The more I age the more important hydration turns out to be. Gastric issues, joint pain, blood pressure, weight problems, kidney stones, bad breath, constipation.. and now brain issues too?
Do yourself a favor, and start drinking a ton of water!
Jumping in here with relevant experience - because you're absolutely right.
In 8th grade (~16 years ago) my substitute biology teacher organised a "Water drinking competition" poised to elevate our understanding of stomach capacity, etc.
Two of us went to hospital, and ~5 (including myself) had to take multiple days off of school and recover.
What was exactly his thinking here? Do biology teachers study biology because that’s kind of the first things you learn (saline concentration, kidney, etc…)
At least where I am, substitute teachers don't have to study anything in particular at all. You simply need to have completed X number of credit hours at an accredited institution, no actual degree or certificate is required and the coursework can be literally anything. As a newly-graduated history major I signed up to substitute teach out of desperation, and was sent everywhere from kindergarten to calculus.
"[E]ven oxygen" is funny because it is absurdly reactive and will explode when given the opportunity, and way back when it destroyed pretty much all life on earth except the early cyanobacteria that produced it.
Edit: And yeah, I didn't imply what you're responding to, I described the mechanism for water poisoning.
...Not that much... 3ish liters spread out over the day is good. Too much water will strip your body of electrolytes and salt.
I recently upped my water intake and can report that my skin and mood feel better. I caffeinate with a strong coffee and 2 cups of tea in the morning, and around 12 I switch to pint glasses of water every 2 hours or so until 6-7 o'clock.
That's an advantage - it means you're not sitting e.g. at a computer monitor and keyboard for too long. Getting up twice an hour (to pee or not) greatly reduces the potential for ergonomic harm that desk jobs - especially computer use -are known for.
If you're peeing that much then evidently your body is not using all that water you're consuming. Either it's more than you need, or you're lacking in electrolytes and should increase electrolyte intake alongside the water.
Parent is correct. NHS sources say upto 7 times during the day is normal and "Every 3 to 4 hours is considered healthy. Going every 1 to 2 hours usually means you either have an overactive bladder or are drinking too much at once."
Saying every 30 minutes is normal is just the same as advocating drinking too much water
Are we sure this is not just harmless and arbitrary information being parroted? Do we have verifiable sources other that anecdote? I find it hard to believe that there is just a single value for water intake across the massive biological spectrum that is humanity and expect to see a range when this conversation comes up. You're also getting water from foods, which I am sure is not being accounted for. Reminds me of the 10k steps a day that just happened to be "correct enough" to be believed and acted on. The truth is much more nuanced and depends on a number of factors in a person's physical health.
Without concrete verifiable findings, the best we can do is learn to pay attention to our bodies and drink maybe a little bit more water than we think we need to.
The European doctor quoted certainly said "3 liters" from both drinks and food (especially vegetables). In Europe I think we drink between 1 and 2 liters per day in actual water, depending on how dry the weather is.
Agreed. Being in the Midwest US, my intake also varies widely, depending on weather or season, physical activity, and the foods I've been eating.
I'm not entirely dismissive of doctors, be they European or American, as most I've encountered do have the patient's best interest at heart. But they are also human, and it is very easy to stick with the safe and easy answer rather than do the work to find the real answer. So when I hear claims like that, I immediately doubt them, assuming it is placeholder information because we do not know the actual answer. Unfortunately, a lot of our media in the US considers such "placeholder information" to be actionable, and ends up convincing the public (including doctors) of its veracity.
I always laugh about those ridiculously large water bottles American carry and how they remind you all the time that you must drink water as if I did need it. I wonder why that happens.
sure, there are different recommended amounts, the EFSA recommendations are 2.5l per day for a grown up man and 2l for a woman[0]. I'm a bit bigger than the average so I got 3l as a recommendation when I was on a diet or when I had specific issues.
But I didn't mean to imply everyone should drink it, just that it's not hard to drink that much. And yes, of course you ingest a lot of water through other means too.
I’ve always been extremely suspicious of constant water consumption. No other mammal seems to do this. Even the ones that require a lot of water like horses will only drink when they’re thirsty or while eating.
I feel much better when I drink more water: head, eyes, and body. And if I don't drink enough water during the day I'll cramp at night. Drinking lots of water to lose weight is nonsense – on this I agree.