How Much Water Should You Drink in a Day?

When I meet a patient for the first time, I ask them a million questions. One of them is how much they drink in a day. 90% of people say “not enough”. But what is actually enough? 

Most people assume 8 glasses of water a day. That’s a great generic rule of thumb and it’s close but every body is different. My typical suggestion is to drink half your body weight (in ounces). For example, if you weigh 150lbs I’d want you to drink 75oz of water a day. However, you also ingest fluid within foods. If you’re eating a full watermelon or a bunch of cucumbers, you may not need as much plain water.

Another thing to keep in mind when drinking is if the fluid is irritating the bladder lining and making you feel like you have to pee more often (here’s a post on that) and a post on sipping vs chugging.