Hello, lovelies!
This is sort of a continuation of my last post, Hydration: How Much Water Should I Drink Every Day?. Go check out that post to learn all about WHY hydration is important, and HOW MUCH water you should be drinking!
Hydration, like many things, is a habit. If you’ve gone most of your life without making a conscious effort to stay hydrated, you probably aren’t used to reaching for water regularly. Today, I want to share some tips with you on how you can make this more of a habit so you can stay hydrated this summer! You of course don’t have to implement all of these tips, but pick a few that seem like they would work well for you and try them out!
8 Easy Ways To Drink More Water
1. Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning
Get your day started on a good note by hydrating first thing when you wake up! You can fit this into your routine to make it a habit – drink your glass of water while the coffee is brewing, or while the dogs are eating their breakfast. Plus, some nice cold water is refreshing and can help to wake you up!
2. Flavor your water
It’s pretty safe to assume that you’re more likely to reach for something if it tastes good, right? If you want to be fancy and get an infuser bottle you can, but I do this all the time by just adding slices of fruit or veg to my glass of water! Depending on how strong of a flavor you want, you may want to let the flavors infuse into the water for a few hours before drinking it. Try things like cucumber slices, berries, or citrus! My personal favorite addition is lemon or lime.
3. Track your water intake
You can keep yourself accountable by simply tracking your water intake! There are many ways you can track your water – you can do this in a journal or in a note on your phone just by simply making a tally mark or check mark each time you finish a glass of water. Or, you could even download a fun app to track your water – just type in “water tracker” on the app store and a bunch of options come up!
I would like to make a note here that I personally am not a big encourager of tracking things like water intake all the time, but I do think it can be extremely helpful when first trying to develop a new habit! If you want to create a goal around daily water intake, try tracking your water for a day or two to see where you’re at now, and then start by increasing that by just one or two glasses a day. Remember that it’s okay to make your way to better hydration in small steps! Start with something realistic and then build up to your eventual desired long-term goal. (If you need help deciding how much water is “right” for you, be sure to check out the first Hydration post to learn about a few different guidelines!)
4. Set reminders on your phone
One method that has worked for a lot of my past health coaching clients is to break up their daily water into smaller chunks and set alarms throughout the day to check in on themselves. For example, if you are trying to drink 75 oz of water in a day, you might break it up like this:
25oz by 12pm
50oz by 4pm
75oz by 8pm
For this example, you would set a phone alarm at 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm. When the alarm goes off, if you haven’t reached that amount yet, grab that water bottle! (Though also remember that you don’t want to chug a ton of water all at once – so sip on it more frequently over the next hour or so to “catch up”!) This basically gives you “check-in”s throughout your day so that you can better stay on track.
5. Use a cute water bottle or cup
I know that this one may sound silly, but it can help! It’s kind of like when you feel more motivated to workout after you just bought a cute new workout outfit. (Just me? Surely not.) If you’re excited about your cute new water bottle or cup, you’re more likely to remember to fill it up regularly and reach for it throughout the day! Plus, I’m giving you an excuse to buy a cute water bottle – so just go with it, alright?
6. Always have water nearby
As humans, we are naturally lazy. It’s okay to admit that. You’re less likely to drink water if you have to constantly get up and walk to another room to get it! Try to make a habit of carrying a water bottle with you when you go out, and keep one near you when you sit down to get work done – such as at your desk or in your office. Make sure it’s easy to grab so that you’re more likely to drink it!
7. Replace other drinks with water
Have you ever heard “don’t drink your calories”? A LOT of beverages out there are full of sugary things that we simply don’t need. Replacing those drinks with water is a great way to go because not only does it enforce the water habit, but it also helps you reduce your sugary drink intake! If you don’t want to cut out other beverages all together, you can always make a rule for yourself that you HAVE to drink at least one glass of water with your meal before opening your other beverage of choice – or maybe you make water your go-to drink for lunch, but not necessarily for dinner. Again, here at Joyful Balance, we are all about small, realistic steps – so do what works for you!
8. Drink water every time you ___________.
Think of something you do regularly throughout your day – it can be anything! Make a habit out of taking a sip of water EACH TIME you do that thing. Maybe you take a sip each time you text your significant other, grab a snack, or go to the bathroom. I work from home and throughout my day I like to get up to stretch my legs and say hi to the bunnies for a minute or two – so it may work well for me to take a sip of water each time I get up to do that! If you make a habit out of taking a sip each time that routine thing occurs, it’ll become second nature to you before you know it.
Well, there you have it. My 8 easy ways to drink more water! I hope this gave you some ideas to help make hydration a habit. You may be surprised at how different you can feel when you are hydrated vs when you’re not!
I would like to point out that although it is relatively rare, there IS such a thing as drinking too much water – so please don’t go overboard! If you increase your water intake small amounts at a time, stick to reasonable amounts (check out the first Hydration post for ideas), and listen to your body, you will most likely be just fine. It takes a lot of water to get to the point of over-hydration! But, of course, every body is different and if you think you may be overdoing it, you can always chat with your doctor to be sure.
Have a great weekend, friends! Now I’m off to go drink some water. Let me know in the comments which of these tips you’re going to use to up your water game!
Stay well!
