It’s a simple enough question that should have a simple enough answer, and truthfully speaking, once you actually understand and listen to your body, it will actually feel very simple. But till that time, there are several factors that matter – your overall health, your activity levels and of course, where you live.

Water is essential. I don’t think we actually appreciate how important daily water intake is. Making up almost 60 per cent of our body weight is no joke. Our body needs water to survive. Literally, every cell, tissue, and organ in our body needs optimum fluid intake to work properly.

Daily water intake keeps our temperature normal; it protects our tissues, lubricates our joints and most importantly, helps in ridding our bodies of waste through urination, bowel movements and perspiration.  When our bodies are deprived of fluid intake, it leads to dehydration, which can drain our energy, make us tired, and unnecessarily cause risk.

Lack of daily water intake can lead to dehydration, which occurs when you don’t have fluid intake in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration from low fluid intake can drain your energy and tire you.

So then the questions must be asked again, how much daily water intake is needed? 8 glasses a day? For the most part, it’s a good, easy-to-remember gauge. But some of us don’t need as much.

Remember, 20% of the daily fluid intake on average comes from food. And the more water-based foods we eat, the less daily water intake we’d need. Of course, the less water-based the food, the less we can count on that daily water intake.

So how do you know you’re having enough? Your fluid intake is probably okay if you seldom get thirsty or if your urine is colourless or slight light yellow. But beyond these signs, just be aware of your ideal fluid intake. Make your meals balanced. Especially if they aren’t, then make sure of enough daily water intake.

Don’t compare yourself to others when it comes to deciding the correct daily water intake. We all are programmed differently, and as a result, it is better to listen to our own bodies rather than follow a pre-programmed generic schedule.

One very important side note, try to avoid more than sipping water during meals. When we drink a glass or two of water with a meal, it actually interferes with the normal digestion process. It’s best to have water sometime before the meal or at least an hour after. Daily water intake at the correct times can actually help the body to better absorb nutrients.

At the end of the day, we can’t just expect water to do its job; we have to do ours too!

– Amit Vaidya

Amit Vaidya is the best-selling author of the memoir Holy Cancer and the upcoming Food Is Medicine cookbook series. He is the in-house health & wellness expert for Kapiva Ayurveda, advocating for the empowerment of all individuals to be in the driver’s seat of their own lives. He chronicles his life on Instagram under the handle @live4todayamit. 

Check out our blog on how to detox naturally.