One of the key recommendations on the Second Nature programme is to drink 2 litres (8 glasses) of water every day.
We often get asked whether other drinks apart from water will count towards your overall fluid intake.
The answer: Yes, other fluids can be counted towards your 2 litre goal for the day.
However, it's important to remember that when we consume large quantities of drinks containing caffeine (for example, 6+ cups of coffee, black tea, or green tea a day), this can have a diuretic effect on the body.
This means these drinks may cause you to urinate more, which removes more water from the body and increases the risk of dehydration. Consuming these drinks in smaller quantities doesn't appear to have the same dehydrating impact on the body.
Caffeine can also impact how well we sleep, which is why we recommend you try to limit your intake of caffeinated drinks to 1-2 cups per day, preferably in the morning.
So, if you're having 1-2 caffeinated drinks per day, these will count towards your daily goal of 2 litres (8 glasses) of water per day. Other fluids that will also count towards this goal include water (sparkling or still), herbal teas, unflavoured milk, and decaffeinated coffee or tea.