How much water you should drink a day?

In my daily practice, people often ask me how much water should he/she drinks.The answer varies. Many people know the 8 cups of water a day rule. Some of them will try their best to fulfill this goal every day. Is that right? Is that harmful if you take too much water than your body needs?

For a healthy person, you have a good kidney, when you drink more water than your body needs your kidney will remove the extra water soon or later. Most of the time you just put some more work load to your kidney but you are fine.

In some other cases, you create a conditions called water retention or water intoxication. Especially when you have some other health issues, such as thyroid disease, kidney dysfunction, and liver or heart problem; or if you are taking some medications that will make you easy to have water retention, such as NSAIDs, antidepressants.

So, how much water should you drink a day? There is no standard answer here. It is definitely personized. But some factors you should put in mind when you think about how much water you need a day. First, how much water do you lose a day? Sweating, diarrhea, fever and Polyuria make you lose more water. Second, what type of food do you take? Vegetables, fruits, rice contain lots of water. Salty food needs more water. Coffee or other drinks are treated as water here. Third, do you take any medication that would cause water retention? If you do, then you might need less water than you think. Talk to your doctor if you are not sure.

Also, there are some signs from your body that you can tell if you need more water. First, if you feel thirsty then you need drink water for sure. Unless your thirsty sensation is not working properly, you should follow your body’s sense. Second, you can look at your tongue in the mirror, if your tongue surface is dry and cracked and red, most likely you need more water. Third, if you have heavy sensation at your lower limbs, or you feel puffy on your face, most likely you have some water retention condition. If you have water retention, usually you might feel fatigue or sleepy all the time.

If you are not sure about your case, please consult your doctor or TCM practitioner.