h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Can anyone tell me the advantage of drinking 8 glasses of water a day,
as recommended by many diets these days. I am aware of the obvious one - it fills you up without calories. I find it really hard to do and wonder if it is really necessary (for good health I mean) to drink
that much, on top of any other liquid one might consume throughout the course of the day, such as tea/coffee, soft drinks, etc. Does it really "flush out the system and clear the complexion," as they say in all the best diet articles.
I ask this as a scientific question, and not as a compulsive dieter.

Part of the point is that water is better than those other drinks and should be drunk instead rather than on top of them. It isn't so much what water contains (beyond water!), though some of the minerals are useful, but all the poisons* it doesn't contain which those other things do.

* Here the word "poison" depends somewhat on definition and quantity. Any reduction in intake of something which might be considered a poison is good. Any natural excretion of such waste which might exceed the newly reduced intake could then be called "flushing out" even though that's not an accurate summary of the complex bio-chemistry.

Much of what a diet article says is likely to be lies, hype and distortions. However, if you are allergic to some of the things in many foods and drinks then staying away from them will indeed help your complexion.

Everyone is supposed to drink 8 glasses of water every day - whether or not you are on a diet. For children it should be 6.

Especially since most folks walk around in a partially dehydrated stupor...

And all the water in your system keeps you running to the bathroom, Loo, WC...whatever. Thus, you get exercise.

If you don't get enough liquids during the day you may find that your skin feels rough and looks less healthy, you may even get headaches if you really dehydrate.

The 8 glasses of water is a rough estimate, though there are schools of thought that say you shouldn't drink too much around meal times as it can hinder digestion.

Personally I always feel better if I've drunk a lot of liquids during the day, however that may just be a placebo affect

When you realise that a is just dehydration and tiredness you can begin to understand the effects lack of liquids can have on your body.

Mel

I have my doubts about the 8 pints a day thing. I have never drunk that much, I'm heading toward 40 and been generally healthy so far (I'll keel over tomorrow). My wife drinks gallons of water and visits the toilet thousands of times a day but she is the one always complaining about too little sleep and the odd headache.

I've been told that it means 8 half-pint glasses, or 4 pints.

Women need more if they're pregnant, breastfeeding or on monthly sick leave, or if they have PCOS, thyroid deficiency, a habit of gardening for hours in the sun, etc.

(The last two apply to men too.)

It would be nice if the stuff didn't contain so many chemicals; our local tap water stinks when you turn the tap on and that is Severn Trent, supposed to be one of the best. It actually burns my throat to drink it!

Ours doesn't taste too bad, but we have to filter water for the kettle to avoid nice crunchy lime crusts on our .

Our water is horrible also. Has this smell - I usually stick to bottled just to be safe.

I've just come back to university and one of my housemates has taken to drinking bottled water because he thinks the house water is giving him diarrhoea. I would just put it down to ness but it appears to have worked ..... Placebo?

Mel

It's not necessarily a placebo. He could be used to a different mixture of minerals. That's known to be enough to upset people's gut but I think you're meant to become accustomed to the change in water after that. The time frame would make a difference as to whether it was more likely to be merely him getting better on his own from something else.

I'm fairly sure it's not placebo, but it does seem strange that his gut does the same thing every time he comes back to uni, especially seeing as he only lives 30 mins away, you would have thought that his gut would realise what was going on!

Though saying that I have a very resilient gut and can't understand people who get anyway

Mel

I've heard that the tap water in this country, or parts of it, has become so clean, and purification of it so become thorough, that if one went abroad and drank water they'd probably get ill. I don't know how true that is though.

My water is supplied by South Staffordshire Water PLC and it's very refreshing and delicious, especially when chilled, but even when not. I love it. I've been drinking water more regularly than I have ever done, and because of it, I feel fantastically healthy, with clean skin.

Living things can not survive without water. Everthing from viruses to plants to animals need water. Without water we simply wouldn't and couldn't exist.

It is amazing how such a simple substance of 1 part oxygen, 2 parts hydrogen is so vital to all life.

This may be absolutely bunk, but nontheless i thought i would share... when it comes to diets and water, SUPPOSEDLY if indeed you're actually "dieting" dieting, ICE water actually burns calories without polluting your system with all that poison that alternative drinks might give you. Apparently your body ends up BURNING calories in rewarming itself due to the cold of the water...

Read it somewhere anyways...

strictly speaking, a virus doesnt need water, it may not be alive, it doesnt have a metabolism as such. Saying that it -needs- water to live is like saying that my feet need the ground to live, its not that that isnt where they belong, it just that is what they are accoustomed to.

On the water topic, around an important exam time last year I drunk alot of Volvic water (I dont trust Evian, its Naive backwards, its like they are mocking you) and I think I felt some effect, my head got clearer, but the effect was gone after I became accostomed to it. But lots of water as apposed to too little water has to be a good thing right?

The reason they say to drink a lot of water when you are dieting is multi-fold. Of course, it fills you up with 0 calories, but besides that, the Oxygen in the water acts as fuel / catalyst in the oxidization of fat cells.

Yep, you use 0.001 calorie heating every 1 ml of water up by 1 degree Celsius. So if you drink half a gallon of iced water a day, you'll use up about 80 calories. Do that for 6 weeks and you'll lose a pound in weight. Big deal, huh?

The oxygen in water is not used as a fuel. Ever tried to burn water? Sheesh. Whatever happened to science education in this country?