Drinking 2 liters of water a day for some is a categorical imperative. Legacy of New York fashions, it happens more and more often to see girls in fitness outfits with lots of bottles in their hands, an inseparable bottle. There are cases in which instead, even among the young, it happens that the wine at the meal and the aperitif leave little room for the stimulus of thirst and the need to drink water.
Let's try to understand how much water you should drink per day and how much hydration affects sports performance and brain activity . Moving on to two opposite positions, we try to make them complementary. Then, since we are on the subject of water, we remember two important dates: June 12 and 13, days of the referendum on water to repeal the norm oriented towards the privatization of this precious public good .
Drink water more often
The position of hydration at all costs is a precise position. When it is possible, when the stimulus of thirst is not yet there, when the body requires it even if we do not know how to listen to it. This is because not drinking enough means compromising the assimilation of nutrients, the regulation of body temperature and arterial pressure, the elimination of toxins and metabolic waste. The lack of hydration can lead to apathy, difficulty in coordinating the movements, disrupting the venous and lymphatic circulation .
Scholars who support this position declare that relying on the sole stimulus of thirst is not enough, because when thirst appears, dehydration is already in progress. For athletes, then, the discourse is the same but enhanced to the nth: athletes who don't drink enough risk muscle cramps and undergo a progressive lowering of coordination skills .
A research by King's College London appearing on Human Brain Mapping, states that 90 minutes of intense physical activity is enough, accompanied by abundant sweating but not compensated by adequate hydration, because brain tissues suddenly age for about a year.
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Dispel the myth of 2 liters of water per day
1 and a half would be enough, these are the liters of water to drink per day. To be increased only in particular conditions: fever, high external tempertaure, intense sporting activity or to eliminate kidney stones, under medical advice. Excluding these circumscribed conditions, many doctors and nutritionists do not advise pouring more water into the glass than:
- Put less salt in the dishes or in any case consume foods with a low salt content ;
- Consume more foods that contain high percentages of water, first of all, vegetables.
Drinking too much water would in fact lead to: excessive fatigue of the kidneys , elevation of the arterial presisone, worsening of already existing heart problems . Then there would be no scientific proof to support the thesis that drinking water serves to counteract water retention and cellulite.
The balance, as usual, would be the key, even with regard to the issue of drinking water. Listen to your body, feed on food that dispenses energy and releases water, push more on the hydration pedal when you subject the body to more physical activity, in order to replenish the lost fluids .
