WASHINGTON — Most of us have probably heard – eight glasses a day is the optimal amount of water to drink to stay hydrated—which is important for all sorts of bodily functions. That equals 64 ounces, or a half gallon. Is that too much? Not enough? Just right?
THE QUESTION:
Is eight glasses of water a day the optimal amount of water to drink?
THE ANSWER:
The amount of water any given person should drink is based on a variety of factors, and there’s no set rule for how much someone should consume.
THE SOURCES:
WHAT WE FOUND:
The CDC actually doesn’t have a blanket recommendation for how much plain water people should drink every day, because it could be different based on your diet, activity, body composition, and other things.
Penn Medicine and other experts will often share a general goal—take half your body weight, and drink that many ounces of water per day. For example, if you’re 120 pounds, drinking 60 ounces of water per day should keep you well hydrated in most conditions.
But, if it’s humid and you’re sweating, if your diet doesn’t include a lot of water-dense foods, if you don’t get enough sleep, if you have heart of kidney problems, if you’re active: that might not be enough.
The American Council on Exercise recommends aiming to drink 17 to 20 ounces two hours before exercising and seven to 10 ounces of fluid every 10 to 20 minutes while exercising.
The best way to determine how much water you need is to pay attention to signs your body isn’t hydrated enough: Kaiser Permanente says one of the easiest ways to gauge this is to check the color of your urine—clear or light yellow is good, darker could be a symbol of dehydration.
Other symptoms include not urinating often, bad breath, dry mouth, sluggishness or fatigue, and sugar cravings.
The CDC offers the following tips to drink more water:
Carry a water bottle with you and refill it throughout the day.
Freeze some freezer safe water bottles. Take one with you for ice-cold water all day long.
Choose water over sugary drinks.
Opt for water when eating out. You’ll save money and reduce calories.
Serve water during meals.
Add a wedge of lime or lemon to your water. This can help improve the taste.
Make sure your kids are getting enough water too. Learn more about drinking water in schools and early care and education settings.