Needing 8 glasses of water a day a "myth"

deedeehawaii

I just wanted to add here that I am really excited to see so many people interested in a topic concerning health and knowledge. With this much energy being put forward on thinking about what to put into our bodies, heck, we should all be down at least a pound this week just from concentration.

Here's to health and good choices!

arewethereyet

I just wanted to add here that I am really excited to see so many people interested in a topic concerning health and knowledge. With this much energy being put forward on thinking about what to put into our bodies, heck, we should all be down at least a pound this week just from concentration.

Here's to health and good choices!

:drinker:

cranberrycat

My original post was about the fact that drinking 4 glasses of water is better than drinking 8 glasses of artificially flavored beverages.

Yes, that is what I speaking about in my original post. I'm glad that many of you have seen that.

DeeDee, thanks for sharing that. I was the one who posted, and somehow the message was misinterpreted to be a discussion about coffee.

Just to clarify, coffee and tea are not artificial beverages. I am not advocating that we all drink coffee in place of water, but that coffee should not be placed in the "bad" column, either. I enjoy a few cups per day, then I get on with drinking water. AND, I do count the coffee towards my total fluid intake.

Everyone's hydration needs are going to be different, from day to day. Drinking water for the sake of drinking it until we feel sick is not necessarily a good thing. Maybe not harmful, but definitely is uncomfortable. And, if we are drinking water and running to the bathroom often, I have to question if we are truly ridding ourselves of toxins, or are we just excreting the excess water? LOL, obviously we would not know absolutely without doing a urinalysis on every void! But, the point is, lets use common sense, and if drinking 8 cups of water is uncomfortable, and the body is feeling fine (including the pee coming out diluted), then I would say "don't force it".

I am not saying that we should not drink water, but everyone is different.

July24Lioness

You are very wrong. I can back up the scientific evidence on this.

My husband started going to the same Endocrinologist as I go to for his HBP and we also see a naturopathic Doctor. Both gave use literature and books regarding the correlation of dehydration and High Blood Pressure.

And HBP is caused from the body being in a state of constant or chronic dehydration.

Well, pseudoscience is not the same as science. Naturopaths, homeopaths and the like are non-scientific practitioners.

I don't think it's right to spread unscientific claims that go 180 against what conventional medicine believes, especially on issues like HBP where mistreating the condition can have severely harmful results.

You know what, you go ahead and believe what conventional medicine tells you. I am much healthier going with the natural approach than putting chemical filled pills in my body as the "conventional doctors" would say I need to do.

Naturopathic medicine is not a pseudoscience either. It is based wholly on science, but not science in a laboratory.........coming from a company that is Big Pharma.

There are plenty of scientific claims that says I am right about what I am saying. Plenty of Doctors (some conventional medicine doctors) that also believe what I what have read to be true.

Maybe you should get a book called the The Water Cure and read it................ You may learn something new, if your mind is open enough to take in some new information, instead of being a follower that just believes what the media tells you.

deedeehawaii

The question of blood pressure and dehydration is an intersting one. I'd not thought about that before. I googled, and chose some [what I consider to be] reliable sources. Here is what I found:

[http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3034848]
According to the American Heart Association:
“Dehydration can sometimes cause blood pressure to drop”.

[http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hyp/hyp_othernames.html]
According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute:
“Orthostatic hypotension has many causes. Sometimes two or more factors combine to cause this type of low blood pressure. Dehydration is the most common cause of orthostatic hypotension. Dehydration occurs when the body loses more water than it takes in. You may become dehydrated if you don’t drink enough fluids or if you sweat a lot during physical activity. Fever, vomiting, and severe diarrhea also can lead to dehydration.”

[https://health.google.com/health/ref/Hypotension]
According to the website, this info is provided by (“A.D.A.M. creates health content for consumers that is physician-reviewed by experts in their field’)
“Causes of low blood pressure include: Dehydration”..

QuakerMom

I'm coming into this discussion a bit late, but enjoyed reading the debate. I heard this (i.e. about the 8 glasses of water being a myth) from a trusted & knowledgeable friend more than 5 years ago, and was surprised, and skeptical. She said basically drink water when you are thirsty; your body tells you what it needs that way. Now I am much more of the mindset that -- I probably could stand to drink more water most days, but won't worry too much about it if I don't get up to or close to 8 glasses. I think it's probably better for us than mainstream science/medicine can actually prove, but I definitely don't buy into the magic minimum of 8 glasses/half your body weight.

One interesting bit of information no one has mentioned yet is that Weight Watchers recently changed their water recommendations with their new "Momentum" plan (started about a year ago): they used to say (require/recommend) 6 glasses of water a day; now it's 6 glasses of liquids, and coffee/tea count. Interesting. Not to get into a debate about WW (I have found MFP to be a better tool overall, that's why i'm here) -- but it is a big and generally respected organization in the health/weight loss business.

-Rita

hamiltonba

Just because you find it on the web, does not mean it is true. I drink a lot of water and I have a lot of benefits. My skin is not dry and I am constantly getting compliments on my complexion. I have more energy and my doctor and trainer have both told me that there are many healthy benefits to water.

July24Lioness

The question of blood pressure and dehydration is an intersting one. I'd not thought about that before. I googled, and chose some [what I consider to be] reliable sources. Here is what I found:

[http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3034848]
According to the American Heart Association:
“Dehydration can sometimes cause blood pressure to drop”.

[http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hyp/hyp_othernames.html]
According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute:
“Orthostatic hypotension has many causes. Sometimes two or more factors combine to cause this type of low blood pressure. Dehydration is the most common cause of orthostatic hypotension. Dehydration occurs when the body loses more water than it takes in. You may become dehydrated if you don’t drink enough fluids or if you sweat a lot during physical activity. Fever, vomiting, and severe diarrhea also can lead to dehydration.”

[https://health.google.com/health/ref/Hypotension]
According to the website, this info is provided by (“A.D.A.M. creates health content for consumers that is physician-reviewed by experts in their field’)
“Causes of low blood pressure include: Dehydration”..

We are not talking about temporary dehydration. We are talking about being chronically dehydrated over a long period of time............

I don't have any faith in the American Heart Association or anything endorsed my Big Pharma.

My endocrinologist is also a naturopath and I have a naturopathic doctor and pharmacist that I swear by.

I will let the followers of this world keep their faith in the government and medical associations and wonder why their health keeps on deteriorating.

I will be the leader and stand alone on this site to defend what I believe and I know to be true from what I read from forward thinking doctors and how my health and my husbands health is improving.

July24Lioness

Just because you find it on the web, does not mean it is true. I drink a lot of water and I have a lot of benefits. My skin is not dry and I am constantly getting compliments on my complexion. I have more energy and my doctor and trainer have both told me that there are many healthy benefits to water.

I am not commenting on what I find on the web. I am commenting on what I have in the form of living proof (me and my husband), my doctors and then I will supplement with items I read on the web.

July24Lioness

The question of blood pressure and dehydration is an intersting one. I'd not thought about that before. I googled, and chose some [what I consider to be] reliable sources. Here is what I found:

[http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3034848]
According to the American Heart Association:
“Dehydration can sometimes cause blood pressure to drop”.

[http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hyp/hyp_othernames.html]
According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute:
“Orthostatic hypotension has many causes. Sometimes two or more factors combine to cause this type of low blood pressure. Dehydration is the most common cause of orthostatic hypotension. Dehydration occurs when the body loses more water than it takes in. You may become dehydrated if you don’t drink enough fluids or if you sweat a lot during physical activity. Fever, vomiting, and severe diarrhea also can lead to dehydration.”

[https://health.google.com/health/ref/Hypotension]
According to the website, this info is provided by (“A.D.A.M. creates health content for consumers that is physician-reviewed by experts in their field’)
“Causes of low blood pressure include: Dehydration”..

I will NOT allow anyone to take and twist my words around..............

Since you don't want to recognize as what I stated before regarding the difference between acute (temporary) dehydration and chronic dehydration, here it is spelled out for you:

Well, there are two types of dehydration which cause different symptoms.

The first is acute dehydration, such as occurs after strenuous exercise, excessive perspiration, or a day where you drank too much coffee and forgot to drink water too.

You can recognize acute dehydration by the physical sensation of feeling thirsty, having a dry mouth, and/or a whitish colored tongue which is restored to a more reddish hue by drinking water or other non-caffeinated beverage.

The second form of dehydration is chronic dehydration, which is a more long-term condition brought about by a situation in which a person simply does not take in enough hydrating fluids and/or foods on a daily basis.

There are a number of ways your body can tell you it needs more water, but a number of chronic dehydration symptoms don't necessarily seem like a symptom of dehydration, so they can easily be attributed to some other source.

Here's the really interesting part - high blood pressure can be a state of adaptation of the body to chronic long-term dehydration. As the body fills blood vessels with volume to normalize low pressure due to chronic dehydration, the constriction of the vascular system forces the water from the blood vessels into the cells in order to deliver vital nutrients and oxygen. Such effort by the body can lead to a high blood pressure reading which can actually be traced to dehydration as the root of the problem.

July24Lioness

For those of you that don't think you need to drink that much water, go to this website and read...............It should be an eye-opener.

http://www.tlcholisticwellness.com/BMSChronicDehydration.htm

arewethereyet

For those of you that don't think you need to drink that much water, go to this website and read...............It should be an eye-opener.

http://www.tlcholisticwellness.com/BMSChronicDehydration.htm

Hello Buffalo Gal (I think it was Bison...but :laugh: either way!) I missed your spirited debates! How ya been?? :drinker:

It got mighty boring without someone to stir the pot!!

July24Lioness

For those of you that don't think you need to drink that much water, go to this website and read...............It should be an eye-opener.

http://www.tlcholisticwellness.com/BMSChronicDehydration.htm

Hello Buffalo Gal (I think it was Bison...but :laugh: either way!) I missed your spirited debates! How ya been?? :drinker:

It got mighty boring without someone to stir the pot!!

Hey there!! I have missed being here and I am going to be blogging this time around.............So when the debating gets going, I am going to get to blogging.

I have been sick, moved and had so much going on that I derailed myself and my progress, but I am back and ready as ever to get going again (even though I am starting over, LOL)

And, I am more than ready to stir the pot. Even though I derailed my eating habits by all the stuff going on, I have still been reading and learning............

So everyone might as well be ready for MEEEEEEEEEE!!! :bigsmile:

arewethereyet

For those of you that don't think you need to drink that much water, go to this website and read...............It should be an eye-opener.

http://www.tlcholisticwellness.com/BMSChronicDehydration.htm

Hello Buffalo Gal (I think it was Bison...but :laugh: either way!) I missed your spirited debates! How ya been?? :drinker:

It got mighty boring without someone to stir the pot!!

Hey there!! I have missed being here and I am going to be blogging this time around.............So when the debating gets going, I am going to get to blogging.

I have been sick, moved and had so much going on that I derailed myself and my progress, but I am back and ready as ever to get going again (even though I am starting over, LOL)

And, I am more than ready to stir the pot. Even though I derailed my eating habits by all the stuff going on, I have still been reading and learning............

So everyone might as well be ready for MEEEEEEEEEE!!! :bigsmile:

:drinker:

deedeehawaii

One good thing about the internet, if someone is able to "google", they can research 100's of sites and learn many different view points. Meanwhile, I'm one to go to science based sources first, and then to alternative sources second in order to start forming an educated opionion.

I do try to not berate others for their opinions. It is something I am working hard on. Health to all!

arewethereyet

One good thing about the internet, if someone is able to "google", they can research 100's of sites and learn many different view points. Meanwhile, I'm one to go to science based sources first, and then to alternative sources second in order to start forming an educated opionion.

I do try to not berate others for their opinions. It is something I am working hard on. Health to all!

After 2 years here, I have learned that some ppl mean well but come across like gangbusters. This doesnt mean they do not have good info to share.

I take everything...........including what my own doctor of 20 years...........with a grain of salt.

BTW....had me 10 glasses of water yesterday

BamaRose0107

One good thing about the internet, if someone is able to "google", they can research 100's of sites and learn many different view points. Meanwhile, I'm one to go to science based sources first, and then to alternative sources second in order to start forming an educated opionion.

I do try to not berate others for their opinions. It is something I am working hard on. Health to all!

I agree! I am much more likely to take someone seriously and give their opinion a chance if the person is respectful and not quick to be little anyone else that disagrees. I always research everything before I just believe whatever I hear. I do believe more in science and conventional medicine but I do think there are so valid points to natural medicine.

ccounts

To me, I look forward to finding interesting information on this site, or at least other things to think about besides the routine " I ate xxxx today". Knowledge is power. That is one reason that your postings are so helpful, they often include great tips and insight.

I agree with DeeDee that learning new information and approaching health and fitness from many perspectives is a good thing. Talking about this topic makes me wonder about it and think how I deal with it. The water issue is relevant, as not everyone wants or needs so much water per day, while others seem to need a lot more. It's worth thinking about, investigating, and figuring out how you want to deal with it. The other point is that all edicts should be questioned and not taken for gospel without some research. Some people would rather have the rules told to them and they proceed without question because it's easier, less trouble, to just do what they're told. If the rule is generally recognized as reasonable, that's okay. But it's also okay to question the rule and do some research on other findings, and weigh the pros and cons, and consider all the options. Takes a little more work, and in the long run you may come back to the rule and say, okay then, this is what I'll do because it does make sense for me. But you may also find another solution works better for you, and that's when you can make your own "rule" about your own behavior or habits.

LittleSpy

Just think if you drink only coffee your pee is yellow...if you drink only water your pee is clear...water in water out should be clear!

I wanted to note that urine's color is from broken down bilirubin (product of old blood cells). It has very little to do with the color of the fluid as it goes into your body (although some foods and liquids *can* change the color... Beets, for example).

So, even when you drink only water, you're peeing yellow. It may appear clear to you, but remember it's being diluted with toilet water. Pure urine (yum!) should be lightly colored -- otherwise, from what I understand, you are potentially overhydrating (which could mean you're "washing" away too many minerals).