How Much Is Three Liters Of Water

Drinking three litres of h2o a day took TEN YEARS off my face up: Sarah, 42, was hoping to solve her headaches and poor digestion... just await what else happened

Ane in 5 women drinks less than the recommended daily intake of h2o
Every system and office in our trunk depends on water...
Especially because the liquid flushes toxins from vital organs

Published: 22:08 BST, 30 Oct 2013 | Updated: 02:17 BST, 31 October 2013

You might call up I'd have little in mutual with a camel, only we practise share one useful skill: both of us tin go for a very long fourth dimension without h2o.

Usually I offset my solar day with a loving cup of tea, then I might accept a glass of water with my lunch and 1 with dinner - that's about a litre of liquid in 24 hours. Information technology feels like plenty, but apparently it'south not near enough.

After years of suffering headaches and poor digestion I spoke to a neurologist near my regular headaches and a nutritionist nearly my poor digestion, and both told me I should be drinking upwards to three litres of liquid a 24-hour interval for my body to function at its best.

After four weeks: Sarah looks like a different woman

Subsequently four weeks: Sarah looks similar a different woman

Then, when I read a recent survey suggesting that at least 1 in five women in the Uk consumes less than the recommended daily intake of h2o, I decided to conduct an experiment. What would happen if I drank the recommended corporeality every solar day for a calendar month?

The photograph of me taken the solar day I started this trial demonstrates perfectly - and rather frighteningly - what a lack of hydration does to a face up.

I am 42, but take to admit I look more than like 52 in this picture, which is shocking. There are night shadows nether and around my eyes, which make me look exhausted, a profusion of wrinkles and strange ruby blotches, and my skin lacks any lustre. It looks dead.

My daughters, Alice, 8, and Betty, four, tell me I look 'about 100 years erstwhile' in this photograph and I have to agree.

Fifty-fifty my lips look shrivelled. This is all classic evidence of poor hydration, apparently. Every system and office in our torso depends on water.

It flushes toxins from the vital organs, carries nutrients to cells, provides a moist environment for ear, nose and pharynx tissues, and eliminates waste.

Non drinking enough means all these functions become dumb. So I decided to meet how I would expect and feel if I drank three litres of water every twenty-four hours for 28 days. The results were astonishing . . .

Dehydration: One in five women consumes less than the recommended daily intake of water

Dehydration: One in v women consumes less than the recommended daily intake of water

Week One

Weight: 8st 7lb

Waist: 28in

Iii litres of h2o is just over five pints, which sounds like an awful lot. I visit my local GP in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, to be certain there can be no adverse wellness implications to upping my h2o intake then dramatically.

He is very encouraging. 'I suggest you lot have a large jug of water in the morning, and then another in the afternoon and some other in the evening,' he says. 'Your kidneys, which filter waste product products from the blood before turning information technology to urine, will quickly feel the benefit, as they will be getting a practiced flush through.'

I unremarkably have a wee three times a solar day: when I become up, earlier I get to bed and at some bespeak in the afternoon. By the terminate of my get-go 24-hour interval of drinking more than water, I have had vi and my unremarkably sluggish bowels are much more than lively.

I exfoliate my face up every day to endeavor to get rid of dry patches earlier I apply moisturiser, but suddenly I seem to be breaking out in spots. Maybe information technology's all the toxins coming out of my skin. A few days into the experiment I'chiliad still urinating v or six times a day but it's clear now, rather than night yellow.

I'thou enjoying lots of cups of tea. My married man says that'south adulterous, but I tell him the British Nutritional Foundation says 'moderate amounts of caffeine practise not cause dehydration, and then they do count towards your fluid intake'.

I meet friends for a beverage one night, remembering that alcohol is a diuretic (a substance which promotes the production of urine), acting on the kidneys. For every one alcoholic potable, your trunk can eliminate up to iv times every bit much liquid.

I presume a white wine spritzer is a skilful option considering the alcohol is diluted with soda water, and I sip water between alcoholic drinks throughout the evening.

Hangover headaches issue from dehydration: the trunk'southward organs attempt to make up for a lack of water past stealing it from the brain, as a result of which it actually shrinks.

Headaches upshot from the pulling on the membranes that connect your brain to your skull. Ouch. Luckily, I escape all this and wake upward hangover-gratis.

For years I've been doing 10 minutes of yoga every morning time directly later I get up, just I've been feeling stiffer over the past half-dozen months. Yet since I started drinking more water my flexibility has improved. Gemma Critchley, from the British Dietetic Clan, confirms that h2o helps lubricate the joints.

Week Two: The blotches on my face are diminishing and the shadows around my eyes less pronounced

Calendar week Ii

Weight: 8st 6lb (lost a pound)

Waist: 28in

My complexion is improving and my skin tone is more even. I nevertheless have wrinkles under my optics, simply they expect less crepey and shadowy than before.

The blotches on my face are diminishing, and the shadows around my eyes are less pronounced.

I experience pleased when my sis-in-police tells me my skin looks clearer than it did a week agone. I accept a busy calendar week with lots of time away from home, and then I stock up on half-litre bottles of mineral water I tin can deport around in my pocketbook. A week'southward worth costs only over £8. If I spread my water intake over the day, that's half a litre when I wake upwards, another with breakfast, one with lunch, 1 in the afternoon, one with my evening meal then another before bed. It sounds like a lot, but I'm finding it manageable.

Today, I've noticed my breath smells less 'blatant', perchance because I've ditched tea - I decided h2o was better for me. I'chiliad certainly non missing the sweet, milky taste information technology left in my mouth.

Gemma Critchley says: 'Water is manifestly the all-time selection since it has no calories and will hydrate you efficiently.' I say I might try juice instead of water sometimes, simply for the gustatory modality and diversity, but she warns me not to.

'If you lot drink a large glass of juice, you could be consuming more energy than you need,' she says, which would mean weight gain.

I oasis't had a headache for over a week at present, which is unusual for me, and I'm delighted that my bowels are working so much better. Result!

I went shopping this afternoon in Leeds, just having to detect a lavatory three times in 5 hours was irritating - they always seem to be in the most hidden corner of every shop.

I'd expected my stomach to feel bloated with all the extra water but it's really flatter than usual. And my husband says the cellulite on my bottom and thighs has vanished.

Surely this is too good to be truthful?

Week Three: My skin looks plumper and more nourished

Week Three

Weight: 8st 6lb

Waist: 27.5in (lost one-half an inch)

The dark rings and wrinkles nether my eyes take virtually disappeared, and my skin looks plumper and more nourished. My friend, who is a dazzler therapist, says this is because the water is helping my skin cells regenerate more efficiently.

I've noticed I've stopped rubbing my eyes when I wake upwardly in the morning. They used to be dry and full of slumber, merely not now. All this actress water must be keeping them moist.

I'k feeling guilty about all the plastic bottles I've been using so I'm back on Yorkshire tap water, which I comport effectually in a re-usable water bottle.

I have to accept a long train journeying and I realise after how productive I felt and how easy I found it to concentrate, rather than having my customary snooze.

Dr Emma Derbyshire, senior lecturer in nutritional physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University and adviser to the Natural Hydration Council, says: 'Our encephalon is 73 per cent water, so poor hydration can touch how it functions. Dehydration tin can reduce our power to concentrate also as our cognitive functioning.'

The downside was having to use train toilets. Dreadful.

I'thousand eating less because drinking water with meals makes me experience fuller quicker. I used to snack, just I was reaching for nutrient when I was actually thirsty. Studies show 37 per cent of people mistake thirst for hunger.

When I put on eye make-up, my eyes seem less wrinkled. When I rubbed an eye-shadow applicator over my eyelid, it used to drag the skin with it, too, but now my skin seems to accept more than elasticity.

Week Four: I am going to keep on drinking three litres of water every day

Week Four

Weight: 8st 5lb (lost some other 1lb)

Waist: 27in (some other one-half an inch)

I genuinely can't believe the difference in my face up. I look like a different adult female. The dark shadows around my eyes take all but disappeared and the blotches have gone. My skin is near as dewy as information technology was when I was a child. The transformation is zip short of remarkable.

I'thousand feeling leaner and fitter, likewise, which is amazing, since the only thing I've changed is the amount of water I drink. My all-time friend says she's worried about how much h2o I'g consuming - she'south heard rumours about Nigella Lawson beingness an 'aquaholic' who drinks three litres before bed.

But I am following prophylactic guidelines under the supervision of my GP, so I am able to reassure her.

I even enjoy another boozy night out only drink lots of water forth the style and wake up feeling fresh as a daisy. Whatever happens, I am going to keep on drinking three litres of h2o a day - and would advise every woman to practice the same (after checking with her doctor, of course).

I feel fitter, leaner and healthier, and my hubby and friends tell me I look ten years younger. Who in their right listen would non want to try something which gets such incredible results?