you are in a weather condition that is excessively hot and humid, you will lose much of your body fluid through sweating. In winters, when you are staying within climate controlled conditions (with the help of room heating systems), you will lose body fluid again and will need more water. If you are visiting a hill station (at an altitude of more than 8200 feet or approx. 2500 meters), you will experience rapid breathing and frequent urination, again a cause of losing body fluid. So, you have to drink more water at high altitudes too.

Water Intake Per Day in Certain Medical Conditions

Here your water intake has to be increased or decreased on the basis of individual diseases. For example, in urinary tract infection when you lose much of your body water reserves, you have to increase your water intake per day. Pregnant women or nursing mothers too have to drink more water to make up for the loss of body fluid. On the contrary, in certain types of kidney, liver and adrenal diseases where water excretion is impaired, you have to restrict your water intake.

The rule of drinking eight glasses of water a day is not bad for average human being (with average body weight) in average conditions. 8 glasses of water approximately will mean 1.6 liters. If that goes well with your body weight and other factors discussed above, you can drink 8 glasses of water a day otherwise increase or decrease your water intake per day according to your specific requirements.