Think about how many times you’ve been told that you should be drinking eight, 8-ounce glasses of water per day. Now think about how many days you’ve actually heeded to this recommendation because who really has time to down all that water and pee it out too?
There are such programs like the “30-day water challenge” to promote drinking a gallon of water a day, so you’d probably need to pee every two seconds (unless you follow these tips).
Your pee can you tell a lot about your current health and whether or not you’re water intake is up to par. If your pee is red, it might just be from recently eating crimson-colored food or certain medications, or if it persists, a serious health kidney complication. Brown urine can be an indicator of liver disease, so next time you’re downing drink upon summery drink, think twice or take a little detox.
Hopefully, your pee falls somewhere on the spectrum of a yellow shade, meaning you’re probably pretty healthy. Still, the transparency and darkness can indicate how you should be adjusting your water intake to give your body some TLC.
What the Cleveland Clinic describes as an “amber or honey”-colored urine is a sign that you need to be drinking more water. When every day is packed, finding time to sip down a bottle of water is hard, but there’s definitely a few easy ways to remind yourself.
You also have to take into consideration any coffee, juices, or soft drinks you’re consuming during the day because drinking these can cause actually cause you to become more dehydrated. They act as diuretics, which cause you to pee more without properly hydrating you.
If your pee is either light or dark yellow in color, you’re considered normal, but the darker the shade, the more water you should be consuming.
Optimally, your pee should be what the Clinic describes as a “pale straw color”, which is close to totally clear, but still with a tinge of yellow.
It might seem like clear pee is a total accomplishment, but it’s a definite sign of over-hydrating or even water poisoning. Yes, there is such a thing as too much water since there is still a need for salt in the body. When you drink too much water, your kidneys can’t flush it all out quickly enough.
Over-hydrating, or hyponatremia, can kill you if you’re still not completely convinced that you can consume too much water. The excess water travels from your blood to your cells, which then swell because of the increased water intake.
Most of your body’s cells can take expand, but since neurons are so tightly packed, your brain can cause your body to go into respiratory arrest or have a seizure. So the next time your pee is totally clear and you’re drinking well over those eight glasses a day, think twice.
Water is awesome for you and really fun when you learn to jazz it up, but just make sure to not go overboard.