How Much Water Should You Need To Drink A Day? Hydration Calculator

The National Academy of Medicine^[1] says men should drink 101 oz of water daily, and women should drink 74 oz per day. And it can come in any and all fluids you have for the day, such as milk, coffee, sports drinks, and other beverages.

However, even if these numbers are accurate, they are still averages. Individual requirements vary widely. So, how can you determine exactly how much water you require?

What Happens If You Don’t Drink Enough Water?

If you don’t drink enough fluid daily, it may negatively affect all aspects of your health. More severe dehydration is a medical emergency. Symptoms^[2] of severe dehydration include:

• feeling thirsty
• feeling dizzy or lightheaded
• feeling tired
• a dry mouth, lips and tongue
• sunken eyes
• dark yellow, strong-smelling urine
• peeing less often than usual

The overall health consequences of dehydration can lead to serious illness and even death.

What Factors Affect Fluid Needs?

The central nervous system (CNS) and neuroendocrine hormones work constantly to maintain internal homeostasis through a complex network of many organ and neural systems. This is needed to keep normal physiological functions (like blood pressure, pH, and body temperature) and good health, as well as to deliver essential substances (like oxygen, water, glucose, sodium, and potassium) to cells. Several things that affect the body’s water balance are controlled by the CNS.

The answer to the question ‘How much water should you drink each day?’ depends on various factors. Here is a list of some common ones:

Body Weight

Your weight is one of the biggest variables in deciding how much water you should drink daily. Here’s a simple equation^[3] to help you calculate your base goal:

Take your weight in pounds, halve it, and drink that number of ounces of water.

Example: 160 lbs x ½ = 80 ounces of water per day.

It’s that easy! Half an ounce of water per pound of body weight is a good starting point. However, other factors may affect whether you require additional fluids.

Birth Sex

Men generally need^[4] more water per pound of body weight than women. Healthy females typically have a higher percentage of body fat than healthy males. Fat has much less water than other types of tissue and needs less to function.

However, hydration is harder at certain moments in a woman’s life. Women of reproductive age lose vital fluids and micronutrients through regular blood loss. While they are menstruating, they need to drink more water.

Pregnant and lactating individuals also have greater hydration needs. Breast milk is typically 87% water^[5].

Life Stage

Many factors impact your hydration levels. Looking at your life stage may help predict some of those factors.

• Children and teenagers grow rapidly. They also tend to be more active. These traits make them thirstier.
• Adults, meanwhile, don’t have the metabolic burden of growing. They tend to live more sedentary lives in buildings that are temperature-controlled.
• Elderly individuals feel less thirst, putting them at higher risk of dehydration.

Diet Quality

A diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables is the best way to maximize water ingestion. About 20%^[6] of your daily water intake comes from your food.

You also want to be aware of your intake of salt^[7], caffeinated beverages, and alcohol^[8], since these substances cause fluid loss. They should be the first to go if you’re struggling to stay hydrated.

Eliminating caffeine or alcohol consumption may be very difficult, but at least it’s easy to know how much you have. Salt is much more challenging to track. It’ss in almost everything we eat, especially processed and prepackaged foods. According to the CDC, 70% of all the salt^[9] Americans consume comes from restaurants, prepackaged and processed foods.

So if you’re losing fluids due to salt, it is important you pay attention to the salt content you add in your meals, likethat bagel, McDonald’s hamburger, canned soup, and even instant pudding!

Activity Level

Activity burns calories throughout the day. You need water to process calories and generate sweat to manage your body heat. The more active you are, the more water you’ll need to replace. This is even more true if you’re active in hot temperatures.

You can find countless reports about how much water you should drink after exercise performance. Recent research^[10] suggests that evaluating the color of your urine before and after exercise is the best indicator of your post-exercise fluid needs. You want your pee to always be light yellow.

Benefits of Drinking Water Throughout the Day

Here you will learn how drinking adequate amounts of water benefit your health.

Heart Health

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, and research suggests that hydration reduces the risk^[11] of heart failure. Drinking too little water can cause increased salt in the blood, which strains the heart. Proper hydration allows your body to regulate fluids and blood pressure.

Brain Health

Having adequate water intake helps improve brain function. In general, staying hydrated helps to stabilize moods and reduce stress. You need water to eliminate the excess hormones and neurotransmitters in your system. Research suggests that even moderate dehydration interferes with the brain’s ability to concentrate^[12].

Kidney Health

Chronic dehydration can cause the accumulation of minerals in the kidney, known as kidney stones. The stones pass through the urethra, painfully tearing things up on the way out. Adequate fluid intake can prevent this^[13] and also reduce inflammation after it happens.

Joint Health

Sufficient hydration helps to reduce inflammation^[14] everywhere in the body, particularly after intense exercise. Many people struggle with inflammation in their joints. As we age, joint health and mobility often decline. Healthy joints comprise over 80% water^[15], so maintaining healthy fluidity should help relieve and prevent joint pain.

Healthy Weight Maintenance

Drinking water doesn’t cause you to lose weight on its own. However, drinking water does help with weight loss. How much water should you drink a day to lose weight?

First of all, when you’re hydrated, you eat fewer calories. Hydrated people tend to feel less hungry. And you’re also likely to eat less if your stomach is full of zero-calorie liquid. This results in you eating less, having fewer cravings, and feeling more energetic.

You also need extra water when your body breaks down and removes excess fat. Finally, being dehydrated will cause your body to retain excess water, increasing the number on your scale.

Does water intake affect your Energy Levels?

Water affects energy enormously. In fact, a new study^[16] from Clinical Endocrinology reveals that drinking sufficient plain water can increase cellular metabolism by 30%. People suffering from dehydration say they feel tired or sluggish. Staying hydrated helps keep your cells running efficiently. It especially helps with nutrient transport and flushing waste. Staying hydrated is a great way to boost energy levels^[17] quickly!

Temperature Maintenance

Water plays an important part^[18] in managing body temperature, particularly if you’re living in a dry climate. If enough fluid is moving through our system, we can maintain homeostasis for the body and maintain an appropriate body temperature. This happens through blood circulation to distribute heat and release water through the skin in sweat.

Mood Maintenance

You’ve undoubtedly encountered someone who was “hangry.” Many can attest that if your blood sugar is low, you may feel grouchy or intoxicated. A similar thing can happen with dehydration. Even mild dehydration-as little as 1%^[19], barely causing thirst-led women to experience poor moods.

Skin Health

Your skin is your largest organ, and it needs water to do its job. The skin acts as a barrier to keep dangerous things outside your body. It also gets rid of metabolic waste through sweat. It can’t do either of those things if you’re dehydrated. Poorly hydrated skin can result in dryness, wrinkles, and breakouts. So ditch the expensive skincare routine and start drinking more water!

Immune System

Insufficient fluid ingestion can weaken your immune system. Sweating is vital to preventing overheating when you have a fever. Your armies of white blood cells don’t do as well if your systems are all sluggish because you’re low on fluids. In the post-pandemic world, you want to do everything you can to keep your body fit to fight viruses.

Conclusion

Water could be called the fourth macronutrient. It makes up around half of your body weight and is required for all your organ systems to function. The many health benefits of drinking water affect every system in your body–from the cardiovascular to the reproductive.

The consequences of even mild dehydration can lead to serious health conditions. Fortunately, our bodies have very good thirst mechanisms. As long as you follow your body’s cues, it’s not complicated to stay hydrated.

Frequently Asked Questions