Q: Dr Ketch, sorry I want to know if it is it normal to be taking too much water and I want to know if it has a side effect. If I wake up, before brushing, I normally take four sachets of water. I want to know if I should continue or reduce the quantity I take every day.

A: Wow! Four satchets, before you even brush?! That’s interesting! Are you drinking because you’re thirsty or because you think it’s just right to drink that much?

I believe that a satchet of water is about 250mls…am I right? So, you’re really taking about 1l at a time. While this does not qualify as water intoxication where massive amounts of water are taken in a short time, giving the kidney way too much work to do with resultant headache, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, brain swelling later etc, it’s certainly not a great idea to drink too much at any given time. Space it out all through the day. Be guided by your thirst. Drink until you no longer feel thirsty and stop. Also check your urine, if it’s light yellow, then you’re good. If it’s a darker hue, you’re probably dehydrated.

Remember that while the rule of thumb is for you to drink 8 glasses of water per day, there’s no evidence to really back it up…but it’s just easy to remember. Your fluid requirement depends on age, location, activity level etc. So, if you’ve been exercising vigorously, you need, at least as much water as you lost in sweat. So, still using our ‘unscientific’ 8 glasses :D, spacing out your intake may mean taking 2 glasses of water with each meal and one glass with each snack (mid-morning and mid-afternoon).

For more, please click on this link https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/02/22/daily-health-tips-how-much-water-should-i-drink-in-a-day/

So, there you go 😀

Have a great night, folks 😀