October 12, 2016.
According to a study by a team of researchers from Monash University in Australia, forcing yourself to drink 1.5 liters of water every day is not a good idea. Explanations.
Listen to your body, more than recommendations
To stay healthy, you need to drink plenty of water. We are familiar with this recommendation. However, the latter has just been called into question by a study published in the journal Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). According to this work, not all people would be able to drink the recommended eight glasses of water each day.
To reach this conclusion, the Australian researchers studied the brain activity of several participants, during hydration, by functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). Results : drinking water when you are thirsty is a pleasant experience, on the other hand, forcing yourself to drink is not felt well by the brain. Participants who drank without thirst had to expend three times as much energy for the same exercise.
Forcing yourself to drink takes too much effort
According to the researchers, you should therefore listen more to your body and drink when you are thirsty rather than forcing yourself. ” If we just listen to what our bodies want from us, we’ll just drink our thirst Explains Michael J. Farrell, professor at the University of Melbourne and co-author of the study. ” And it is ultimately a better principle than a volume imposed for the day “.
As a general rule, the best thing to avoid is to drink large amounts of water all at once. Remember to drink regularly during the day, especially when the weather is hot or after sports. If drinking 1.5 liters of water does not bother you, do not deprive yourself, but what to avoid is to force yourself.
Read also: Drinking water: why and how much?
