Day 7: How Hydration Affects your Digestive System
You have probably heard from a number of sources that the perfect number of glasses of water per day is eight for an adult. Is this in fact the optimum? And what factors can affect the amount of water you need per day?
The minimum water intake for an adult is about six glasses a day – or about 1.5 litres. But this depends on a number of different circumstances, such as the weight of the person. The bigger the person is, the more water they will need. Also, other factors that can affect how much water is needed are if the person is exercising a lot or experiencing other fluid losses such as loose bowels, having saunas, overheated environments or menopausal sweats.
One of the jobs of the large intestine is to retrieve water from the digested food if there is a short supply for the body. So inadequate water intake contributes to constipation. Water also helps prevent the build-up of toxins in the system.
Think of each glass of water as flushing the chain. Things don’t pan out so well if that doesn’t happen very often!
