New Delhi:
The question as to what should be the right amount of water intake in a day has always been in the minds of health conscious people. It is always advised that we should maintain the count of at least 8 glasses of water per day, but have never actually examined whether our body actually needs that amount of water or not.
Well, scientists have come up with a new study which claims that relying on the '8 glasses a day' rule can prove problematic. The study suggests to listen to what the body demands.
The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council, had earlier in 1945 stated, "A suitable allowance of water for adults is 2.5 litres daily in most instances... Most of this quantity is contained in prepared food." So actually our body is able to get the enough amount of water that is required, by the food we consume.
The study suggests to drink water only when we feel thirsty. "If we just do what our body demands us to we'll probably get it right — just drink according to thirst rather than an elaborate schedule," Associate Professor and co-author of the study Michael Farrell told. Researchers experimented to find out the amount of effort required to swallow water under two conditions: "following exercise when they were thirsty and later after they were persuaded to drink an excess amount of water." The participants were asked to rate the difficulty to swallow water in both the conditions. The participants confirmed that it took them 3 times more effort to gulp water after quenching their thirst.
"Here for the first time we found effort-full swallowing after drinking excess water which meant they were having to overcome some sort of resistance," Farrell said. "This was compatible with our notion that the swallowing reflex becomes inhibited once enough water has been drunk."
Researchers also told about the harmful effects of drinking too much water. Our brains work on swallowing inhibition and "power through" more glasses can put athletes at the risk of water intoxication or hyponatremia. Drinking excess of water and that too speedily can lower the sodium levels of blood. So don't get obsessed with drinking too much water but drink as and when you are thirsty. Stay hydrated.
