The 8-cup thing is a myth. The reason you don’t actually need to drink that much water is because there’s water in the food you eat, too.
do people like, not get thirsty? it boggles my mind how you can not drink enough water, we have a built in system to recognize when we need water…
I grew up drinking almost exclusively Coke (thanks mom and dad!), and it took me a very long time to realize that my “craving” for Coke was actually just thirst.
These days I try to stick exclusively to drinking water, but I definitely understand how people can be chronically dehydrated like that when their body is so conditioned to drinking garbage.
To this day, I’ll still occasionally think “man, I could really go for a can of Coke,” but then I drink water and it goes away.
Flavored (zero sugar) soda water helps a lot too, for people who find plain water boring.
It’s certainly better than regular, but I’ll admit the idea of finding water “boring” doesn’t sit well with me. Maybe I’m getting old.
The only thing that makes me not drink alcohol endlessly is money and indigestion.
People tend to have their preferred water drinking container, and normally fill and drink from that container once per day. I’ve seen recommendations for 96 oz for adult men, and 92 oz for adult women, or even some recommendations to aim as high as 128 oz (1 gallon). So you can use this one-glass per day to hack yourself into drinking more water by choosing a canteen/growler that holds the total amount of water you’re aiming to drink every day. You might not always hit the mark unless you’re making an earnest effort, but having a 1 gallon drinking vessel will cause you to drink more water.
And even if that seems like an extreme amount, getting at or close to that mark every day does make a difference for your health and how you feel.
My understanding is that much of our hydration comes from food. Cooked rice, for example, is 70 percent water, and tomatoes are 94 percent. Absolutely aim to drink as much as you can, but a gallon won’t be necessary unless you only eat plain crackers.
