Share: er…do you have a water drinking schedule?
A reader had left me a question on my Facebook page asking if it’s all right for her to drink a lot of water daily. At that time, I had told her that it should not be a problem but it’s more important to be drinking quality water. However, shortly afterwards, I found out that there is actually a dangerous medical condition called Hyponatremia, caused by drinking excessive water and resulting in one not having enough salt in the body fluids outside the cells. So I guess that’s why the recommendation is always for us to drink 8 glasses of water a day. But realistically, do we really count how much water we drink? Plus, how should these 8 glasses of water be spread out in the day?
Unless you’re like my girlfriend who makes a conscious effort to count, I doubt most of us keep track. But personally, I’ve been increasing my water intake and I think I’m drinking almost a glass of water every hour. Because I wanted to moderate that consumption, I started reading more on the topic and found this interesting water drinking schedule in a Chinese book on when to consume 8 glasses of water daily:
1st glass at 6:30
Because your body starts to dehydrate after a long night of rest, you should drink your first glass of 250cc water at this time when you wake up to help your kidney and liver to detoxify. Also, do not eat your breakfast right away but wait about half an hour after drinking your first glass of water.
2nd glass at 8:30
If you’re on the go such as traveling to school or work, you are likely to perspire and perhaps become tense because of having to rush, and your body will start to dehydrate. At this time, you should replenish by drinking 250cc of water.
3rd glass at 11:30
If you’re working in an aircon environment, you may be losing moisture and it’s good to rehydrate by taking 250cc of water.
4th glass at 13:00
After lunch, drinking 200cc of water aids your digestion and enable the food nutrients to be better absorbed by your body.
5th glass at 15:00
Instead of drinking tea or coffee during your break, trying drinking 200cc of water to refresh your mind.
6th glass at 17:00
Drinking 250cc of water at this time will make you feel satiated and prevent any overeating during dinner.
7th glass at 20:00
Drinking 200cc of water half an hour after your dinner will boost the performance of peristalsis, a series of organized muscle contractions that occur throughout the digestive tract.
8th glass at 22:00
Drinking 150cc of water an hour before bed will help in the your cell renewal process during your sleep.
I think the timings are meant only as a guide but it’s kind of interesting that water intake is not recommended every hour but almost every other two hours. And I noticed that the water drinking frequency in the morning is rather low in this water drinking schedule whereas I’ve actually been drinking much more water in the mornings!
So tell me ladies, do you following such a water drinking schedule or do you have your own schedule? Do you also keep track of how much water you drink per day?
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Wow~ I know that we need to drink water first thing in the morning (after brushing teeth but before breakfast) and about 8 glasses of water per day, though I never knew there was a definite schedule for drinking water ? Though I’d say that I normally drink more than 8 glasses of water coz I’d already drink 4 glasses of water before noon!! LOL Have been doing this ever since I was young… my body is probably already used to it. Though thankfully I haven’t developed that horrible Hyponatremia condition yet #k8SjZc9Dxk#k8SjZc9Dxk”
I don’t really have a drinking schedule but I did heard about that water drinking schedule you mention in your post. I always drink around 250cc of water when I wake up and a little before bed. It’s hard for me to follow that drinking schedule since things always change up! Anyways, thanks for sharing this informative post!
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I don’t have a drinking schedule too. To be exact, I don’t drink that much water. I know that’s bad to body but I really don’t like to drink water. But I also read somewhere that it is bad to drink too much water before meals too. It will weaken the gastric acid in your stomach. No sure how true is it. But I used to practice drinking in the morning and I think it helps in detoxing.
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I do drink plenty of water first thing in the morning (1 liter). And 1/2 a glass of water every hour or 1 glass every 2 hrs. My drinking stops, after 7.30 pm, to ensure I do not have water retention problem. At night, since we are mostly inactive and do not sweat, it is advised that we women do not drink at all. But I will take a sip of water every 1 to 1 1/2 hr, to ensure our body gets hydrated.
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I’ve read that because there’s metal residues and fluoride in tap water (and boiling doesn’t really filter it, you need some kind of filter), its best to obtain water from natural sources such as fruits and vegetables through consumption. Most foods that are not processed tend to have water content as well and those water content contributes to the 8 glasses too! ?
I don’t think I am one who can go on a timely water intake schedule. I used to have insufficient water intake, and that could be one reason that cause my constipation problem.
To prevent that, I bought myself a BROs water bottle ( 700ml ). Because 1 glass of water=250ml, I just need to remind myself to drink 3 bottles of water a day, which makes up to 2100ml.
Hi Sesame,
Agree with your post about losing too much salt by drinking too much water. In Gerson Cancer Therapy, the cancer patient is adviced to drink 13 glasses of juices (with potassium chloride ==> it is also a type of salt ==>which helps to replace sodium chloride).. we have too much sodium in our diet.. but we cannot do without salt in our tissues.. so Gerson replaced sodium chloride with potassium chloride (minimal)… since the patient is drinking 13 glasses of juices… he/she does not need to drink a lot of water (zero to only a few sips of distilled water is allowed)..
excerpt from the article:
WATER Dr. Gerson forbids drinking water. You have read you should drink at least eight glasses of water a day. But it is a well established fact that people who have malignant problems or other chronic diseases have poor stomach acid secretion, and when you drink water, you dilute stomach acid. This doesn’t occur with juice because it is a food. If you drink water, it makes it very difficult to digest the juices. It gives you gas, it gives you an upset stomach, diarrhea and so on. So when you are on the Gerson therapy, don’t drink water. You are getting 13 glasses of juice a day so you are not going to be thirsty during the day. If you are thirsty in the evening, or if you would like a cup of tea after lunch, there are herbal teas. We are very much in favour of using peppermint tea for instance. It stimulates secretion of stomach juices, settles the stomach, helps with gas and helps diarrhea. It is very soothing and very helpful. If you use water you have to use it as a tea, or in your food in soups and of course for your coffee enemas. But whatever water you use has to be clear of fluoride and chlorine.
the best type of water one can drink withouth losing electrolytes is coconut water — it is distilled by nature (inside the coconut) with all the nutrients still intact…
Lanie last post is: Luo Han Guo Herbal Tea @ The Herbal Bar OUB Centre
Hm… I really do need to drink more water! But, probably not on a schedule ?
here is the article:
http://www.consumerhealth.org/articles/display.cfm?ID=19990303200327
even if we dont have cancer (at least not yet.. crossing fingers).. I guess we should be drinking more freshly squeezed juices instead of just water
Lanie last post is: Luo Han Guo Herbal Tea @ The Herbal Bar OUB Centre
Gerson Therapy involves drinking 8 ounces of freshly juiced orange, carrot& orange, apple and green juice every 30 minutes.. until you reach your quota of 13 glasses of juice.. so it does not require drinking of water… quite hard I know.. from 7am to about 10:30 am today.. just drank 2 glasses of juice (1 orange juice & 1 green juice)…
Like April Moon, I try to drink less at night. My naturopath said that water intake should be less as the day progresses. She advised me to drink the most amount of water first thing in the morning, drink water throughout the day but to stop 1-2 hours before sleep. It promotes good sleep and prevents water retention. I tried it for one week and it worked but I couldn’t keep up since I’m really lazy to drink water in the morning. Then I’ll gulp one glass-full before hitting the bed which makes me wakeup in the middle of the night to pee. -_- I even have a draft post about this but haven’t published ’cause i was being ambitious and trying (very, very hard) to make an infographic, hahaha! I don’t think I can get around to doing it since it’s so time consuming.
Interestingly, when I followed my naturopath’s schedule, I really stopped feeling thirsty at night. At first, I argued with her, saying I usually need at least half a glass of water before sleeping but she said it was most likely because I never drank enough water during day time (which is true, lol).
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I’ve actually read somewhere that its not beneficial to drink large amounts of water in one go, and that its better to drink / sip smaller amounts throughout the day.
I drink water from a bottle so I can roughly measure how much of water I consume by number of times I refil. ?
One thing I hate most when I don’t drink enough water, is the dehydrated feeling at night which then leads to me drinking lots of water before bedtime. ?
I never thought that water drinking could be scheduled like that. I drink plenty of water specially during this hot summer season. But never thought of scheduling it.
I am aware that having a schedule is good. But I really just drink as and when I feel free and thirsty. Very bad. haha.
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8 glasses is minimal amount/day.. and that does not include coffee/tea/colas.
A friend once told me to take ur weight a divide by 2.. Say I weight 60kg, i should drink 3litre of water..
Ah…it makes sense to go by our body mass! I am under 60kg but I think I might be drinking about 3 litres on some days.
You think it’s good? I don’t know…it’s kinda hard to adhere. Like you, I will be sipping my water quite frequently…as and when I’m thirsty.
Neither did I. This is also very new to me.
Yes, that was what I was wondering. If the schedule suggest 250cc, does it mean we have to drink all at once. It’s easy to drink with filtered or mineral water but with normal water, quite hard to gulp down. Plus like what you’ve mentioned, it’s not really beneficial to gulp that much at one go.
Yes, it makes sense. I cut my intake of water after dinner. The peeing part comes whether or not I drink anything but I don’t want to drink too much cos I don’t want to wake up with puffy eyes.
Looking forward to your Infographics. I was considering creating that but I don’t have time at all now.
I think juices need to be moderated…there’s sugar in fruits and it’s not that great to drink too much. I’ll still go with water and a cup or two of juice.
Thanks for the link…I’ll take a look when I get the time. Btw, I’ll try to email you over the weekend regarding your blog question. I’ve just started on something new and am rather busy.
Yeah, if you’re trying to drink more, assuming it’s not sufficient, that’s a good start. ?
I have no medical background to comment on this but based on a layman’s point of view, I prefer to take things with moderation. I find tea diuretic and can cause more water loss. Whenever I drink one cup in the morning, I’ve to visit the toilet like 2 – 3 times in the hour! But like I said, I really don’t know the basis for his recommendation. To forbid drinking of water sounds really radical.
Yeah, that’s a good way to measure your intake. That’s what my girlfriend does!
Get filtered water. In my entry I covered last week about drinking quality water, I did mention this issue. I think water from vegetables is better than from juices cos drinking too much of the latter = more sugar intake too.
Yes, good point…to not drink so much in the night. Actually my night water drinking schedule is almost close to the recommendation I listed. I usually drink after dinner and about an hour before I sleep.
Yeah, I think I read something about that too…so it’s a bit of a dispute and I can’t say for sure since I’m no expert. But I think the recommendation to drink before meal is to decrease the food intake. And yes, drinking water first thing in the morning is great for detox. ?
Yes, hard to follow in that sense but it’s like a guide. I have to cut down a bit when I’m at home cos I tend to drink too much.
Neither did I! I thought drinking water is rather adhoc but apparently it’s not supposed to be…I just find this very interesting to share but to follow, well, I guess it needs some practice.
Nah, I don’t think I can do it. I recently transitioned into something new at work and the new deadlines are killing me. Someday, somehow ?
Hope to see it nonetheless…I’m transiting into my new place and geez, am finding it hard to even blog on some days.
Hi lanie, I’m a dietitian and I most likely will not recommend anyone to drink 13 glasses of juice per day. One as sesame mentioned is the amount of sugars and calories one will be getting from all that juice. Secondly, sugar derived from fruit – fructose, together with the salts and minerals in the juice may result in diarrhea.
It is important to note that the Garson therapy was performed on seriously ill patients with cancer. This probably means that the juices were all that the patients were consuming and hence the calories wasn’t an issue. In fact for seriously ill cancer patients, having more energy intake will help them to fight the battle against the cancer. Lastly, I read from your link that the Gerson therapy was written in 1958. I suppose back then medical and nutritional science weren’t developed enough and complementary medicine was generally accepted. Most importantly, the advice should be read in context!
Perhaps the purest water we can drink is distilled water? Coconut water may cause diarrhea for some due to the high osmotic load.
hi sesame,
yes, forbidding water as part of a cancer therapy may seem radical.. but again if you consider the 13 glasses of juices that the patient need to drink every 30 minutes, it really negates the need to drink water.. water dilutes stomach acids.. which cancer patients are normally deficient of. Yes, tea is diuretic, but it is allowed in gerson therapy to alleviate other symptoms and to provide some variety.. also juicing is very cooling (as per TCM), so I guess the teas help to balance the yang part (though this bit is not mentioned in Gerson books)
anyway, drinking lots of water early in the morning or just before a meal makes sense to me too.. for non-cancer patients who have normal amount of stomach acids.. this will probably not hurt.. you are on point anyway about the electrolytes thingy…
Lanie last post is: The Gerson Triad (Aspirin, Niacin and Vitamin C)
hi liyan,
Coconut water is naturally distilled for 10 months by the tree itself and then entrapped into the coconut… so yes, it is the purest form of water..
Coconut water has the same osmotic value as blood.. but I guess we cannot forbid drinking of coconut water.. if it can be good for people in general… never heard of anyone having diarrhea because of coconut water tho.. diarrhea (just like a fever).. should be considered a friend rather than an enemy.. diarrhea and fever is the best way to detoxify… I suspect diarrhea is caused by rapidly exiting toxins from the body triggered by coconut water drinking…
Lanie last post is: The Gerson Triad (Aspirin, Niacin and Vitamin C)
no worries.. its not urgent
Lanie last post is: The Gerson Triad (Aspirin, Niacin and Vitamin C)
hi Liyan, glad there is a dietician in the house..
you are right about the sugar and calories, and that the 13 glasses of juice were recommended for cancer patients.. who normally have low sodium, low calorie, vegetarian diet.. however, it still is unarguable that the purest form of water we can get is from fruits and vegetables (particularly coconut water)… fruits also have natural acids which helps to control absorption of fruit sugars to the blood stream (e.g. apples have malic acid)…also Gerson therapy is not just purely fruit juice but also green vegetable juice which is very low in sugar..
my mother has been drinking or feasting in juice for almost 2 years now.. but never had diarrhea (am actually secretly wishing to have diarrhea–as both of us have chronic constipation)… there are also lots of raw foodies (google raw food world).. who feasts on nothing but pure fruit and vegetable juice.. but never had diarrhea..
human physiology has never changed since the caveman era.. whatever applies in 1958 still apply today… I have researched and seen Gerson therapy work for us…
I am not a dietician..not a medical practitioner.. but you will notice that all my posts always talks about this being applicable to my mother as she have cancer..
the only reason why I posted here.. is i want to support sesame’s article about losing too much salt/electrolytes.. when drinking too much water.. I guess.. measuring water intake based on weight for non-cancer patients will not harm.. in fact its the right way to know whether enough is enough or too much…
Lanie last post is: The Gerson Triad (Aspirin, Niacin and Vitamin C)
Hi Lanie,
i also agree that we should not drink too much water as there runs the risk of hyponatreamia. it should be noted that hyponatreamia aka water intoxication is most commonly seen in athletes and infants. sodium is lost through sweat, and if an athlete drinks just water, the risk of water intoxication is high. the other recent fatal incident with water intoxication that i read is one on the competition to win a wii by holding on to their wee. the participant who died drank 2 gallons of water. in instances like this where a person ignores the warning signals from the body, the risk again is increased.
my stand is that if one follows one’s thirst sensation and not drink to the point which one feel bloated, the risk of water intoxication is rather low. given our increasing obesity rate, dietitians/nutritionists in singapore will recommend drinking water rather than fruit juices for the ordinary folks.
while i agree that vegetable juice is good, i usually encourage people to eat the whole vegetable instead of juicing it. same goes for fruit. im not sure how you juice your fruit/vegetables, but i generally encourage people to have them “blended” to include the pulp and fibre. again, this is for the ordinary folk. for patients with poor appetite and requires the additional energy intake, i have no qualms with them juicing the fruit and vegetables.
i understand your intent to share knowledge on the goodness of fruit and vegetables to people, but sometimes people just pick up on things that they wish to hear/see. for example if an overweight individual learns that it is ok to drink 13 glasses of juice and that water is bad (when in fact water is good for them), they might just heed the advice and forgo water.
lastly, i apologise for my comment on coconut water. i commented before i did my research. i was merely sharing my own experience. i had diarrhea a couple of times with coconut water (and with dragon fruit too!)
I thought we should drink water more in the mornings as opposed to the evenings!!! I do drink water, 8 glasses, but don’t have a proper schedule or anything but what I think understand from this schedule is that we should distribute the water intake throughout the day instead of taking a concentrated lot of water at one time so that there is a continuous flush of water in the body!!!
Going by the schedule, morning consumption of water is higher. I also drink more in the mornings and yes, I also agree with you that water consumption should be sort of continuous.
quote liyan:
if an overweight individual learns that it is ok to drink 13 glasses of juice and that water is bad (when in fact water is good for them), they might just heed the advice and forgo water.
my say:
it goes the same way the other way around. easy for people to say that there is sugar in fruits.. when actually the sugar in fruit is controlled by the amount of acid that the fruit contains… ..moderation and/or combination of fruits (high sugar with high acid, low sugar with low acid)… we dont have to stress on this too much though.. as long as the fruit is fresh, whole and organic and taken in moderation.. there is nothing to fear about fruits. We have to fear fruit juices in cans, bottles sold in grocery shelves as those are pure sugar.. no acid .. no enzymes .. no nutrition…
I did’nt say water is bad.. i just said that fruits, vegetables (specially coconuts) have the purest form of water… there is nothing bad about water… its always the excessive taking of anything (including water) that is bad…
hmmm by the way.. read this story of a woman (not an athlete.. did not do excessive excercise… just drank 2 gallons of water in one sitting … and died)
http://drbenkim.com/drink-too-much-water-dangerous.html
OMG this post is very interesting for me because i don’t drink water as much as good for me… I’m trying drink 8 glasses of water /day.
I hope it has inspired you to drink more water. ?
hi, sesame i enjoyed reading your post, its very interesting, but i have a serious problem, that is i cant drink more than 1 glass of water a day, at max 2, i know its very bad not just for my skin but also for my whole body.
I tried many times but failed, every time i try i feel like throwing up, i ‘ve asked my doc, he said there is nothing wrong with me, sometimes i get dehydrated, especially in the summers, still i dont feel like having water, i want to incorporate drinking water in my schedule, but dont know how
please suggest some tips how i can over come my issue.
Thanks
Is it due to the taste of the water? What about mineral water? Does it help? If not, try throwing in a lemon into your water and see if you can drink that better? Drinking some juices during the day is good too but I would advice to drink with moderation too.
i usually drink filtered water, i tried mineral and distilled but didnt work, what is the minimum amount of water should one consume on a daily basis? i figured that i have a problem drinking liquids, i dont feel like having them, wether its water or a juice,
i will certainly try that lemon trick, thanks a lot ?
The standard prescribe quantity is 8 glasses (about 200 to 250 cc per glass). Hope the lemon will work for you. ?
Sadly, I don’t have a water drinking schedule. Nevertheless, I’m glad I stumble upon this post. Now, I will have a water drinking schedule. Thanks!