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It makes up 75 percent of your body, but how much water should you drink in a day?
Doctors have recommended eight eight-ounce glasses of water to stay hydrated. But how do you drink enough water without feeling drowned?
Staying hydrated is important. And drinking plenty of fluids is a way to stay hydrated.
But do you really need to drink 64 fluid ounces of water a day?
Under a hot sun, playing tennis can be hard, sweaty work. That's why regulars like Ted Mitchell make sure they drink plenty of water.
"I try to make sure I stay completely hydrated so I don't have problems with heat exhaustion and cramps," he says.
Everyone knows we need to drink water. But just how much water do we need?
For years the conventional wisdom has been that we should drink eight eight-ounce glasses of water every day. But now a new study is questioning that wisdom.
In the American Journal of Physiology, professor Henry Valtin reviews all the evidence and says, "I have found no scientific proof that absolutely every person must drink at least eight glasses of water a day."
So, if the professor is correct, how much do we need?
Mary Power is a specialist at the Center For Sports Medicine at St. Francis Memorial Hospital. She says the eight by eight rule, as it is called, is still a useful guide.
"The eight by eight rule is for the general population, the general public, so we understand the importance of drinking water every day," she says.
Power says we need to drink to replace the water we lose through sweat and every day evaporation. She says just use common sense. If you are active, drink. If you are thirsty, drink.
The biggest danger is in drinking too little water, not in drinking too much.
