Drinking Water Is NOT the Best Way to Stay Hydrated

Summary

This video script debunks the myth of drinking eight glasses of water daily for optimal hydration. It explains that hydration involves electrolyte balance, not just water intake, and overhydration can lead to dangerous conditions like hyponatremia. The script also addresses the misconceptions about sports drinks, the dehydrating effects of caffeine and sugar, and the importance of listening to the body's thirst signals. It suggests using specific gravity tests to gauge hydration levels and emphasizes the need for a balanced approach to water and electrolyte consumption.

Takeaways

• 💧 Hydration is not just about water in cells; it involves the balance of electrolytes and fluid.
• 🚰 Drinking too much water can dilute electrolytes, leading to conditions like hyponatremia, which is dangerous.
• 🏃‍♂️ Athletes, especially long-distance runners, can face health issues if they drink excessive water without considering electrolytes.
• ☕ Caffeinated and alcoholic beverages can have a diuretic effect, increasing dehydration.
• 🍹 Fruit juices and sugary drinks can dehydrate the body by increasing urinary frequency.
• 🥤 Sports drinks with added sugar may contribute to weight gain more than sodas due to larger serving sizes.
• 🍬 Electrolyte powders and drinks often contain high amounts of sugar, which can hinder fat burning and hydration.
• 🌾 Electrolytes from food can help maintain hydration, but be aware of sugar and other diuretic substances that deplete them.
• 💉 A simple urine test measuring specific gravity can indicate if you're drinking too much or too little water.
• 🧊 Thirst is a natural mechanism to guide water intake; forcing yourself to drink more can be harmful.
• 💎 For those prone to kidney stones, drinking at least 2.5 liters of fluid daily with added electrolytes is recommended.

Q & A

What is the myth about water consumption that the video script addresses?

The myth addressed is the belief that everyone needs to drink a certain amount of water, often stated as eight glasses, to avoid dehydration.

What is the misconception about hydration according to the video?

The misconception is that hydration is just about having water in your cells. In reality, it involves the balance of water and electrolytes.

How do electrolytes assist in the process of hydration?

Electrolytes, which are electrically charged minerals, help water move in and out of cells through channels, maintaining the balance necessary for proper hydration.

What is hyponatremia and how can excessive water consumption lead to it?

Hyponatremia is a condition characterized by low sodium levels in the blood. Drinking too much water can dilute electrolytes, including sodium, leading to this potentially dangerous condition.

Why can forcing oneself to drink water when not thirsty be problematic?

Forcing water intake when not thirsty can override the body's natural thirst mechanism and lead to an imbalance of electrolytes, potentially causing issues like hyponatremia.

How do caffeinated beverages and alcohol affect hydration levels?

Caffeinated beverages and alcohol act as diuretics, which can increase urine production and lead to dehydration.

What is the relationship between sugar consumption and hydration?

High sugar consumption can lead to increased urination and a greater loss of water, resulting in dehydration.

What did the Nurses' Health Study 2 reveal about the consumption of sports drinks and weight gain?

The study found that teenagers and young adults who consumed at least one sports drink a day gained more weight compared to those who drank soda, with an average of three and a half pounds of additional fat.

Why might electrolyte sports drinks with added sugar not be as hydrating as one might think?

Consuming glucose can actually dehydrate the body by pulling water out of cells, and the added sugar can contribute to weight gain and other health issues.

What are some natural sources of electrolytes needed for proper hydration?

Natural sources of electrolytes include sodium, potassium, chlorides, calcium, and magnesium, which can be obtained through a healthy diet.

How can one determine if they are drinking too much or too little water?

Using urine strips that measure specific gravity can provide an estimate of hydration levels, with lower specific gravity indicating possible overhydration and higher values indicating dehydration.

Outlines

00:00

💧 The Myth of '8 Glasses of Water' Explained

This paragraph addresses the common myth that everyone must drink eight glasses of water daily to avoid dehydration. It explains that hydration is not just about water but also involves electrolytes, which help water move in and out of cells. An imbalance of electrolytes can lead to dehydration, and over-drinking can dilute electrolytes, causing conditions like hyponatremia. The video aims to clarify misconceptions and stress that hydration is more complex than just water intake.

05:02

🏃‍♂️ The Risks of Over-Hydration and Sports Drinks

This paragraph delves into the potential dangers of over-hydration, particularly for athletes, and the misconceptions around sports drinks. It discusses how forcing water intake can lead to health issues, especially during exercise, and highlights the Nurses' Health Study 2, which found that consuming sports drinks can lead to weight gain due to their high sugar content. The paragraph also touches on the diuretic effects of caffeine and alcohol, and how they can contribute to dehydration.

10:02

🚰 Balancing Water and Electrolytes for True Hydration

The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of balancing water and electrolytes for proper hydration. It points out that electrolyte drinks with added sugar can actually dehydrate the body by pulling water out of cells. The paragraph also discusses the importance of consuming a variety of electrolytes like sodium, potassium, chlorides, calcium, and magnesium for true cellular hydration. It advises against forcing water intake and suggests using thirst as a guide, with a special note on the need for increased fluid intake for those prone to kidney stones.

Keywords

💡Hydration

Hydration refers to the process of maintaining the right amount of water and electrolytes in the body to ensure cells function properly. In the video, it is explained that true hydration is not just about water intake but also involves the balance of electrolytes inside and outside the cells. An example from the script highlights that a dehydrated cell is characterized by an imbalance of electrolytes and fluid, not merely a lack of water.

💡Electrolytes

Electrolytes are electrically charged minerals that facilitate the movement of water in and out of cells. They are crucial for maintaining hydration as they help regulate the flow of water through cellular channels. The script emphasizes the importance of electrolytes in hydration, stating that an imbalance can lead to dehydration, and that drinking too much water without sufficient electrolytes can actually cause hyponatremia, a dangerous condition of low sodium levels in the blood.

💡Hyponatremia

Hyponatremia is a medical condition characterized by abnormally low sodium levels in the blood, which can be caused by excessive water intake without adequate electrolytes. The video script warns about the dangers of hyponatremia, explaining that it can lead to serious health issues such as brain inflammation and even coma, thus illustrating the risks of overhydration.

💡Thirst Mechanism

The thirst mechanism is the body's natural response to signal the need for water intake. The video script discusses the importance of listening to this internal cue rather than forcing water consumption beyond the body's needs. It suggests that ignoring the thirst mechanism and overhydrating can lead to electrolyte imbalances and potential health problems.

💡Diuretic Effect

A diuretic effect is a process that increases the production of urine, leading to greater water loss and potentially dehydration. The script mentions that beverages containing caffeine or alcohol have a diuretic effect, which can counteract the hydrating effects of water and other fluids, contributing to dehydration.

💡Glucose

Glucose is a simple sugar that serves as a primary source of energy for the body's cells. In the context of the video, it is discussed that consuming glucose, especially in the form of added sugars in drinks, can have a dehydrating effect by pulling water out of cells. The script contrasts this with the misconception that sugary sports drinks are hydrating, highlighting research showing they may actually contribute to weight gain.

💡Specific Gravity

Specific gravity is a measure of the concentration of particles in urine compared to pure water, indicating hydration levels. The video script suggests using urine strips that measure specific gravity as a simple and inexpensive test to determine if one is drinking too much or too little water. A low specific gravity indicates mild dehydration, while a value close to that of water suggests overhydration.

💡Oral Rehydration Therapy

Oral rehydration therapy is a treatment for dehydration that involves the intake of fluids containing a mixture of water, glucose, and electrolytes. The script mentions this in the context of situations like diarrhea, where the glucose in the therapy helps retain sodium in the intestine, thus aiding in rehydration. This is contrasted with the general use of electrolyte drinks for hydration during exercise, which may not be as effective.

💡Kidney Stones

Kidney stones are hard deposits of minerals and acid salts that form in the kidneys and must be managed through proper hydration. The video script notes that individuals prone to kidney stones should drink at least two and a half liters of fluid daily, with the recommendation to also include electrolytes to maintain balance.

💡GMO Beet Sugar

GMO beet sugar refers to sugar derived from genetically modified beets, which may contain traces of glyphosate, an herbicide. The script cautions against the consumption of such sugars, especially in electrolyte drinks, due to potential health concerns and their contribution to the overall sugar intake, which can lead to dehydration and weight gain.

Highlights

Debunking the myth that everyone needs to drink eight glasses of water daily to avoid dehydration.

Hydration is not just about water in cells; it involves electrolytes and their balance.

Water and electrolytes move in and out of cells through channels, maintaining hydration.

Drinking excessive water can lead to an imbalance of electrolytes and cause hyponatremia.

Hyponatremia, or low sodium in the blood, can be caused by drinking too much water without salt.

The importance of listening to your body's thirst mechanism for proper hydration.

Forcing water intake can be harmful, especially during exercise, leading to health issues.

Caffeinated beverages and alcohol can have a diuretic effect, increasing dehydration.

Fruit juices and sugary drinks can dehydrate the body due to increased urine production.

Electrolyte sports drinks with added sugar may not hydrate effectively and can contribute to weight gain.

The Nurses' Health Study 2 found that daily sports drink consumption led to weight gain in teenagers.

Many electrolyte powders and drinks contain added sugar, which can hinder hydration.

The source of sugar in electrolyte drinks is often GMO beet sugar with traces of glyphosate.

To truly hydrate cells, a balance of electrolytes including sodium, potassium, chlorides, calcium, and magnesium is needed.

Drinking water in excess of thirst can dilute electrolytes, which is counterproductive for hydration.

People prone to kidney stones should drink at least 2.5 liters of fluid daily, including electrolytes.

Using urine strips to measure specific gravity can help determine if you're drinking the right amount of water.

A specific gravity close to water indicates mild dehydration and a need for electrolytes or less water intake.

Finding the right balance of water and electrolytes is crucial for individual hydration needs.

Transcripts

you know some years ago i did a video

on this whole water myth that everyone

needed to drink a certain amount of

water or else they're going to be

dehydrated and it kind of shook up quite

a few people because

everyone knows that eight glasses of

water is like the law you have to drink

at least eight glasses of water because

your body is

mostly water and so that video created a

confusion because when you tell a person

the opposite theory of what they're

basing this concept of water on

it can really put someone into a kind of

a confusion so i wanted to do this video

to give you some

interesting new points on water in

general

in its ability to hydrate your cells

first thing you need to know is

what is hydration

is hydration just water in your cells

actually no it's not

how does that water get into the cell

and out of the cell the water gets in

and out of the cell through little

channels

that

get help with electrolytes

and electrolytes are like these um

electrically charged minerals that in

different concentrations inside and

outside the cell you'll get a flow a

certain flow either going outside the

cell or going inside the cell and so a

truly hydrated cell

has the right amount of

electrolytes inside and outside with the

right amount of fluid and a dehydrated

cell is basically an imbalance of

electrolytes and fluid it's not just a

lack of water

in fact if you drink too much water

you're going to dilute certain

electrolytes and create dehydration in

certain parts of your body there's a

condition called

hyponatremia that means low sodium in

the blood

one cause would be you just drink a lot

of pure water without any salt and now

you diluted this sodium throughout the

cells it's very very dangerous you can

have

inflammation of your brain you can

actually go into a coma so we don't get

hydrated just from water

now on the flip side i'm not against

water i drink water and i think you

should too

but this concept of you know carrying

your gallon jug of water and just

forcing yourself to drink all day long

might not be the wisest thing you can do

especially if you start bypassing the

normal thirst mechanism that our body

was designed to

tell you if you're thirsty or not

when you're not thirsty and you force

your body to drink a lot of water

you can end up in trouble especially if

you exercise

there's an incredible book by this

written by an exercise physiologist

with a lot of research in long distance

runners and even ultra marathon runners

in relationship to hydration and if they

should be drinking just a ton of water

when they're not thirsty they can end up

with low sodium and actually create a

big problem with their health and then

you have a lot of

other fluids that you drink through the

day that can create a diuretic effect

you can actually lose more water and

become dehydrated when you drink things

with caffeine like coffee tea

sodas

anything you drink with caffeine is very

dehydrating and of course alcohol right

if you reflect back on the last time you

drank a lot of alcohol the next morning

you're going to be completely dehydrated

that's why you have a headache that's

why your lips are dry and so alcohol is

a diuretic and it tends to dehydrate you

as well and then what about fruit juice

okay would that be hydrating well here's

the data with glucose let's just take a

diabetic for example

what happens with someone with high

sugar they're peeing a lot they have

urinary frequency

and they're thirsty a lot too so the

more sugar in your blood the more your

body is going to get rid of water and

the more dehydrated you're going to be

and so fruit juices

sodas

things with sugar will greatly dehydrate

you now what's fascinating is that

you have all these electrolyte sport

drinks with added sugar and apparently

the idea is that if you're exercising

you need some sugar to replace the loss

of glucose right when you exercise and

they call this hydration but

is it really hydrating you does

consuming glucose hydrates you

i'm going to tell you it dehydrates you

it pulls water from the cell there is an

interesting study which i'll put down

below it's called the nurses health

study 2 which they did on a certain age

group from 9 to 15. now this study

wasn't about hydration but it was

interesting because

it revealed an unknown consequence of

drinking these

healthy sports drinks

now the study found that if a teenager

or young adult was consuming

at least one soda a day

they would have an extra

pound of weight

and this is what they found and i'm

going to just generalize here

teenagers that consumed

one

soda a day

on a regular basis gained an additional

two pounds of weight whereas those who

consumed at least one

sports drink a day okay

these so-called healthy sports drinks

with electrolytes but with added sugar

gain three and a half pounds of fat

extra on their bodies so the sports

drink produced

more fat than the

sodas now this is probably because the

sports drinks usually come in like 32

ounces and sodas come in a 12 ouncer so

when you look at the label you have to

look at the serving size

and

rarely does anyone just drink one

serving size they drink the whole thing

and there's more serving size in sports

drinks now even when people

are consuming electrolyte powders

many times these electrolyte powders and

electrolyte drinks and i won't mention

any names contain added sugar and some

per serving size contain like 11 grams

of sugar per serving size now there's

four grams of sugar per teaspoon so

that's just under

three teaspoons of sugar for one serving

size okay and we're not talking about

like a whole bottle we're just talking

about one serving size or one of those

little stick packs of electrolytes not

to mention the source of the sugar was

it beet sugar probably it was and most

of the beet sugar in the u.s is

total of gmo with traces of glyphosate

which is an herbicide and even if

they're doing sugarcane unless it's

organic is going to have also traces of

glyphosate so that's on top of the sugar

effect so we have this effect of

drinking more water if you're going to

add electrolytes to it and then you have

the electrolytes with glucose which

basically is going to

stop any ability to burn fat

and the only thing it probably would do

for hydration is if someone had diarrhea

for example there are types of oral

rehydration therapies where they're

adding glucose to minerals

because in the intestine the glucose

will help retain sodium so that's a

different situation than if you're

exercising and trying to be hydrated or

if you're not exercising and trying to

be hydrated to truly hydrate the cell

you need

all the electrolytes you need sodium

potassium chlorides calcium and

magnesium now the professor who wrote

the book waterlogged which i'm going to

put a link down below had some

fascinating information in relationship

to drinking more than what you're

thirsty for you have a thirst mechanism

and some people will say well you know

we don't really know when we're thirsty

we just have to force our body to drink

so much water and that's just the way it

is but

he evaluated tremendous amounts of data

and he looked at studies that weren't

funded by companies like gatorade for

example and he found that even runners

long distance runners when they drink

too much water when they're not thirsty

they get into trouble i think a really

good principle would be to drink when

you're thirsty and don't ever force

yourself to drink

too much okay because you can start to

dilute these electrolytes

now on the flip side if you're prone to

a kidney stone you need to be drinking

at least two and a half liters of fluid

every single day but i would also add

electrolytes to that now are there any

tests that you can do to see if you're

drinking too much water sometimes people

say well check your color of your urine

and it should be clear but i think

there's a better test in fact it's

pretty inexpensive you could buy on

amazon or another platform

these little urine strips that measure

something called specific gravity and

that will give you a good rough estimate

on whether you're slightly dehydrated or

you're really dehydrated or you've

drinking too much water because on this

urine strip that you're going to get

you're going to measure a lot of

different things but specific gravity

measures and compares the density how

concentrated

your urine is

to actual water now water has a specific

gravity or density of one and urine if

it's normal should have a density of 1.0

to 1.030

so if your

urine specific gravity

is low okay and what i mean by low is if

it's less than

1.010

you have mild dehydration so the closer

you are

to the specific gravity of water which

is 1.000

the less electrolytes you have and the

more you need to

take electrolytes or drink less water

so specific gravity kind of tells you

the concentration of particles in your

urine and of course when you drink a lot

of water you dilute that a lot of

electrolytes that you're going to get

will come from your food if you eat

healthy

but also realize there are things that

you're consuming that are depleting your

electrolytes too like refined sugar like

alcohol like the things that i mentioned

that act as a diuretic but this video is

primarily on just drinking

water

there is a situation of drinking too

much water and you need to find the

right amount for you

and so there are a lot of variables if

you're working out it's hot outside and

you have a very high metabolism

man you need to drink a lot of water but

just make sure you drink the

electrolytes with it but for the general

person who doesn't really work out that

much

and it's not summer i would pay

attention to your thirst i would use

that as a guide and try not to force

yourself to drink more than what your

body really should be taking

now i think the best next video for you

to watch would be my video on

electrolytes okay so check it out i put

it right here