John Di Bartolo’s House of Step

From time to time, I get reminded of the importance of drinking at least eight glasses of water a day. When I decide to follow this regimen, it comes with a wonderful side effect — peeing eight times an hour. For this reason, it’s usually not long before I go back to my under-hydrated ways.

“But water helps flush out those toxins and improves skin tone,” you say to me. “It can curb your appetite as well as cure a headache!”

Well your guilt trip won’t work on me any longer. Although not drinking when you’re thirsty is certainly not good for you, there is apparently no evidence supporting the claims that drinking excess water will improve your health. This surprising bit of news comes in an editorial in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. (Nephrology is the study of the kidney, so these people might know a thing or two about water.)

This doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s no benefit to drinking lots of water. Perhaps there is something to be gained, but more studies need to be done in this area before any conclusions can be drawn.