Do you drink enough water?

[Onlyhonest]

I don’t think I do. I drink half a litre of water a day (max) plus one or two cups of tea. I struggle to drink more. I do get a lot of headaches so trying to make an effort to drink more each day.

How much water do you drink each day and is that easy for you or do you consciously make yourself drink it? Do you notice the health benefits if you drink a lot?

@PurpleDaisies

Inside Health on radio 4 covered this recently. Worth a listen. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014g0v

The take away message is the narrative around drinking enough water is essentially based on no evidence and far too many people worry far too much about whether they’re drinking enough water.

I agree with this. Once an amount of water such as 8 glasses a day gains mainstream attention, people tend to view it as gospel. It's only gained momentum in the past few years. Twenty years ago no one bothered about how much they were drinking. Now of course, the water craze is being driven by business - bottled water, sparkling water, water bottles for schoolchildren. You actually get most of your liquid requirements from food. Many fruits and veg are mainly water. Drink if you're thirsty, but there's no need to fret about setting yourself a daily target

I drink 2.5 litres of water and 5-6 cups of tea or coffee throughout the day.

I'm lucky that I'm one of those people who can drink caffeine at any time of the day and still go to sleep and never have to get up in the night for a wee!

I drink 3-3.5 litres per day. I only drink water, except one cup of coffee in the mornings. I never used to drink much at all, maybe the same as you. But it is easy to get into the habit. I have a glass at the side of me which I refill as soon as it is empty, throughout the day. I Do go to the loo quite a lot but I work from home so that’s fine. To make it a habit you just have to make it so easy and convenient that water becomes your go to, eg I’m sat here now with a glass of water next to me as usual. If I am thirsty I can either grab my glass and take a sip or go into the kitchen and make myself an alternative drink. Obviously having the water is the much easier (and lazier) option

yep, 2.5 to 3l a day, never been a problem. I'm always sipping, plus a few big gulps and it really adds up.

many other things in life you're supposed to do for health have been a problem for me but thankfully never this one

I drink one or two coffees in the morning.
After that I drink pints if water.
In the evening me and Dh usually have pints of water near us when we are watching TV.
I take a pint if water to bed but probably only drink.about a 1/2 a pint during the night.
I'm pretty sure I drink enough.

I need about 2L a day, so I drink about 4 pints plus a few teas and coffees.

I have a fairly weak thirst mechanism (never thirsty) but found that I sleep much better when adequately hydrated.

It is definitely a "modern" concept. Thinking back to the 60's/70's as kids we were gone all day, outside, running around, never had a drink of water. You drank first thing in the morning, had a lovely warm bottle of milk mid morning (bleuch), water with lunch, maybe mid afternoon, and then with dinner. No other drinks provided, and certainly none of this continuous sucking on bottles in classrooms, must drive teachers insane. Also only allowed to pee in play and lunch breaks. We were not collapsing everywhere, nor were we educationally disadvantaged by our lack of hydration.

It’s a modern concept, but things do change. I also grew up on sugary cereals and my parents ate “fat free” processed foods loaded with sugar because fat in food was the work of the devil. It probably didn’t do them any harm at the time but we know now they’re not great for you.

I do about 2 litres of water, any less and I feel a bit crap and headachey. I do drink a bit of juice occasionally and probably 3 coffees a week. I'll have something like lemonade or coke maybe twice in the week?

In my world tea isn't a drink, it's merely a lubricant for biscuits, and I'd only have probably 2 a week of those. Less in summer.