Question: How much water to drink per day

I've heard a lot of people talking about "aquaholics" – people who drink too much water in an attempt to lose weight, detox etc. Is there such a thing as too much water? And how does one know how much you should be drinking per day?

Answer

This is a really great question. Yes, it is in fact possible to overdo it and drink too much water. As well all know the general “rule” is to try and consume at least 2 litres of water per day, but a more realistic goal is to try and consume 1 litre of water for every 30kg’s of body weight that you carry. Also bear in mind that if you are an athlete and you lose a lot of water every day due to the amount of activity you do, it’s absolutely fine to take in a bit more water to compensate for this. If you take it completely overboard and you drink far too much water every day, you run the risk of diluting your electrolytes, diluting your stomach acid, flushing your vitamins and minerals, and not allowing them to be properly absorbed. This can result in cramping, pain, dizziness, and poor nutrition as you’re not allowing your body the proper environment to be able to properly absorb anything. If this persists over time, it could lead to much more serious issues, starting with poor gut health and impaired digestion, from which a whole host of other problems arise, including: the inability to control your weight, fatigue; poor stress management; acne starts manifesting on the skin (along with other skin irritation); some people develop pigmentation on the skin; leaky gut syndrome; impaired immunity; inflammation and unexplained pains in the body… to name but a few!

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