5 Daily Tips to Drink More Water
When our bodies are made up over 60% over H20, it's almost crazy to think why we don't prioritize replenishing this major part of our anatomical makeup. Most of you know that when you're not drinking enough water it can cause dehydration, but did you also know it can cause depression, anxiety, and stress. There are many studies on why and how much water we should drink, but often we just need to figure out how to fit this important practice into
1. Use a Timer
For my folks attached to their phones, this will be pretty easy to do. Decide how much water you want to consume for the day, choose the right size bottle/glass, and grab your phone. We'll use the example of needing to consume 80 ounces of water for the day. You wake up at 6am, drink 8 oz of water. Set your alarm in 2 hours and drink another 8oz. After every 8oz glass of water, set your alarm for 2 hours later and by 10:00pm, you will be on your last glass of 8oz. Now, if you have issues with late night bathroom breaks or you don't wake up until 7am or even 8am, instead of setting your alarm for 2 hours, do 90 minutes or even 1 hour, so you can ensure before you leave work you have met your quota for the day!
2. Gallon Bottle
Take a gallon bottle, get a sharpie and create markers. Starting at the top of the bottle and moving your markers down the bottle to congratulate yourself as you meet your goals. You can draw a line a 1/4 the way down and set a time and give yourself a "Congrats, you're 1/4 of the way there and it's 12:00pm." 1/2 way down the bottle, "Congrats, you're 1/2 way and you are kicking butt at 4:00pm" So on and so on choosing words that inspire. Use a new bottle every week or for my sustainable folks try using tape and writing on the tape. Remove the tape and use the same bottle for as long as your heart desires and the earth deserves!
3. The Special Size
This one sounds simple and it can be fun when you tell yourself, this bottle is 20 ounces and all I have to do is drink 4 of these bottles, be refilling your bottles 4 times in the day. This one you can mentally track or again use the tape method and put a piece of tape on your special bottle and writing on your bottle. If you're really up for the challenge, use a large piece of tape and track your bottles over a week and see how you do. This will also help you realize if you do better at work, home, weekends or weekdays.
4. Tag Team
Grab a friend who can commit to the same amount of water with you and each time either of you are drinking water text the person and let them know, "It's hydration time!" This way between the two of you drinking water, you make it to your goal by not only holding each other accountable, but easily encouraging the other to drink. If you and your water buddy have different amounts of water to consume for the day, maybe you'll be drinking 10oz at each sitting and they'll only be drinking 8oz. Whatever you do, always try to have 8oz at each time and no more than 12oz in one sitting to ensure highest level of hydration.
5. Grab an App
Nowadays there are a billion calorie/food apps, but most of these apps also have a section to track your water consumption. So, if you're text savvy, grab an app and get drinking! Here are few suggestions by Culligan Water HERE.
Still having trouble, add a wedge of lime or lemon, maybe some fresh blueberries, strawberries, cucumbers slices, and fresh mint leaves. Try different combinations and see what you like. Here's a fun calculator on finding how much water to consume HERE.
Good luck, my friends, and cheers!
