Foo - how much water?

Anyone happen to know how many parts water one needs to drink to compensate for one part beer in order to maintain proper hydration? Boy am I thirsty right now, even after drinking a quart of water.

Just keep drinking. Warm water closer to body temp. gets used faster than cold water that needs to be warmed before it's used by the body.

You burn calories drinking ice water:)

You burn calories drinking ice water:)
That's a classic but naive argument. It assumes your body is expending energy to stay warm. That might be the case under some weather conditions, but it's most certainly not the case right now. My body's expending energy trying to stay cool (by generating sweat).

You burn calories drinking ice water:)
really? never heard of this before!

I think 17 calories per one cup.

Are you talking about during the beer drinking or during the recovery period. While I'm drinking beer, and I'm being smart about the whole process, I'll go 1:1 beer and water.

Are you talking about during the beer drinking or during the recovery period.
I dunno... I guess I mean the total amount of water per beer over both periods. So one part during, how many parts after?

I dunno... I guess I mean the total amount of water per beer over both periods. So one part during, how many parts after?
The 1:1 is when I'm being smart. What usually happens is that I don't drink any water until I'm going to bed. Then it's as much as I can fit into my stomach without getting sick. So anywhere between 3-5 glasses (~12oz per glass) of water after drinking anywhere between 4-8 beers. That's on a drunk night.

Afterward, it all depends on how I feel. Which is more a factor of what I had eaten the night before and what time I got to bed than it is how much I drank. At that point, it's just how much it takes to get me feeling normal again. So maybe a glass of gatorade, a vitamin to replenish all those water-solubles, and anywhere between 2-12 glasses of water.

So, based on these numbers more or less pulled out of my ass:

During: 3:4 to 5:8
After: 1:2 to 3:2 water:beer

Why do you ask?

Why do you ask?
Just curious yesterday after I drank more than 2 parts water and still felt dehydrated. Had some beer without water, surfed BF under the influence, took a nap, then got up and started drinking water. I rarely drink enough to affect behavior, so I was wondering whether it was typical to have to drink so much water to compensate.

Did you have a dehydration headache or were you just thirsty?

It's hard to nail it down. The beer could have been just one of many contributing factors. Did you go on a long ride that day and drank the beer before you were completely rehydrated? Sometimes I'll wake up bright eyed and cheery after a bender that should have me hurting and sometimes I'll wake up with a headache after drinking 3 beers with dinner. That's why I started sacrificing chickens to the hangover gods before I start drinking. So far I've had mixed results.

Just because I like you, I will find out for you.

*note to self* Buy beer on the way home and try to remember to drink water in order to report results.

Really thirsty and with a big headache. Drinking a huge amount of water helped the thirst, but I had a headache for much of the rest of the day. Maybe that's why people drink at night rather than mid-afternoon. Oh well, live and learn...

Lex, I'll look forward to you highly scientific report. :lol:

That's a classic but naive argument. It assumes your body is expending energy to stay warm. That might be the case under some weather conditions, but it's most certainly not the case right now. My body's expending energy trying to stay cool (by generating sweat).Well... if your body-temp is higher than ambient air-temps, you are expending energy to keep it warmer than the surrounding air. The majority of the 2000 calories burned every day is simply to maintain body-temperature...

Really thirsty and with a big headache. Drinking a huge amount of water helped the thirst, but I had a headache for much of the rest of the day. Maybe that's why people drink at night rather than mid-afternoon. Oh well, live and learn...

Lex, I'll look forward to you highly scientific report. :lol:
Depending on how much beer/water you drank, you could have flushed out a lot of the water-solubles. This could partially account for the headache.

Also, one thing I've noticed and have never been able to come up with a theory what causes it, but if I go to sleep while under the influence, I'm much more likely to wake up feeling like **** than if I sober up beforehand.

You could not drink beer at all, and not have it be a concern!

You could not drink beer at all, and not have it be a concern!
Meh. That'd be like giving up sex for fear of STDs.

Besides, I have to drink. What happens if Little Timmy finds this beer, drinks it, then rides his big-wheel out into traffic? This beer that I should have drank, but didn't because I was worried about my health. I can live with a headache every now and then. I can live with this gut that doesn't seem to be shrinking. But, I couldn't live with the guilt of knowing that I could have prevented Little Timmy's death but chose not to because I'm selfish and health-concious. No sir.

Re: Mothra, that's also a bit naive. There clearly must be some temperature at which body temp regulation needs are at a minimum, but it's not when the ambient temperature equals your body temperature. You consume some energy (and thus generate some heat) handling needs other than maintaining body temperature. Those needs would result in the need to dissipate excess heat if ambient temp were at body temp. Life isn't about maintaining chemical/physical equilibrium. It's about maintaining non-equilibrium steady state conditions. A body at equilibrium is a dead body.

Oy Foosters!!!!

Alcohol has an effect on the body that prevents you from being fully hydrated...even if you consume massive amounts of fluids. The problem with booze is that alcohol supresses the action of Anti Diuretic Hormone - a hormone that helps our bodies maintain fluid balance.

What this means is that your body "reads" it's fluid balance, and kicks out an appropriate amount of ADH to maintain the balance. With alcohol onboard, you will NEVER maintain balance, that's why you pee like a friggin' racehorse when you drink. It's as if you're trying to fill a cup, and someone has put a bunch of holes two inches from the top. You can pour as much as you want into it, but you won't fill it.

Best thing to do is drink fluids as everyone is already saying, but to stop drinking booze and start drinking soft longer before bed. Your body needs the H2O, plus electrolytes to compensate for loss through urine, plus a bit of sugar to help break down the ETOH. If I've had too much beer, I like a 20 oz. glass of recovery drink (sodium, potassium, minerals, plus a bit of simple sugar) and another 20 oz. glass of water. If booze has snuck into the night's festivities, throw more fluids at it, and start longer before bed. YMMV.