From childhood to adulthood, we have been instilled with the concept of drinking more water: drink water when you are thirsty, drink water when you are constipated, drink water when you are too salty, drink water when you lose weight, and also drink water when you are thirsty. To drink more water!
It seems that drinking water can cure all diseases!
How much water should we drink?
Have we already had other beverages such as tea or coffee, do we need to drink the usual amount of water?
Let’s talk about these issues.
First of all, let’s talk about the daily amount of water that people of different genders and ages need to drink.
How do we calculate how much water we drink?
Our human body must basically achieve a balance between the water we drink and the water we excrete. Of course, human metabolism also produces a small amount of water.
Let’s take an adult man with a standard body weight of 60 kg to calculate the minimum amount of water he needs to drink a day.
The normal 24-hour urine output for adults is around 1000-2000ml, with an average of 1500ml.
That is to say, we need at least 1000ml of urine to dissolve the wastes produced by metabolism in our body and excrete them through urine. We need to expel about 500ml of water through lung breathing every day. Our skin, without sweating, loses about 500ml of non-obvious water every day. In this way, it is established that we should drink at least 2000ml of water every day.
Of course, we should drink a little more water than the minimum amount, so that our body has enough excess to eliminate the waste produced by human metabolism.
According to the recommendations of the European Food Safety Authority, men over the age of 15 (inclusive) must drink about 2,500 ml of water a day, women over the age of 15 (inclusive) are about 2,000 ml, and pregnant women need to drink about 2,000 ml per day Drink an extra 300ml of water, and breastfeeding women should drink an extra 700ml of water per day.
Of course, if people exercise in a hot environment for a long time, they will lose a lot of body fluids. It is recommended to add more water according to different situations. For example, if you sweat a lot, you can expel 1000ml more water from the sweat, so we should drink 1000ml more water.
If a person does not drink enough water, symptoms of dehydration may occur. Infants, the elderly, and athletes in strenuous exercise are more likely to lose a lot of water in a timely manner. Hypernatremia due to hydration.
Clinically, patients with hypernatremia will have symptoms such as dry mouth, decreased urination, darkened urine, dizziness, restlessness, and in severe cases, brain neurotoxicity, Cause unconsciousness, coma, convulsions, shock and other life-threatening sequelae.
Next, the question is, is it true that drinking more water is healthier?
However, drinking too much water is not right!
If the human body takes too much water in a short period of time, it may cause water intoxication, especially drinking too much water right after exercising, overfeeding infants and young children, or Deliberately drinking large amounts of water may cause hyponatremia.
The symptoms of hyponatremia are not obvious at first, and may include mild headache, inability to concentrate, and weakness of limbs. Neurological symptoms, severe convulsions, shock and death risk.
You can refer to the recommendations of the European Food Safety Authority to consume the water you need every day. Drinking too much or too little will affect your health. Only drink in moderation can you drink with peace of mind.
Most importantly, do not substitute water with other beverages.
We go through the common beverages one by one.
1. Coffee: Coffee contains caffeine, which is a central nervous system stimulant. Some people experience symptoms such as heart palpitations and increased blood pressure after drinking coffee; a person drinks two cups of coffee a day. That’s fine, but to completely replace your entire day’s water intake with coffee, your caffeine intake will be too high and not appropriate. Therefore, drink water as well as coffee.
2. Tea beverages: teas, including various black tea and green tea, contain catecholamines, which have the effect of anti-oxidation and prevention of chronic diseases, but tea also contains caffeine, and those with cardiovascular diseases should not consume too much Therefore, if you want to completely replace the amount of water you drink throughout the day with tea drinks, the intake of caffeine will be too high and inappropriate.
Drink water in addition to tea.
3. Alcoholic beverages: including beer, liquor and various rice wines. Drinking too much alcohol will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, liver disease and other chronic diseases. It is not allowed to drink alcohol as water.
4. Milk: Milk is rich in calcium, but if you want to completely replace your water intake with milk throughout the day, you will also experience obesity and gastrointestinal symptoms.
5. Carbonated drinks: They contain high sugar and artificial additives. Excessive intake will cause obesity.
6. Fruit juice drinks: Fruit juice is rich in vitamin C, but also high in sugar. Excessive intake will result in obesity.
7. Alkaline water: Some people choose commercially available alkaline water, claiming that it can improve acidity, but this is not true; because the human body can help in 3 ways Regulates the pH of the body.
They are the lungs, kidneys, and circulatory system, so healthy people don’t need extra alkaline water.
All kinds of weak alkaline water on the market are just a gimmick.
Actually, boiling water at home is the safest and most economical way to drink, but I’m just worried about the very small amount of trihalomethanes produced by chlorinating tap water.
We can open the lid of the kettle after the water is boiled, and the trihalomethanes can be volatilized to reduce residues.
I like to pour boiling water into a large glass pot, and when I want to drink water, I can pour it out and drink it at any time.
Cool boiled water is the best and healthiest water to drink!
Summer is coming, I hope you all drink water well, drink some good water!