This is a question we often ask ourselves, “How much water should I drink?” There are many factors to take into consideration when working out how much water you need to drink daily. Fluid intake needs can vary quite dramatically from one individual to another. There are many factors to be taken into account including things such as:
- The height and weight of the individual: Your height and weight will have a direct affect on how much you need to drink to stay hydrated. This is the main factor for each individual. The chart at the bottom of the page will give you an indication as to how much you need, however, the below 3 factors should also be taken into account.
- The Environment: Climates around the world vary greatly and where you live will have a direct impact on whether or not you need to increase your fluid intake. Please do not take thirst as an indicator that you need to drink, by the time you are actually thirsty your body is telling you that you are in fact already dehydrated. This is generally around the time that you will start to get a headache. This is important to know as someone living in a tropical climate would need to drink far more than someone in a cool temperate climate, they would also become dehydrated much more quickly regardless of the level of activity.
- Exercise and physical activity: Different types of exercise affect the body differently and can make a huge difference on how much we need to drink to replace the fluids lost when the body sweats. Exercise also causes the body to lose salts and electrolytes when we sweat so these also need to be replaced. A pinch of salt to your water will help do the trick. Do not just use any salt, sea salt contains 84 minerals and nutrients that our body needs each and every day and will help to replace minerals that the body loses in sweat. Himalayan pink salt is wonderful too but please never, never use table salt, this has been processed and will actually do you more harm than good. This calculator will help you to work out how much extra you should drink by taking into account the type of exercise and many other factors.
- Health and wellness: When we are unwell we often need to increase our fluid intake. Often our temperature rises as our bodies try to fight off infection this causes a loss in bodily fluids. Sickness and diarrhoea will cause us to dehydrate quite quickly also. It is in these times we really need to ensure we keep up our fluid intake.
| Weight in Kg | Litres Per Day |
| 55 | 2.29 |
| 60 | 2.5 |
| 65 | 2.71 |
| 70 | 2.92 |
| 75 | 3.13 |
| 80 | 3.33 |
| 85 | 3.54 |
| 90 | 3.75 |
| 95 | 3.96 |
| 100 | 4.17 |
| 105 | 4.38 |
| 110 | 4.58 |
You can work out how much you need by using the calculation below which is promoted by Paul Chek http://www.chekinstitute.com/. This is calculated on our body weight in kg’s, which is then divided by 0.024. This level of water intake works out at 1.250 litres (1250ml) for each 30kg of body weight.
Example –
A 90kg person would require 3.750 litres per day
calculated as 90kg divided by 0.024 = 3.750 litres per day