If you’re wondering how much water to drink to stay healthy, here’s a good guide with a lot of other useful facts added in too.

First of all, let’s look at why we need water.

According to Sue Fisk from Northern Beaches Nutrition, “water is required for every biochemical process in our body. And if we’re not adding water by drinking good quality, filtered water our body may have to take it from other areas – whether that’s your blood or your cells which could mean our bodies end up not functioning properly”.

• Water is important to allow your body to regulate its temperature – especially by keeping you cool and allowing you to sweat when you get too hot.
• Water aids digestion and the processing of food. Hydration keeps your gastrointestinal tract moist to aid in the passing of food through to the gut.
• Water assists with the absorption of nutrients from the food we eat.
• Water helps your body flush out toxins.
• Good hydration also plumps up our skin cells and stops your eyes, mouth and lips from drying out.

Still wondering how much water you need to drink to stay healthy?

We’ve all heard for years on end that we should be drinking 8 – 10 glasses of water a day.  But how big are the glasses? And is that the same for everyone?

The current answer for how much water to drink, is that there’s no hard and fast rule! It depends on our sex, our bodyweight, our age and how much physical activity we do.

It also depends where we live and what type of temperatures we experience everyday.  Someone working outdoors in a hot and humid climate is going to sweat more than someone working in an air-conditioned office (although air conditioning can be very dehydrating) in a cool climate.

Australia’s current dietary guidelines do not recommend a specific amount of water.  They simply recommend drinking plenty of water. WATER that is, rather than juices, soft drinks, cordials and other drinks with hidden sugar nasties.

As a guide on a normal day, 10 x 250ml glasses per day for an adult male (so 2.5 litres a day) and 8 glasses per day for an adult female (so 2 litres a day) is a good amount to consume.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women require more fluid in general so may need to increase from 2 litres a day. And those who are sweating a lot everyday need to pay close attention to how much water they are drinking to stay hydrated.

Is it just water or do other drinks count?

First and foremost you should aim to drink fresh, filtered water whenever possible. Whether that’s still or sparkling, cold or room temperature, water is always preferable to soft drink, juice, tea, cordial, coffee or alcohol. Zip HydroTap offers the convenience of filtered boiled, chilled and sparkling water at the touch of a button making it easier to stay hydrated.

While other drinks do contain water to some extent (and therefore provide some hydration), they are also adding other elements to your body like sugar, caffeine, preservatives and alcohol.

If you do go for the latter, ensure you’re still using freshly filtered water to make up cordial, coffee or tea and where possible dilute your juices with filtered still or sparkling water to reduce the sugar intake.

How do you know if you’re not getting enough water?

The amazing thing about your body is that if you feel and listen to it, it’s going to give you signs of dehydration.

If you’re experiencing a dry mouth, headache or are feeling dizzy, you probably need to drink more water.

If you are not going to the toilet every 3 to 4 hours, you probably need to drink more water.

If your urine is not a very light yellow colour (or virtually clear), you probably need to drink more water.

If your skin is super dry, your lips are parched and your wrinkles are more obvious today than usual, you probably need to drink more water.

Top tips for staying hydrated:

1. If someone offers you a glass of water, say yes, even if you don’t feel you want it.
2. Drink before you feel thirsty.
3. Carry water around with you wherever you go. In your car, in your bag on your desk at work (and remember to sip it all through the day).
4. Have a trigger that reminds you to drink water – It might be a time trigger, it might be when you look at something, it might be when you complete one aspect of your work. But something that will remind  you to take that drink because we don’t always remember.
5. If you’re feeling peckish, check how long it’s been since you’ve had a good drink of water. Often we confuse thirst with hunger.
6. Make everyone in the family have a drink of water before a meal – you’ll be adding to their water intake but also ensuring that they don’t overeat.
7. Sue from Northern Beaches Nutrition had a Zip HydroTap installed a few years ago and couldn’t believe the difference it made to her entire family’s hydration levels. Full story here.

“The biggest bonus to having the Zip HydroTap installed really has been that everyone in our family AND all our friends are drinking so much more water than before! At the touch of a button we have boiling, chilled and sparkling water right there, so keeping everyone hydrated is so easy. The water from the Zip HydroTap is delicious and so pure tasting, it makes it so easy to get everyone drinking more water. It makes me feel so good to watch all that water hydrating everyone so beautifully!”

So do you know how much water to drink? Would you say you are good when it comes to drinking freshly filtered water every day? We’d love you to share your tips for getting your family drinking enough water in the comments below.

We’ve developed this post as part of our Close to Home Special Feature which is proudly brought to you by Zip Water. We love that you can have pure tasting, filtered boiling, chilled and sparkling water at the oh so convenient touch of a button. De-clutter your kitchen, add a whole lot of style and say goodbye to buying water in plastic bottles. Whatever the water requirements on your list are, there’s a Zip HydroTap that can deliver. Check out the full range at www.zipwater.com today and experience the Zip difference.