Author(s)

Paul A. Oakley^*, Melissa L. Baird

Private Practice, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.

Water is vital for virtually every bodily process, but many people don’t drink enough water. We assessed how much actual water, on average, was drank by 100 consecutive patients from a well-ness clinic. The average water intake was about five 8-ounce glasses of water a day. When compared to the “drink eight glasses of water a day” rule, our sample was 3 glasses short. When compared to the “drink half your body weight in ounces” rule, our sample was 6 glasses short. Chronic, unintentional dehydration is so common that it may be better to consider many “dehydration diseases” such as asthma and allergies as well as non-infectious conditions and chronic pains to be identified as “indicators of body thirst” and not the conditions that today are considered “diseases of unknown etiology”. Physiologically there are parameters of dehydration that can be measured prior to one feeling “thirsty”, and therefore, simply drinking “ad libitum” or by natural instinct may not be adequate. Patients need to be told to drink more water and to keep a mental daily tally to be sure to optimize their hydration status to better their health.

Water, Hydration, Dehydration, Drinking, Euhydration

Oakley, P. and Baird, M. (2015) Do Patients Drink Enough Water? Actual Pure Water Intake Compared to the Theoretical Daily Rules of Drinking Eight 8-Ounce Glasses and Drinking Half Your Body Weight in Ounces. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 7, 883-887. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2015.711072.