The Facts
Disclaimer: This is not medical advice. The summary below provides clear sources, but mistakes are possible and your individual situation may be different from what is described. Please consult your medical specialist for any health-related topics.
- There is no easy formula to tell us how much we should drink: Water consumption varies widely by age, gender, weight, weather, exercise volume and many more factors from as little as 1 liter to as much as 6 liters or more per day1
- Generally, thirst is our best guide on when to drink how much: Independent experts not funded by industry could not confirm any relevant benefit of drinking more than thirst would tell us to drink – that means no relevant benefit for health, physical appearance, exercise performance, reaction time, thinking etc. 23
- If we have a condition where we cannot feel thirsty, you can use rules of thumb (but remember, water from solid food and drinks other than water count, too) 4:
- Baseline water need: 2.7 liter/day
- Additional water need for men: +0.5 liter/day
- Additional water need for athletes: +1 liter/day
The Gist
If we only want to do one thing to stay hydrated, then we should ensure that when we get thirsty it is easy for us to drink water.
For most of us, that likely means before we sit down for a longer meeting we put a water bottle next to our desk.
For those of us who are hyper focused on our work, it can also help to get a bottle where we waste no time to drink from:
- Magnetic drinking cap (e.g., Camelbak Drinking Bottle Chute Magnetic)
- Inbuilt straw (e.g., Stanley Quencher H2.0 Flowstate Drinking Bottle with Straw, 1.2 L)