"Just drink more water" isn't viable!!

[Blackbird1234]

I feel like I'm missing something here. Everyone is told that they should be drinking more water for their health, but every time I do it I end up running back and forth to the loo every 20 minutes. I can literally only drink an "adequate" amount of water when I'm sure to be at home for the entire day. I've always had a weak bladder but it really is ridiculous and some of my friends experience the same thing. Am I doing something wrong?!

@AlphabetStew

Your bladder is not a muscle! 😂

To be fair, I'd say you're both technically right, over there being 3 types of muscle! 😂( Skeletal , Smooth, Cardiac) You : "Your bladder is not a muscle " --) Yes a bladder is not skeletal muscle. Ie not like a bicep

@Mummyoflittledragon is also correct, the bladder is a muscular organ ( smooth muscle).

I read somewhere that we need to drink 30ml of water for every kg we have.
30ml - 1kg

Wasn't the 2 litres a day nonsense introduced by bottled water companies as a marketing tool? None of our parents drank litres every day and yet they seem to mostly be doing ok.

You need to be concentrating on the colour of your wee rather than the amount of water you drink, wee should be a light straw colour, darker you need more water, totally clear you need a bit less. If you're upping your water intake your body gets used to it in a few days - a week or so.

I've always been terrible for going to the loo and over the years I've definitely noticed it's more of a mind thing than a body thing. I could swear that I desperately needed the loo, stop at a bar and then proceed to sit there for another hour and a half before going to the loo - I think I must've had some sort of mild trauma with wetting myself in public or something as a kid hahaha. To be fair to myself though, I have been "training" myself massively over the past two years and am doing so so much better with it all.

I can now tell the difference between the need to go to the loo/anxiety about not having access to a loo making me think I need to go, in my mind VS actually needing to run back and forth to the loo after having had too much coffee/water/tea.

I reeeeaaaaaally don't want to ditch coffee though

Remember coffee is a diuretic so will make you pee more anyway. To find out of you are dehydrated you need to look at the colour of your pee. It should be as clear as possible, yellow shows you are dehydrated.

It maybe you do not have enough salts - try adding half a tablet of hydration\electrolyte table with your water (like High5).

It should be as clear as possible, yellow shows you are dehydrated.

If it is clear, you are over hydrated. It should always have a hint of yellow.

This chart is better…

@Briony123

Wasn't the 2 litres a day nonsense introduced by bottled water companies as a marketing tool? None of our parents drank litres every day and yet they seem to mostly be doing ok.

They pushed it yes, as a sales opportunity. The original research to 'justify' the amount is from 1940's when the military wanted to see what the optimum daily amount of water was needed for an average man from food AND water intake. Mainly due to desert and tropical jungle warfare and needing to ensure soldiers had enough water available.

So it's all hype and misinformation. Most average sized people with mostly sedentary lifestyles will get ore than sufficient water from a varied diet and normal fluid intake, including tea, coffee & drinks. Whilst caffeinated drinks may slightly increase the amount you pee amount it is still a net intake of fluid.

The colour of your wee and whether you feel thirsty is usually more than enough to judge hydration needs.

You don’t need to give up coffee.

Try a small glass of water when you wake up (before your coffee). I find my body needs this, then I try and have another glass each time I have coffee.

Those charts are interesting, my pee is often clear by mid morning.

I reeeeaaaaaally don't want to ditch coffee though
Don't then. Still don't get why you think you need to

Ive been told to drink at least 2 litres of water a day, not including tea and coffee ! I never drink plain water, and get up at least 3 times in the night as it is. Mine is because my kidneys arent working properly

@thereisonlyoneofme

Ive been told to drink at least 2 litres of water a day, not including tea and coffee ! I never drink plain water, and get up at least 3 times in the night as it is. Mine is because my kidneys arent working properly

Presumably a medical professional told you that based on your personal medical history. It’s not the situation the op is in at all.

Good luck with getting through all that and hope things improve with your kidneys

Dappled & Purple - I have a weak bladder anyway that I'm working on, so ditching coffee probably would genuinely help me but I don't want to as I enjoy it.

But thanks everyone for the info, I think I'm definitely not dehydrated, could probably do with a smidgen more hydration and will try and up my water intake and let my bladder get used to it :)

I drink loads of water and go to the loo a normal amount however if I have a day or two of not drinking my usual 2-3 litres and then go back to it it runs through me and I'm constantly on the loo but it settles down again quickly.

I think I'm definitely not dehydrated, could probably do with a smidgen more hydration

How have you reached the conclusion that you need a smidgen more hydration? I really can’t understand.
Your body is very good at regulating your water balance. If you aren’t dehydrated and you drink more, you won’t get “more hydrated”. You’ll pre more. That already sounds like where you are. I think you’ve fallen for the hydration propaganda.

I had to significant increase my water intake on medical recommendations for hypotension, and as others said, ensuring you are also balancing your electrolytes like salt, using the urine chart and getting it through foods and other liquids beyond water are top recommendations for this.

Another is focusing on it more in the morning when you're saying your fluids are darker (or for me, it would be if I notice a pattern, I do it before that time) and putting it on other habits.

So, I have a 500ml water bottle, I try to drink all of that first thing before I brush my teeth in the morning, sometimes I can't but I drink as much as I comfortably can and then refill and by the end 2ish hours, I try to have that empty again and I try to repeat that, but generally by afternoon I'm done, it's off my mind unless I starting feeling symptoms. Even when it can have a very obvious effect, it can be hard to keep in mind with everything else to mentally juggle, but those first couple tend to at least keep me level enough as long as I keep my appetite up.

Bonus tip: milkshakes count as hydration and can be a good source of electrolytes

Purple - This is quite a lighthearted conversation and I've said a couple of times now why I think this - I barely drink any water throughout the day in general, I usually have more coffee than water and I only have about 2 cups a day, sometimes 3. To me, that doesn't seem like enough water and has nothing to do with the "propaganda". I have zero interest in aiming for 2 litres of water a day and hopping on/off the toilet all in the name of a myth. I started the thread because today is a today I thought "I'll try and drink more water than I usually do" and I've been in and out of the loo despite really not having much (in my eyes) so was wondering if this was normal or not, most posters have said it is so that's great, questioned answered and I obviously don't need to pay too much mind to it beyond perhaps reaching for an extra glass a day.

BiBabbles - Oooh I didn't know milkshakes "counted", that makes me very happy

As silly as it sounds, I downloaded and app that reminds you to drink water. The first 3 days were ridiculous, I was running to the bathroom every 20 minutes. By the second week my body had adjusted and I didn’t need to go any more often than before. I now feel thirsty if I haven’t had a glass of water.
I was really bad before and wasn’t drinking anything apart from 1-2 cups of tea/ coffee. Now I drink at least 1,5 litres
of water plus tea and coffee.

I make sure to drink at least 1800ml of water a day which I have started recently & definitely feel better for it. I did have frequent trips to the ladies to start with but that has settled down now as I spread my water intake throughout the day

Yeah the 2 litres a day is misleading. We do need that but most of us get it just in the normal course of things including through tea, coffee and food and a glass of water at mealtimes. Eg lots of vegetables especially salad have a lot of water in them. If your pee is clear you're fine.

Needing to drink loads of water is a fallacy.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=i0h7N1ukZ4A

Good video 🙂.