Is drinking a gallon of water a day healthy?

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Replies

  • RachelElser
    RachelElser Posts: 1,049 Member
    You should drink when you are thirsty and as you get older, keep track because elder people get dehydrated faster than younger people. You can actually hurt yourself by drinking to much water. Water intoxication is no joke!
    Personally, I work in a REALLY dry office, and I drink about 8 cups in the 8 hours I am there.
  • davidylin
    davidylin Posts: 228 Member
    Current medical guidelines generally recommend less than a gallon of water to include any water in the food you're already eating. If you follow the current scientific advice, you'd have to be a pretty big and active guy to reach a gallon per the current guidelines.

    Overdrinking water can have a few other associated problems: it'll force your body to produce more urine, which can deplete some micronutrients in your body. Generally speaking though, I don't really think a gallon of water a day will hurt most people in the short term. I also doubt most people would keep it up for more than a week.
  • KelGen02
    KelGen02 Posts: 668 Member
    I typically drink a gallon a day, not all at one time but over the course of the 9/10 hour work day. I have a 32 ounce bottle that I fill usually twice before noon and then another 2/3 times by the time I leave work. I also drink 16.9oz on my drive into work. At first drinking 8 glasses of water was hard but over time my body began to crave it and now I drink it without a thought. I don't drink much else besides water other than a green tea in the afternoon and seltzer with my Tito's when I am out. B):p
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    i probably drink close to that (i dont log it most of the time).

    yes i live in the bathroom, but i live there anyways so whatever lol

    i couldnt do it all at ONCE but spread out from 2/3 am when i get up to 8pm when i lay down .... yeah. probably close. esp when you add in the coffee (about a half a pot), afternoon tea, and small diet coke for my drive home.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    Thanks; I now have another thing to add to my hell-no-never-going-to-do-that list. I get up in the night enough already. :smiley:
  • flo_houdini
    flo_houdini Posts: 7 Member
    Theoretically a male should drink 3.7 litres / day( 1 gallon) and a female 2.7 litres ( less than 1 gallon) . This is our overall fluid intake per day, including anything you eat or drink containing water in it, like fruits or vegetables.
  • JohnHornbeck6069
    JohnHornbeck6069 Posts: 3 Member
    There is no inherent value or universal rule to drinking a certain amount of water per day. It depends on the individual -- their health, their body chemistry, the medications they are on if any, etc. I am a caregiver for my wife's 94 year old father and I recently took him to an appointment with his primary care physician and this very question came up -- how much water should I be drinking. His answer was pretty straight-forward: "Unless a physician tells you that you need a certain amount of water each day for a specific medical reason, you should drink water when you are thirsty. It really is that simple."
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    Everyone's different and it is possible to consume too much of anything. Drink so you're hydrated properly.
  • jaci66
    jaci66 Posts: 139 Member
    I drink a minimum of 64 ounces (half gallon) a day. I drink more as I am thirsty. I seldom get a gallon of just water. But, I also drink other things throughout the day. As long as you are getting what your body needs daily, that's the important thing.
  • starryphoenix
    starryphoenix Posts: 381 Member
    edited November 2017
    It sounds like a lot, but it’s not as hard as it sounds if you pace it. Just make sure you get enough electrolytes. Body balance is important.

    Like for example, if you drink 10 ounces every hour.
    Honestly, for me though, I’m content at stopping at 100oz.

    No matter what you do though at least drink 64oz. 8oz an hour and it’s easy.
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
    ptrcmcc6 wrote: »
    COGypsy wrote: »
    I typically drink about a gallon most days--a liter or so at the gym, another liter or so through the day at the office and a couple at night. I couldn't chug it all at once, but it doesn't seem like a particularly excessive amount for me. I rarely even wake up in the night to use the restroom.

    Wow!! You're lucky.......lol. If I drank anything even close to that I'd be in/out the bathroom all day.......lol.

    me too!

    I would think it would depend on the person whether or not they can drink a gallon of water. There's no way I could do it. It also would need to be spread out for sure throughout a 24 hour period of time.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    elizabethdzenitis wrote: »
    So, if you didn’t already know there’s this huge drink a gallon of water a day stuff going around. My friend did it one day and I’m just like there is no way that can be healthy... or is it?

    Just stay hydrated. The amount of water I drink in a given day isn't some arbitrarily set figure...it's based on whether I'm hydrated or not. I typically drink more water in the summer when I'm sweating a lot more and less in the winter when I'm not sweating as much.
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