The human body is made up of about 70% water and drinking enough water is very important to maintain optimal health.
How much water to drink per day
Water plays many vital roles , including maintaining electrolyte balance and blood pressure , lubricating joints , regulating body temperature , and promoting healthy cells .
Indicatively, in conditions of moderate environmental temperatures and medium levels of physical activity , it should be taken daily:
- infants up to six months of life 100 ml/kg,
- between 6 months and one year of age 800-1000 ml,
- between 1 and 3 years of life: 1100-1300 ml,
- between 4 and 8 years of age: 1600 ml,
- between 9-13 years 2100 ml for boys and 1900 ml for girls,
- women 2l,
- men 2.5l.
Many people prefer to drink cold water , here are the risks and benefits of this choice.
How to Drink More
Although the importance of proper hydration is well known, it can sometimes be difficult to drink regularly , especially in winter when the thirst stimulus is less intense.
Here are some simple ways to remember to do it.
Always keep a water bottle with you
Having a water bottle or bottle of water always at hand can help you drink more regularly because when you feel thirsty you don’t have to make a lot of effort to quench it. Also, this ploy can serve as a visual reminder. Keeping a bottle on your desk or table while working, constantly reminds you to drink.
Set a reminder
If you can’t do it alone, you can ask technology for help, setting alarm clocks on your smartphone at precise deadlines , which remind you to drink. You can establish, for example, that you have to do it every half hour. In addition to the normal timer, there are also specific apps designed to perform this task.
Replace other drinks with water
One way to drink more water and improve your health is also to eliminate sugary drinks, replacing them with water . Making this choice also allows you to reduce your daily calorie intake, lose weight and avoid running the risk of developing certain diseases associated with diets rich in added sugars such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease .
Drink a glass of water before each meal
Another easy way to increase your water intake is to incorporate a habit of drinking a glass of water before each meal into your daily routine . If you consume 3 meals a day, following this rule you can already take 720 ml of water.
Also, sometimes the body can mistake thirst for a feeling of hunger and drinking a glass of water before eating can help you really feel how empty your stomach is. Finally, drinking before sitting down at the table can help you ingest fewer calories during the meal.
Flavor the water
For those who don’t often feel thirsty, drinking the required daily amount of water can be a daunting challenge. To make this chore more palatable, flavoring the water can help . There are two ways to do this: put a mix of seasonal fruit and vegetables in an infusion or add ready-made preparations . In this case, however, be careful to choose them without sugar, artificial sweeteners or other additives that can harm your health. Finally, there are also already flavored waters for sale.
Drink a glass of water every hour at work
For those who carry out jobs that require a standard working day of 8 hours, drinking a glass of water every hour can lead to significant results being achieved only in this period of time, in terms of daily water intake. Filling the glass as soon as you sit down at your desk, at the end of each hour, drinking and refilling it is a simple but extremely beneficial and very useful sequence of actions for maintaining constant hydration throughout the working day.
Sip throughout the day
Sipping water consistently throughout the day is another strategy for achieving your goal without too much stress . Instead of drinking whole glasses of water in short moments, sipping a smaller but spread over time can make the task easier. Also, this method prevents your mouth and lips from drying out.
Eat more water-rich foods
To bring more water to the body, you can also decide to eat foods that contain a high percentage of it .
Fruit and vegetables are the most suitable, and in particular:
- lettuce 96%,
- celery 95%,
- courgettes 95%,
- cabbage 92%,
- watermelon 91%,
- melon 90%.
Drink as soon as you wake up and before going to bed
Finally, a last healthy and strategic habit to help you drink enough water is to drink a glass when you wake up and one before going to bed. This practice in the morning can help increase responsiveness , while in the evening it can prevent waking up in the middle of the night with a dry mouth and a feeling of dehydration .
How to drink more in winter
In winter it can be more difficult to drink enough because the thirst stimulus is certainly less. Even in this case, however, there are very useful strategies to improve the situation.
Start the day with water and lemon
Drinking a glass of warm water and lemon in the morning as soon as you wake up is a regenerating habit , which at the same time helps to keep hydration under control. This mix also has detox properties, it helps to reduce swelling and fight acidity. If you want, you can add a pinch of ginger or cinnamon .
Drink tea, herbal tea or chamomile tea
On winter afternoons or before going to sleep when it’s cold, nothing offers sensations of warmth comparable to that of sipping hot tea, herbal tea or camomile tea . As well as a pleasure, all of them represent a way to drink water , almost without realizing it.
Eat soups and soups
When the temperatures drop, stews , soups and velvety soups should never be missing from the table because they are an excellent way to ingest all the beneficial properties of vegetables . In addition, these are dishes rich in water that help you stay hydrated even when you drink less.
