How much water do you need to drink?

Sir, – What a relief to read the common-sense advice by Christie Aschwanden ("How much water do you need to drink every day?", Health + Family, September 28th). If only this sensible counsel were heeded by the obsessive people clutching bottles of water everywhere they go, or by those worrying that they have not consumed the magic two litres a day, or by the exercise fanatics convinced that their level of electrolytes is constantly under threat. It turns out that all you have to do is to drink when you are thirsty.

As the old song says, “I’ll eat when I’m hungry, I’ll drink when I’m dry”. – Yours, etc,

JACK MORRISSEY,

Dublin 16.