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

Paul A. Oakley^*, Melissa L. Baird

Private Practice, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.

DOI: 10.4236/jwarp.2015.711072                

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Water, Hydration, Dehydration, Drinking, Euhydration

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Weitzman, R.E. and Kleeman, C.R. (1979) The Clinical Physiology of Water Metabolism. Part I. The Physiologic Regulation of Arginine Vasopressin Secretion and Thirst. Western Journal of Medicine, 131, 373-400.
[2]	Marcos, A., Manonelles, P., Palacios, N., et al. (2014) Physical Activity, Hydration and Health. Nutricion Hospitalaria, 9, 1224-1239.
[3]	Popkin, B.M., D’Anci, K.E. and Rosenberg, I.H. (2010) Water, Hydration and Health. Nutrition Reviews, 68, 439-458. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.2010.00304.x
[4]	Guyton, A.C. and Hall, J.E. (2000) Textbook of Medical Physiology. WB Saunders Co., Philadelphia.
[5]	Brown, A.H. (1947) Survival without Drinking Water in the Desert. In: Adolph, E.F., Ed., Physiology of Man in the Desert, Interscience, New York, 271-279.
[6]	Ericson, J. (2013) 75% of Americans May Suffer from Chronic Dehydration, According to Doctors. http://www.medicaldaily.com/75-americans-may-suffer-chronic-dehydration-according-doctors-247393
[7]	Batmanghelidj, F. (2008) Your Body’s Many Cries for Water. 3rd Edition, Global Health Solutions, VA.
[8]	Sawka, M.N. and Pandolf, K.B. (1990) Effects of Body Water Loss on Physiological Function and Exercise Performance. In: Gisolfi, C.V. and Lamb, D.R., Eds., Fluid Homeostasis during Exercise, Benchmark Press, Carmel, 1-38.
[9]	Cian, C., Barraud, P.A., Melin, B. and Raphel, C. (2001) Effects of Fluid Ingestion on Cognitive Function after Heat Stress of Exercise-Induced Dehydration. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 42, 243-251. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8760(01)00142-8
[10]	Gopinathan, P.M., Pichan, G. and Sharma, V.M. (1988) Role of Dehydration in Heat Stress-Induced Variations in Mental Performance. Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, 43, 15-17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00039896.1988.9934367
[11]	Sharma, V.M., Sridharan, K., Pichan, G. and Panwar, M.R. (1986) Influence of Heat Stress-Induced Dehydration on Mental Functions. Ergonomics, 29, 791-799. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00140138608968315
[12]	Lindseth, P.D., Lindseth, G.N., Petros, T.V., Jensen, W.C. and Caspers, J. (2013) Effects of Hydration on Cognitive Function of Pilots. Military Medicine, 178, 792-798. http://dx.doi.org/10.7205/MILMED-D-13-00013
[13]	Armstrong, L.E., Costill, D.L. and Fink, W.J. (1985) Influence of Diuretic-Induced Dehydration on Competitive Running Performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 17, 456-461. http://dx.doi.org/10.1249/00005768-198508000-00009
[14]	Murray, B. (2007) Hydration and Physical Performance. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 26, 542S-548S.
[15]	Cheuvront, S.N., Montain, S.J. and Sawka, M.N. (2007) Fluid Replacement and Performance during the Marathon. Sports Medicine, 37, 353-357. http://dx.doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200737040-00020
[16]	Sherriffs, S.M., Merson, S.J., Fraser, S.M. and Archer, D.T. (2004) The Effects of Fluid Restriction on Hydration Status and Subjective Feelings in Man. British Journal of Nutrition, 91, 951-958. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/BJN20041149
[17]	Michaud, D.S., Spiegelman, D., Clinton, S.K., Rimm, E.B., Curhan, G.C., Willett, W.C. and Giovannucci, E.L. (1999) Fluid Intake and the Risk of Bladder Cancer in Men. The New England Journal of Medicine, 340, 1390-1397. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199905063401803
[18]	Zhou, J., Kelsey, K.T., Giovannucci, E. and Michaud, D.S. (2014) Fluid Intake and Risk of Bladder Cancer in the Nurses’ Health Studies. International Journal of Cancer, 135, 1229-1237. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ijc.28764
[19]	Lubin, F., Rozen, P., Arieli, B., Farbstein, M., Knaani, Y., Bat, L. and Farbstein, H. (1997) Nutritional and Lifestyle Habits and Water-Fiber Interaction in Colorectal Adenoma Etiology. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 6, 79-85.
[20]	Shannon, J., White, E., Shattuck, A.L. and Potter, J.D. (1996) Relationship of Food Groups and Water Intake to Colon Cancer Risk. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 5, 495-502.
[21]	Tang, R., Wang, J.Y., Lo, S.K. and Hsieh, L.L. (1999) Physical Activity, Water Intake and Risk of Colorectal Cancer in Taiwan: A Hospital-Based Case-Control Study. International Journal of Cancer, 82, 484-489. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19990812)82:4<484::aid-ijc3>3.0.co;2-a
[22]	Chan, J., Knutsen, S.F., Blix, G.G., Lee, J.W. and Fraser, G.E. (2002) Water, Other Fluids, and Fatal Coronary Heart Disease: The Adventist Health Study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 155, 827-833. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/155.9.827
[23]	Himelstein, D., Jones, A. and Woolhandler, S. (1983) Hypernatremic Dehydration in Nursing Home Patients: An Indicator of Neglect. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 31, 466-471. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.1983.tb05118.x
[24]	Mahowald, J. and Himmelstein, D. (1981) Hypernatremia in the Elderly: Relation to Infection and Mortality. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 29, 177-180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.1981.tb01761.x
[25]	Valtin, H. (2002) “Drink at Least Eight Glasses of Water a Day.” Really? Is There Scientific Evidence for “8 × 8”? American Journal of Physiology—Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 283, R993-R1004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00365.2002
[26]	Sawka, M.N., Latzka, W.A., Matott, R.P. and Montain, S.J. (1998) Hydration Effects on Temperature Regulation. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 19, S108-S110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-2007-971971
[27]	Sawka, M.N., Cheuvront, S.N. and Carter, R. (2005) Human Water Needs. Nutrition Reviews, 63, S30-S39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1301/nr.2005.jun.S30-S39
[28]	Negoianu, D. and Goldfarb, S. (2008) Just Add Water. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 19, 1041-1043. http://dx.doi.org/10.1681/ASN.2008030274
[29]	Maughan, R.J., Leiper, J.B. and Shirreffs, S.M. (1997) Factors Influencing the Restoration of Fluid and Electrolyte Balance after Exercise in the Heat. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 31, 175-182. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.31.3.175
[30]	Stookey, J.D. (2001) Energy Density, Energy Intake and Weight Status in a Large Free-Living Sample of Chinese Adults: Exploring the Underlying Roles of Fat, protein, Carbohydrate, Fiber and Water Intakes. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 55, 349-359. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601163
[31]	Ershow, A.G. and Cantor, K.P. (1989) Total Water and Tapwater Intake in the United States: Population-Based Estimates of Quantities and Sources. FASEB/LSRO, Bethesda.
[32]	Hines, D. (2001) The Power of H2O. Am Fitness, 19, 23-25.
[33]	Leaf, A. (1984) Dehydration in the Elderly. The New England Journal of Medicine, 311, 791-792. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJM198409203111209