How much water should I be drinking?

It’s the age-old question that we will try to answer: How much water is enough?

THERE’S A RUMOUR THAT GOES LIKE THIS:

On a desert island, you could go forty days without food, but without water, you’d likely last a day. Is that true? And you can’t drink the waves because they’re salty and hence make you thirstier. How does that work?

Another rumour: your brain is 73% water—and wait for it—this is the same total percentage of water versus landmass on planet earth. How superstitious are you? And another rumour: I’ve got a mate who doesn’t drink water at all. He thinks it’s boring (his words) and would rather drink a can of Coke, which he will do several times a day. He’ still somewhat alive.

Considering the desert island rumour, how is this possible?

And a final rumour: homo sapiens was delivered up from the water, which is why we go to the beach to holiday and have kidney-shaped holes in our backyards. It’s why Ian Thorpe has gills and flippers and can out-swim the Leviathan. And it sheds some light on why we might be so dependent on water to keep us alive.

I WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT THESE RUMOURS

I’m a thirty-year-old male and the desert island is somewhere in the Pacific. Conditions matter in the dehydration process. I’m near the equator and things are getting balmy, so it’s likely I’m losing 1 to 1.5 litres of water every hour. My body is made up of around 60% water, and I’m 90-odd kg, so we’re looking at around 50 litres.

But I’m no camel—I can’t store some for later. I need to renew this supply from an exogenous source. So crunching the numbers, I might have two days.

As water levels drop inside the body, the liquid gets diverted to fill vital organs with blood, causing cells throughout the body to shrink, Dr. Jeffrey Berns, then the president-elect of the National Kidney Foundation, told The Washington Post in 2014. As water leaches out of brain cells, Berns explained, the brain contracts and blood vessels within the cranium can burst.

My Kidneys fail first. They stop clearing waste from the thinning blood supply and ultimately this leads to the rest of my organs shutting down and a severe episode of pain and lonely death in the tropical climate.

But look at that endless prophetic teal quilt—why don’t I just drink all that seawater? Because my kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than saltwater. This means I need to urinate more than usual to clear everything out and eventually I’ll flush out all the good stuff too, dehydrating my emaciated sunburned body. I need sodium, but not the excessive amount in a handful of saltwater.

Which leads me to this point: water, two hydrogens and an oxygen, is essentially a transportation device for minerals.

The minerals are what hydrate the body. ‘Ten times filtered’ might sound like a great deal, but what are you losing?

Lead, fluoride, pathogens, all the junk you want to pull out. But what happens to the good stuff: magnesium, calcium, zinc, phosphorous? Water devoid of minerals is called ‘soft water’, or ‘dead water’. It becomes acidic and can leach nutrients from the body—making us more dehydrated for drinking it; similar to my desperate handfuls of Pacific Ocean.

This is basically how my mate survives on Coca Cola. Not that this is a particularly nutrient-dense product, but if you think of hydration as mineralistaion, it’s possible his body is getting what it needs from other sources, such as food and tea, and dare I say his precious red-swirly can of Coke. Not that this is any way to live optimally. We may want to think of it as a base-level survival strategy. He sleeps all day and has erectile dysfunction and yes, he shall remain unnamed.

So how superstitious are you?

You’re made of water, the earth is made of water, hydrogen is the elemental atom, Water for Elephants is a decent enough film starring Robert Pattinson. Water is the secret code behind most things, scrap that—all things.

It hydrates the cell, transports mineral information, lubricates joints, and excretes stress hormones via your lacrimal glands when Robert Pattinson is stomped to death by the elephant. And, it’s true, you were once an amoeba in the great petri dish we call the ocean.

Note: Coca Cola is a carbonated soft drink invented in the 19^th century and hence not the secret code behind all things or anything really.

Paul Chek recommends drinking your bodyweight x 0.033 in litres of water per day.

But it’s not just about quantity. You won’t be able to see them, but do everything in your power to get those minerals in your water source. This means filtered water with additional minerals added, supplementing with electrolytes and sea salt or pink Himalayan salt, and steering away from tap water, which could possibly dehydrate you further (how ironic the world can be).

If you have any questions concerning your hydration and the quality of your water, come in and speak to one of our holistic health coaches today – or come and have a taste of our delicious water. You can also improve your body by hiring a personal trainer.