How much does drinking 8 glasses of water help?

I can tell that it helps me in different ways. Not drinking soda has decreased my sodium intake as well as the caffeine. Caffeine keeps me awake and night and it acts as a diuretic. Also, by cutting back on the dark liquids, I have decrease my heart rate and decreased the chance of kidney stones. I used to only drink coca cola, but I have given them up. WHen I was loosing weight before my surgery, I had the most weight loss on the weeks where I drank more water. Maybe it is coincidence and then again maybe not.

Dying from dehydration and being dehydrated are two different things. Most Dr.'s would state that a majority of Americans walk around dehydrated. I try to get the 8 cups in a day and usually do. Does it help? I don't know. I don't count products like Diet Rite Pure Zero as water though. I do count water w/a squirt of Mio though.

As for tea/coffee being a diuretic, so many people just spout that word as a reason, without actually understanding what "diuretic" means.

di·u·ret·ic (d-rtk)
adj.
Tending to increase the discharge of urine.
n.
A substance or drug that tends to increase the discharge of urine.

Neat water is also a diuretic. The diuretic effect of caffeine is far, far outweighed by the actual water in the tea/coffee. Also, regular consumers of caffeinated beverages will build up a tolerance to said effect, eventually reaching the point where caffeinated drinks provide practically the same amount of hydration as a cup of neat water will.

This is me right here. I am a soda fanatic. To the point where I would say I probably have a caffeine addiction. I get really bad headaches if its been a couple of days without soda or tea or whatever.

So for all the diuretic spouting people I give you this.

Note its really hard for me to remember to drink most anything throughout the day if I am not eating a meal. I just don't think about it. Its not that I don't want to drink water, we don't have any soda or tea in the house right now but yet I still have not had a drink of anything since we came home from my Mother's day breakfast this morning (of course while typing this I am very thirsty and will probably go get some water now lol)

So here it goes. For breakfast this morning at IHOP I had 3 Iced coffees (yes I know very bad for my diet but it was my "special" mothers day breakfast yada yada and I rarely drink coffee let alone special coffee like that) I have only had to pee once and its been 5 or so hrs. That was the last thing I drank today so far. Hmmm no diuretic there, weird!

Most days when I drink soda it does not make me have to pee more, but when I drink a glass of water I have to pee like 3 or 4 times just from one glass.

I'm from the south so big sweet tea drinker here. But, we rarely make it anymore now that we live in Utah. So whenever I do happen to make tea it makes me have to pee a lot. (I imagine that is because it is mostly water as in 2in of the pitcher tea water and the rest of the pitcher cold water added in, I like my tea weak)

So hmmm caffeine drinks don't pee much, water and very watered down tea after I haven't drank tea in awhile lots of peeing.

I think there is a problem with the diuretic excuse here.

Basically the only reason soda is bad is because it is empty calories and has lots of sugar.

Whats next people will say not to eat chocolate because it has caffeine in it and will make you pee a lot and become dehydrated?

There is one thing I will add about dehydration since people are mentioning it.

In military training we were taught that an orangish tint to your urine is a sign of possible dehydration.

Living out here in Utah where the climate is dry and hot you can sweat and not even realize it because of the instant evaporation. If you feel thirsty out here then you are already in pre-stages of dehydration. This is bad. Especially if you are hiking. You don't drink enough when you are hiking then you pass out like the person on the guided hike before ours at mesa verde national park causing her to be carried out on a stretcher to be safe and causing our tour and the 2 after ours to be cancelled.

You should drink before you feel thirsty if you live in a dry climate or any climate really. Its not like when I grew up in Florida in the humid air and you get water in your body just by standing outside, lol.

I drink 8-10 glasses every day, you will find yourself feeling full and more energetic.

I've recently been starting drinking a lot of water, I barely used to drink it and it's really started to suppress my appetite! It's started to make me pee a lot though but oh well, haha!

I stopped soft drinks about 2 years ago and my cravings for sugared foods has dropped to a level of less than a fourth of what it was. I stopped using sweeteners of any kind and cravings went down further. Upped my water intake, and my hunger levels let me know when I was hungry and when I was just thirsty. Also, as a side kick all this together has made me feel a little springier in my step. My complexion has never been better, and my legs no longer have that alligator texture in the winter. Each little difference adds to the next little difference. Water is a great place to start.

if your body needs water you will feel thirsty. It's a natural instinct. 8 glasses of water a day may be too much or too little depending on your circumstances and environment. Don't force yourself to drink!

http://www.appforhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Urine-chart.jpg

It's this simple as to whether or not you're hydrated.

When I started this, I completely stopped drinking sodas/other beverages and just drank water. I wanted to flush my system & have continued to do so. In the beginning, just cutting the sodas (even diet drinks) allowed me to loose my first 10 lbs extremely fast. I have kept up my water consumption ever since and find that I am not as hungry when I have my bottle of water. I thought it was going to be hard, but really it's not. I got a Brita water bottle (20oz) and keep it refilled throughout the day. Normally, I will drink about 5 of those bottles daily. I do allow myself a mini diet coke about 2x a week and a 8.4 oz Sugar Free Red Bull if I meet all my personal goals for the week! I do not personally believe in completely depriving yourself.