The absolute minimum amount of water you should be consuming in one day is your body weight divided by 2, this is the minimum number of ounces you need.
Ideally, you should be drinking what your body weight is in ounces.
For example:
If I weigh 150 lbs, the minimum amount of water I need is 75 ounces per day (150/2 = 75). Ideally I would be drinking 150 ounces a day. Just a reference: 1 Gallon of water = 128 ounces.
Water makes up 75% of your brain!!
You need water in order to have proper brain function. Keeping your brain hydrated actually improves your concentration and cognition, helps to balance your mood and emotions, helps maintain memory function, increases blood flow and oxygen to your brain, prevents and relieves headaches, and reduces stress.
Water regulates your body temperature
Water can absorb a lot of heat before its temperature rises. The water in every cell of the human body acts as a buffer against sudden temperature changes. Blood is largely composed of water, and it moves toward vital organs when the body needs to conserve heat, and toward the extremities and skin when the body is in danger of overheating.
You sweat because burning calories through physical work or exercise generates heat from muscles (water comprises up to 75% of muscle mass). One calorie will heat one gram of water by one degree Celsius – that’s 10x more heat absorption than copper. The water in the muscle cells exchange heat with water in the blood, which carries the heat away. Your hypothalamus senses the heat increase in the blood and activates your sweat glands.
Water keeps your skin looking younger
Your skin is an organ made up primarily of water, and when it’s deprived of water, it suffers. Your skin has a natural barrier that retains moisture, and if this barrier’s functions are disrupted, your skin may become dry and sensitive. When you neglect hydration, your skin can’t perform at its best, leading to premature aging and dry, sensitive skin. Most of your skin’s moisture comes from the body, so if you’re drinking enough water your skin happily absorbs water from moisturizers and creams. If you aren’t adequately hydrated, the benefit of skincare products is impacted.
Water protects your heart
Keeping your body hydrated helps the heart more easily pump blood through the vessels to the muscles, which helps your muscles work efficiently. Your heart doesn’t have to work as hard when you are well hydrated. Dehydration causes strain on your heart — the amount of blood circulating through your body (blood volume) decreases when you’re dehydrated. To compensate, your heart beats faster, increasing your heart rate and causing you to feel palpitation. Dehydration also causes your blood to retain more sodium, which makes it tougher to circulate through your body.
Read More Staying Hydrated? Perform a Urine Test
Water helps you burn fat
Don’t take this to mean that only drinking more water will help you burn fat. Keeping your body in a hydrated state keeps your organs functioning correctly. When your kidneys suffer from dehydration, filtering your blood becomes a struggle. This burden is passed onto your liver. This becomes a fat burning issue since part of what the liver does is burn and process fat. When you’re dehydrated you only burn a fraction of the fat you would if you were better hydrated.
Water prevents constipation
Water is so important for digestion! It keeps the food you eat moving through your intestines, and it also keeps your intestines smooth and flexible. Dehydration is one of the most common causes of chronic constipation. The food you eat makes its way from your stomach to the large intestine, or colon. If you don’t have enough water in your body already, the large intestine soaks up water from your food waste. This makes you have hard stools that are difficult to pass.
Water decreases fatigue
Fatigue is one of the first signs of dehydration. Mild dehydration — a loss of just 1-2% of body weight as water — is enough to impair thinking. More than that, it can cause an imbalance in electrolytes like sodium and potassium (these things help muscles and heart function).
Don’t neglect your body’s need for water!