“You need to drink more water”. This is what everyone tells you and you hear it all the time on the TV and ads everywhere you go. You understand the benefits but you admit that you haven’t really taken the steps to do anything about it.
Drinking enough water each day can be challenging. How many people do you know who drink their daily recommended intake each day? Maybe a handful? The recommended daily water intake is roughly 2-3 litres for adults.
You may have heard of some advice on drinking more water before, but we’ve got a few more tricks up our sleeve to help you reach your water intake goal. Keep reading to find out what they are!
Carry a bottle with you everywhere you go
Not only is having your own bottle great for the environment, it also serves as a physical reminder to drink more water. As you build the habit of remembering to wash, fill and carry your bottle, you’ll start bringing the idea of drinking water to the forefront of your mind.
Bonus points if your bottle is big – around 1L is a decent size. You’re less likely to reach the end of the bottle and forget to drink water simply because you haven’t had a chance to refill it.
Set goals and keep track
Knowing how much water you’re drinking goes hand in hand with goal setting. Telling yourself to drink more water probably isn’t as effective as telling yourself to drink 2.5 litres a day. The main point here is to track how much you’re consuming and setting a SMART goal.
A SMART goal is one that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based. Here’s an example:
Your overarching goal may be to:
Drink more water each day.
Let’s make this more specific:
Drink 1 litre of water before noon.
Now it’s more specific and attainable because you know how much to need to drink, and by when, to reach your overarching goal. ‘1L’ is measurable, ‘before noon’ makes it time-based and it’s relevant because you’re trying to drink more water.
Give yourself a cue to drink
While trying to form the habit of drinking more water, it’s a good idea to go back to the basics of habit building. One factor of forming a habit is to give yourself a cue to perform that habit. In this case, if drinking water is the habit, the cue might be a meal. When you’re about to have a meal, prepare a glass of water to have at the same time.
Another great cue is while you’re having your morning coffee or tea. Both tea and coffee have a diuretic effect, meaning they’ll make you go to the toilet and excrete valuable fluids from your body. Not only is drinking water going to prevent dehydration, but it’s also going to help to prevent the other symptoms of dehydration too, like dizziness and fatigue.
If you have any helpful advice to help us all drink more water, we’d love to hear from you! You can reach out to us here at any time.
