Water drinking is a simple and commonsense habit for which you do not have to go to a doctor or search Google .It varies for different age groups, sexes, professionals, countries, associated diseases, environmental temperatures and urine outputs. Babies on mother’s milk do not have to e fed water separately.
Please keep your drinking water in glass bottles or in earthen pots. Keeping water in used Pepsi, Coca Cola plastic bottles in fridge is bad for your health. Avoid mineral water kept in plastic bottles. There is no fixed rule like one must drink one litre or two litres or three litres a day. As long as your urine colour is not deep yellow, it means you have adequate water in your body. Our system is not like a commode that you drink plenty and flush out the garbage through kidney.
Avoid drinking water directly from the fridge or icebox. Once you feel thirsty, drink about 200 ml. Drinking plenty of water after a heavy meal is an idiotic idea; stop that habit. Pepsi or Coca-Cola after meals delays your digestion and produces lots of gas in intestine.
There are different guidelines for sportspersons, pregnant women, schoolchildren, physical workers, diabetics, kidney failure patients, prostate patients, heart patients and housewives regarding how much water to drink a day. Water is essential for life. So, dump those plastic bottles in the dustbin and make way for good storage bottles. Do not make it dangerous for your health. Drink clean water. For Indian hot summer, earthen pots are cheap and safe.
(Dr Satpathy is a former Joint Director, SAIl)