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On average you should try to drink eight 8-ounce (225-ml) glasses of water a day. A good rule of thumb is to take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half. That gives you the number of ounces of water per day that you need to drink. If you exercise you should drink another 8-ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you are active. If you drink coffee or alcohol, you should drink at least an equal amount of water. When you’re travelling on an airplane, it’s good to drink 8 ounces of water for every hour you’re on board the plane. If you live in an arid climate or are always near central heating, you should add another two glasses per day.

As you can see, your daily need for water can add up to quite a lot.

The best source of water is plain, pure drinking water. Fizzy drinks have a lot of sugar in them and aren’t a good source, so if you drink them, they won’t count towards your daily amount. Herbal teas that aren’t diuretic are fine (steer clear of dandelion, parsley, nettle and fennel). Sports drinks contain electrolytes and may be beneficial, just look out for added sugar and calories that you don’t need.

If you aren’t sure you’re drinking enough, keep a record for a few days. Any non-caffeinated, non-fizzy drinks can be counted as fluid. If you aren’t drinking enough, here are some ideas for including more fluids:

 Carry a water bottle. It may be difficult to drink enough water on a busy day. Be sure you have water handy at all times by keeping a bottle with you when you’re working, travelling or exercising.

 Add some lemon. If you get bored with plain water, add a bit of lemon or lime for a touch of flavour. There are some brands of flavoured water available, but some of them have sugar or artificial sweeteners which you don’t need.

 Experiment with herbal teas, watered-down fruit juices or diluted fresh-pressed juice – but watch out for juice drinks that are loaded with sugar.

 Drink fluids at room temperature. You wouldn’t water your plants with freezing cold water or put icy water into your pet’s water bowl, would you? In Traditional Chinese Medicine, cold drinks disrupt the proper flow of energy in the body and ‘shock’ the body. Stick to warm or room-temperature fluids.

As a rule of thumb, filtered water is best. Tap water can be contaminated with heavy metals, micro-organisms, chlorine, fluoride and other impurities. Still, if bottled water proves too expensive, tap water will do just fine, especially if you use a water filter.

If you’re eating plenty of fruits and vegetables this will count towards your fluid intake, as they are 90 per cent water.