You may or may not know that the human body is made up of around about sixty percent water. This does fluctuate slightly depending on your hydration levels, the time of day, and a few other minor things but in general, at any given time you are around sixty percent water. As each day goes on we are constantly losing water in one way or another either by using it up in internal bodily functions, sweating, or passing it in the form of urine.
That being said there are many different ideas when it comes to how much water should you drink a day, some authorities say you should be drinking up to eight, eight-ounce water glasses per day. This works out to be around half a gallon or two laters depending on what measurement system you use. This recommendation has become known as the 8 by 8 system and is adopted by many people as a healthy standard of living.
Other health and fitness gurus spread their own opinions, some saying that as we use water up every minute throughout the day we should therefore consume water regularly as the day goes on to offset this usage and prevent dehydration, even if we do not thirst. It is a little-known fact that thirst is actually one of the very first signs of dehydration so if you are feeling thirsty then your body is already dehydrated.
Down To The Individual
As each and every one of us is unique there is no easy answer when it comes to the total amount of water we should drink. All of our bodies are different as we all have unique heights, weights, and body types. In addition to this, our days are all very different from each other. A bricklayer doing high levels of manual work outside in how the sun will consume much more bottles of water in a day than someone working in an office, sitting down in air conditioning all day.
There is one well-known study that has looked paid particular interest to the question of how much water should you drink a day. It took a wide range of factors into its research and over time developed an algorithm. This algorithm is supposably able to work out how much water a person will be required to consume throughout the day. Unfortunately, this algorithm has since been widely disputed in the medical community and is rarely used in professional circles anymore.
If You Consume More Water Do Your Energy Levels And Brain Function Increase?
Many scientific studies have shown that if we do not consume water throughout the day to keep ourselves hydrated then our brain activity and energy levels begin to dip. Slowly at first but this dip increased at an exponential rate as time goes on. One particular study that focused on women saw that a decrease of 1.36% in body water had a negative effect on concentration levels. When this decrease was increased to 1.5% the test subjects reported an increase in headaches and dizziness.
A number of studies have reported that a 3% decrease in body water throughout the day has the ability to negatively affect brain function and memory. Researchers tested their subjects by placing them in hot conditions or having them complete physical exercise and their results were consistent throughout.
Water Consumption And Weight Loss!
Research has shown that keeping yourself hydrated throughout the day via the consumption of water can have a positive effect on weight loss. Drinking 17 oz (500ml) of water every two hours boosted the test subjects’ metabolism by around 27%. Test subjects also reported a reduced appetite whilst consuming this much water on a daily basis. The research also stated that if a test subject did not consume water within 90 minutes after the scheduled two-hour drinking gap their metabolism quickly returned to normal and the test subjects’ appetite returned.
A different study found that drinking only sixty-eight ounces (two liters) of water throughout the day increased test subjects’ metabolism enough to passively burn an additional ninety-six calories per day on average with some test subjects peaking at around one hundred and twenty calories. The same study also suggested that the consumption of water around 30 minutes before a meal caused the test subjects to consume a reduced amount of food, this effect seemed to be enhanced in people over 30. The published results of this study indicated that its test subjects who were consuming water prior to mealtimes lost an additional 44% body fat over a three-month period when compared to those who didn’t.
Additional research has proven that the consumption of bottles of cold water further increases this effect as the cold water lowers the subject’s internal body temperature forcing the body to burn more calories to heat its core temperature back up to its regular level.
Well, unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this, the research suggests that it is better to consume water at a steady rate throughout each day with a larger helping of water around half an hour before mealtimes if you wish to reduce your body fat levels. If you have an active job where you do manual work on a regular basis it is advised that you take particular care to keep yourself hydrated. This will help keep you in a sound state of mind and ensure that you do not accidentally harm yourself due to dehydration.
That being said, if you are suffering from constipation most doctors will recommend you increase your water intake to release the symptoms and return your bowel movements to normal. Although additional research is required there are some studies that show the regular consumption of water helps lower the risk of developing bladder cancer in later life, it is also suggested that an increased water intake will also help reduce the risk of developing kidney stones.