Daily Water Intake: How Much Should You Drink?

[Article déjà publié le 27 juin 2024]

The recommended amount of water is between 1.5 and 2 liters per day. Not everyone drinks the same amount of water on a daily basis. This varies in particular according to age, state of health, physical activity and other criteria.

However, these recommendations do not apply throughout the year. With the arrival of sunny days, temperatures are increasing. The risk of dehydration is therefore higher than usual.

This is the reason why it is important to hydrate when it is hot. You must not only drink water regularly, but also monitor the quantities ingested.

Indispensable to our survival, water represents around 65 % of the weight of an adult. It is constantly eliminated by breathing, urine and perspiration. The hot weather increases perspiration, which consequently aggravates water losses.

Thirst is one of the first signs of dehydration in case of hot weather

Dehydration can be dangerous for health. This state risks causing serious lesions to internal organs, a state of shock, risks of convulsion, the risks of neurological disorders, etc.

In case of hot weather, the most important thing to remember is not to wait until you are thirsty to start drinking water. Generally, the feeling of thirst happens when dehydration has already installed.

Regarding the other first signs of dehydration, it is possible to have dry mouth and throat, less energy, dark colored urine, headache and dizziness.

At a more advanced stage, it is common to feel generalized muscle weakness, signs of mental confusion, a painful elimination of urine and difficulties to swallow.

What is the recommended amount of water when it is hot?

The National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) recommends that “With a total quantity of water required for medium -sized adults, living in the temperate region and providing no particular physical effort is around 2.5 liters per day ».

On these 2.5 liters, you should know that around 1 liter is consumed indirectly with food. The rest therefore corresponds to drinks drunk during the day. When it is hot, it is rather recommended to drink 2 liters of water.

You have to drink frequently during the day in order to reach this goal approximately. The final quantity obviously depends on the corpulence of each individual, the physical activity carried out during the day as well as atmospheric conditions.

Is it possible to drink too much water during hot weather?

Although it is essential to hydrate yourself well during the hottest days, it is indeed possible to drink “too much” water. There is a certain quantity that should generally not be exceeded even if it is particularly hot outside.

As the center of water information explains, “if you drink more than 5 liters of water per day, you put your body in danger by unbalanced the balance of sodium in the body”.

Drinking too much water, too quickly, can thus lead to harmful consequences on health. A blood too diluted and little concentrated in salt swells the cells and more precisely the cells of the brain. This directly increases the pressure in the skull, causing more or less severe headache.

Source : Ouest-France