

By Sam Downing|

Stay hydrated

March 22 is World Water Day — as decreed by no less than the United Nations (so you know it's legit).

About two-thirds of your body is water, and without it you'll die in a matter of days. Here's everything you need to know about it.

You probably don't need to drink eight glasses of water a day

"Drink eight glasses a day" is one of those things that's been repeated so often everyone just knows it's true, but there's not actually any scientific evidence backing it up. Yeah, your body needs about 2-2.5 litres every day to work at its best — but you also get water from your food (especially from fruits and vegetables), so you don't actually need to drink that much.

So how much and how often should you drink water? Basically, when you feel thirsty. Your body will give you plenty of warning before you become dehydrated.

RELATED: How dehydration affects your fitness, body and mind

Bottled isn't better

There's still a perception that bottled water is purer and therefore healthier than tap water — but that's more the product of big-budget marketing campaigns than a hard truth. According to Choice, bottled water is neither healthier nor more hydrating than tap water.

Interestingly, a recent study found that while people had a slight preference for bottled over tap water in a blind taste test, they had the same preference for recycled wastewater.

RELATED: Four myths about water fluoridation and why they’re wrong

Drinking ice-cold and sparkling water won't help you lose weight

Okay, so it is technically true your body burns more calories if you drink ice-cold water than regular water. But the amount of extra calories burned is so teeny-tiny (about eight extra calories per glass) that it won't make any appreciable difference to your weight.

The other old-school weight-loss drink — "drink sparkling water because the 'fizz' fills you up!" — also might not hold much, uh, water. A 2017 study found carbonated water is associated with weight gain, possibly because it fires up the hunger hormone ghrelin and makes you eat more. (However, that link is yet to be definitively proven.)

But plain ol' water will probably help with weight loss: In a 2016 study, researchers from Virginia Tech found that people who drank a hefty 500ml of water half an hour before meals lost significantly more weight than people on a calorie-controlled diet.

Coffee and tea won't dehydrate you

Studies show that, if you're a regular coffee drinker who consumes a moderate level every day, caffeine doesn't have much of a diuretic effect — that is, it won't make you pee all the damn time. (It will, however, make you poop.)

Ditto tea, which is no less hydrating than drinking the same amount of water. If you've noticed you need to make more trips to the loo after drinking coffee and tea, that's only because you're drinking more liquid overall.

Lemon water is not a thing

The thinking goes that a glass of warm water with a squeeze of lemon juice first thing in the morning will flush toxins from your body and give you a smugly fresh start to the day.

It's a fact lemon water can be tastier than regular water, so drink up if that's why you prefer it. But it's total BS that it has any kind of detox benefit: most detoxing is done by your liver, or by your kidneys, without any need for added lemon.

RELATED: Why a detox is BS

Don't bother drinking raw water or alkaline water, either

Raw water is hailed as better by some because it's untouched by the nasty processes of modern treatment — the ones that, y'know, filter out all those potentially deadly pathogens. Unsurprisingly, experts recommend sticking to regular tap water.

Nor do you need to make the switch to alkalised water, aka ionised water. Proponents claim drinking it will make your body less acidic, but your body does a perfectly good job of managing its acid balance just fine.

RELATED: Why the alkaline diet isn’t the miracle cure you’ve been waiting for

Drinking water doesn't do much for your skin

Although every wellness blogger claims chugging water will give you a healthy glow, there's no actual evidence that staying well-hydrated will do anything to treat dry skin or prevent wrinkles and other signs of ageing.

While extreme dehydration will have an effect on your appearance, in most cases your other organs hog the water you drink before your skin does. Your best bet for lush skin is a hydrating skin cream.

You can die from drinking too much water

It's called hyponatraemia, or water intoxication. A fatal dose is thought to be around six litres. FYI!

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