The 8-Glasses-a-Day Lie: How Forcing Water Is Overloading and Damaging Your Kidneys.

For decades, we’ve been fed a simple, powerful rule: drink eight glasses of water a day. It’s been promoted by doctors and health gurus as the universal key to good health. But I am here to tell you that this rule is not just a guideline; it is a lie. And it's a lie that I believe is directly responsible for overloading and damaging the kidneys of millions of people.

All those who meticulously measure and force down a specific quantity of water every day should understand this: you are not helping your body. You are putting it on the path to disease.

The Absurdity of a Single Rule for Every Body

Let's apply some basic logic to this "one-size-fits-all" rule. Do you think a person living in the freezing cold of Switzerland needs the same amount of water as someone living in a sweltering desert? If you force two litres of water into your body in a cold country, I believe your kidneys will be damaged within a week. For the person in the desert, that same amount would be dangerously insufficient.

Now consider a person who lays hot tar on roads all day under the blazing sun. They will need far more than five litres of water just to survive. But what about a computer engineer in an air-conditioned office? One litre might be plenty. If that road worker then spends the next day relaxing in an air-conditioned car, his water needs will plummet.

No one can tell you how much water you need to drink in a day. It changes based on your age, weight, work, mental state, the weather, and the country you're in. To believe that a single, arbitrary number of glasses can apply to everyone is not just illogical, it’s reckless. If you drink water under this compulsion, your kidney will be overloaded, and it will get damaged.

The Two Ways to Destroy Your Kidneys

Your kidneys are intelligent, hard-working organs. But there are two primary ways we abuse them daily, both stemming from ignoring their natural signals.

1. The Danger of Drinking Without Thirst:
Many doctors advise us to "drink a lot of water." But when you force water into your body when you are not thirsty, you are staging a hostile takeover of your kidneys. Your kidney might be busy with some other vital work—at which time, you will not feel thirsty. If you drink water then, the kidney is forced to drop its important task and deal with the unnecessary water you just consumed. When it finishes and tries to go back to its job, you might drink another glass, interrupting it again. I believe this constant, forced interruption is how kidney stones form. In the long run, this abuse can lead to total kidney damage.

2. The Danger of Not Drinking With Thirst:
Thirst is not a suggestion. It is the language of your kidneys. It is a direct order. When your kidney needs water, it creates the sensation of thirst. If you ignore this order, your body goes into crisis mode. Imagine you feel thirsty on a long bus ride but decide to wait until you get home. For all those hours, your kidney, desperate for water, starts stealing it from other parts of your body. This act of internal theft is what causes diseases in all those other body parts.

The Only Rule You Ever Need to Follow

So, how do you find out the right amount of water to drink? I don't know. You don't know. Only your body knows.

The rule is this:

• Drink water immediately when you feel thirsty.

• Do not drink water when you do not feel thirsty.

It’s that simple. When you feel thirsty, drink as much as your heart desires until the thirst is gone. Then forget about water. Your body will tell you when it needs more. Please do not measure the water you drink. Please do not pay heed to the advice that diseases will be cured if you simply drink a large amount of water.

From now on, listen to your body. It will decide the exact quantity of water it needs today, and it will ask for it in the proper way. Throw away the measuring cup and the eight-glasses-a-day lie. Your kidneys will thank you for it. Let us all live a healthy life.