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How much water should you drink a day?

Adults need 1.5 to 2 litres of water a day

Water is one of the most essential nutritional substances in our diet, adults need 1.5 to 2 litres of water a day. That's eight glasses of water! The majority of that must be drunk, with the remainder being extracted from food.

Through normal bodily functions, such as sweating and urinating, a body will lose up to 1.07 litres in fluid every day. Exercise means you will lose even more. And so keeping your fluid balance at its proper levels is not a superfluous luxury, but rather a matter of life and death. The message here is to drink a lot of water!

What happens if you don't drink enough water?

Seven out of ten Belgians don't drink enough water, in spite of the proven positive effects to health and wellbeing. If you don't absorb enough water you dehydrate. The result is health complaints like fatigue, headaches, digestive problems and aching joints.

Greater chance of falling ill

For your body cells to function at an optimum level, they must be sufficiently hydrated. If you don't their electro-chemical balance falls off-kilter and vitamin and mineral absorption decreases. The chance of falling ill becomes considerably greater.

Loss of concentration

Fatigued during the day? There's a good chance you're not getting enough water. This means that your level of cognition is down. Concentration, short-term memory, ability to compute, alertness, decision-making speed, etc. These are just a few examples of your cognitive functions that are up to speed when you drink sufficient quantities of water.

85% of your brains are made up of water. If your water-content drops by 2%, then energy production in your brains drops too. Your capacity for concentration and productivity decrease with immediate effect, even for simple tasks such as watching a computer screen or reading a document.

Physical losses

When your body loses 1 to 2% of its fluid, you lose 5 to 10% in physical performance. Should you lose 10% of your fluid, you will quite simply be rendered immobile. Studies have demonstrated that, for 80% of back and joint complaints, the pain is reduced considerably by drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water a day.

You become thirsty when your body loses 1% of its water content. So don't wait until you get thirsty, always keep a glass of water within easy reach.