Meet your daily water requirement

Water is essential to good health. It makes up 60% of your body weight and your body depends on it to survive. Lack of water can lead to dehydration - a condition that occurs when you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired. Every day you lose water through breathing, perspiring etc so you must replenish your body’s water supply through consuming drinks and foods that contain water.

There are lots of health benefits of staying hydrated. The most widely known and popular one being weight loss. This is because drinking water can increase your metabolism and reduce your appetite. Others include:

• It boosts skin health and beauty

• It boosts performance during exercise

• It helps maintain blood pressure

• It lubricates the joints

• It detoxifies the body

• It has a positive impact on brain function and energy levels

• It prevents kidney damage

• It may help prevent and treat headaches etc

So how much fluid does an average healthy adult actually need?

• About 3.7 litres for men

• About 2.7 litres for women

This however, is only an average recommendation and everybody's fluid needs vary from individual to individual. A major factor that influences your daily water needs is exercise. If you do any exercise that makes you sweat, you need to drink extra water to cover that loss of fluid. It is important to drink water before, during and after a workout.

Even though these recommended amounts seem like a lot, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to rely on only what you drink to meet your fluid needs. What you eat also significantly counts towards your daily intake. There are many foods out there with high water contents that are a great way to eat your water. For example, fruit and veg such as watermelon, strawberry, cucumber, zucchini, grapefruit and spinach are almost 100% water by weight. Other foods which are mostly water that you can easily include in your diet are: apples, grapes, broccoli, bananas, avocados, baked potato and salmon.

Additionally, beverages such as milk, tea or juice are a great way to increase your fluid intake since they are water based. Even coffee can contribute, despite the common misconception that since it is a diuretic, it doesn’t help you hydrate. This has been disproved, as the diuretic effects in coffee are very weak. However, when given the option, drinking water is always your best bet as it is calorie free and definitely the healthiest choice.

To make plain water drinking more exciting, why not add flavour to it by steeping fresh fruit, veggie slices or herbs into your drink. This may improve the taste and make you want to drink more than you usually do. You can experiment with different combinations like cucumber with mint or lemongrass with lime.

Go grab your water bottle now!