Water – How much should you drink?

When we speak about water, the basis of all the processes in our body, we can’t rely on our feelings. The initial stage of dehydration indeed can be misunderstood by our brain and we can feel hunger and not thirst. Then, the sense of thirst depends on age, in elderly is less pronounced, in addition to this and at any age we feel this sense only when we have lost 1-2% of the volume of liquid. But, in this situation, also the first effects of dehydration may occur, such as bad mood, tiredness, problems of concentration according to a study published in 2012 by a team of American researchers on two important journals - The Journal of Nutrition and British Journal of Nutritio . it is important to stay hydrated, but how much water should we drink in a day? The answer isn’t so easy and direct, it depends on the lifestyle and climate. In general, the advice is to drink 8 glasses per day, the water drunk during meals is also considered. This quantity, that is only indicative, changes with the person, his/her constitution, if he/she plays sport, if sweats, for this reason the advice is to refer to the recommendation of drinking 8 glasses a day but always be careful to the body and change the amount of water on the basis of the personal feelings. And which type of water should we drink? You can choose the water in bottles, but, if you can, it is better to choose glass bottles because the plastic bottles can be left in the sun, during transport or before sale, and in these conditions these bottles can release toxic substances that go in the water that we drink. For what concerns this aspect, very important is the study published in 2014 on the scientific journal Environmental Pollution and performed by a team of the University of Florida together with the School of the Environment, Nanjing University, China. The scientists have noticed that the plastic used in the bottles of water, PET, if exposed to heat for a prolonged time, can release bisphenol A, able to affect the nervous and the immune system, and antimony, classified as a carcinogenic substance. The higher the temperature, the higher the amount of released substances, for this reason it is not a good idea to leave the plastic bottle in the car in the sun. For what concerns the water from taps, if it is declared drinkable it is in general the safest choice, controlled and cheap. In the last years the filters for taps are often used. The problems with these filters is that it may happen that not just the chlorine particles are removed but also precious mineral salts and in this way the water becomes poor. In addition to this, these filters are also a receptacle of bacteria that go into the water that we drink. Another important point to discuss is the fact that a lot of people think that hard water, that is the water that contains limestone, can damage the kidneys. This is not true, on the contrary the water that are subjected to processes in order to remove the limestone and become soft are poor in magnesium but rich in sodium, a characteristic that may promote hypertension. Finally, a fun fact. In ayurvedic medicine it is used to boil water for 20 minutes, then, the water is poured in a thermos and drunk in small cups and little sips very often, even every 30 minutes. This is thought to help assimilation of water and should have a depurative effect.