Finding how to drink more water every day can improve your life! We all know we should be drinking more water yet if drinking water is not a habit, drinking water can be difficult to get the daily recommended amount of water needed to live a healthy lifestyle.
How much water should we be drinking?
That is up to debate. The National Health Service of the UK advises drinking 6-8 cups of water or a total of 64 fluid ounces. The Mayo Clinic advises between 11.5 cups for women and 15.5 cups for men, to a total of around 124 fluid ounces at the maximum.
The point being, we need to drink a good amount of water to ensure our bodies have the water it needs to carry out the vital day to day activities.
Also note, that the amount of water you need varies on gender, diet, climate, levels of physical activity, and if you are taking any medication.
The Benefits of Drinking Water
Drinking more water can seem like a drag, but it can have a lasting positive impact on our lives. Drinking enough water has all the below benefits:
- Aids in flushing toxins from the body; promoting good kidney function;
- keeps your joints and muscles lubricated which reduces swelling after exercise
- supports younger-looking skins
- Promotes increased energy. As inadequate intake of water can lead to fatigue, with chronic lack of intaking enough water leading to feeling tired and having constant migraines
- Water can aid in weight loss. Drinking more water helps reduce the tendency to eat more, and adequate hydration can help the body break down and burn fat at a faster rate
How to Drink More Water
Drinking more water can become a healthy habit. Focus on two key strategies to make the process easier.
1. make the process low effort
2. make drinking water more fun
Practical Tips to Drink More Water
1. Keep a reusable water bottle with you
Keeping a water bottle with you throughout the day helps you drink more water regardless of the setting. From school, work, running errands, or at home, the bottle is with you. Plus, it serves as a visual reminder to drink more water and is environmentally friendly.
2. Re-fill your bottle when it runs empty
When you empty your glass, immediately get up and go get a re-fill. Mostly because if we stay sitting, we will not be drinking any more water until we eventually get up anyways. Also immediately getting up serves as a break from work, serves as a quick bit of exercise, and is a reminder to see how much water we have drunk throughout the day.
Want to improve your overall productivity to? Check out our guide on the 2-minute rule!
3. Add some flavor
If water is boring to taste, occasionally add fruit to your water to spice it up. Add lime or lemon to give it some flavor. See the bottom of this post for a fruit-infused recipe!
4. Replace other drinks with water
Instead of getting a soda or sweet tea when out to lunch, get water. This can both works to hit the daily water goal while also saving the wallet.
Also, do not feel guilty about the occasional soda, sweet tea, or even alcohol. You will still gain a net gain of water-based fluids from drinking these, it is just water is healthier and provides more positive fluids than these drinks.
5. Drink throughout the day
Drinking throughout the is the best way to reach the daily drinking goals instead of chugging water towards the end of the day (which can also cause damage). Keep a glass of water nearby within your line of sight for a constant visual reminder to take a sip
6. Eat foods high in water content
Adding foods that are high in water content is a nutritious and fun way to add more water to the diet. Foods like watermelon, oranges, lettuce, soups, and plain yogurt are great ways to add more water to the diet.
7. Start and end your day with a glass of water
Bookend your days with water. Starting the day with a glass of cold water can help you wake up and boost alertness. Ending the day with a glass of water can prevent waking up with a dry mouth and can also aid in weight loss.
8. Drink in unconventional ways
A study by the Association for Consumer Research found drinking in unconventional ways can provide a short burst of enjoyment in drinking water. This helps to break up the hedonic treadmill of drinking water, making the “normal” all of a sudden new again. Increasing the likelihood to drink water when resuming normal ways of drinking water.
Sip water out of a crazy straw, from a martini glass, or shot glasses to keep drinking fresh.
9. Keep track
Use a marked water bottle or an app like Hydro Coach, Plant Nanny, or Daily Water Tracker Reminder to keep track of the daily progress towards the drinking water. Having this can serve as motivation as the goal gets burned down throughout the day, and can even serve to show how many successful water days you have.
10. Create water intake challenges with friends and colleagues
Creating a fun challenge with your friends and colleagues can provide the right combination of friendly rivalry and healthy peer pressure to encourage more water drinking among everyone!
Recipe for infused water
This recipe is from Simplistically Living and provides a nice refreshing drink.
Ingredients
- Water
- Strawberries
- Lemons
- Mint leaves
- Ice
- Plastic/Glass pitcher
Instructions
- Wash the fruits and mint leaves thoroughly
- Next, cut up strawberries into halves and cut up lemons in circular pieces. You can tear the mint leaves or leave them whole
- Fill up a pitcher with water, leaving room for ice
- Place all the sliced fruit into the water, stir in the mint, and add ice to the top
- Refrigerate for at least 24 hours to allow fruits to be infused in the water
- Enjoy!
Key Take-Aways
- Drinking more water doesn’t have to be a chore. Using techniques that make drinking water low-effort and more enjoyable can lead to us hitting our daily water quota each day fairly easily
- Drinking water can become an effortless task that promotes a healthier body. Letting us have more energy, better sleep, fewer aches, and better skin
Action item
Get a reusable water bottle or use an old one. Keep it with you throughout the week and use a handful of the other strategies to make drinking water more automatic and fun. Track how much you drink each day throughout the week and see how much more you drink by the end!
