Research shows that majority of the population struggles to keep up with the recommended daily intake of water. Today, we will be looking at some tips and tricks to drink more water.
Water quenches your thirst, helps you concentrate, regulates body temperature and promotes cell health.
Research shows that many of us are struggling to keep up with the recommended daily amount of 1.6 to 2 litres per day (8 glasses a day).
A new study by Aqua Pura reveals that only 6% of people in the UK are drinking the recommended amount. The average is quite low as well with most consuming 850ml per day – which is less than half the suggested daily intake or just 4 glasses of water a day.
Aqua Pura also found that men are less likely to drink water with 34.3% saying they don’t drink still water at all, with 25% of women surveyed saying the same thing.
Today we will be looking at easy ways to increase your water intake and how to make it a part of your daily routine.
Take a refillable bottle everywhere
If you take a big bottle everywhere you go, you’re more likely to drink it. For example, we take our phones everywhere and can’t put them down. Imagine what you would do if you carried a water bottle everywhere.
Just having the bottle there may force you to drink it out of habit or fidgeting. And before you know it, having a bottle with you at all times will become standard behaviour for you.
Furthermore, in the UK, 7.7 billion plastic water bottles are used every single year, with the average person using more than 3 a week. Many are discarded and end up polluting rivers, seas and habitats. If 1 in 10 Brits refilled their bottles, we’d save over a billion water bottles every single year.
By carrying a refillable water bottle everywhere, you will not only be having a positive impact on your own body’s health but also the health of the planet itself.
Set Alarms/Reminders
As we get older, time flies like it is trying to escape the house. It can be easy to get distracted especially when we dive fully into our work or hobbies. Hours will float away and you won’t realise that you are slowly but surely getting dehydrated.
Alarms and reminders will help you get into a regular drinking routine and may even develop into a habit – by which time you can turn the alarms off.
Flavour Your Water
For some people, they don’t like the taste of water or it’s simply too boring to drink and this leads to dehydration. There are a few ways to make it more appealing. You can add fresh fruit such as lemon, lime, cucumber and mint. These not have a nice flavour but also detox the body. Citrus fruits are fantastic antioxidants and are particularly effective when mixed with a morning bottle of water.
Have water with other drinks
If you are drinking tea or coffee daily, a good way to stay hydrated is to have a bottle of water with your favourite drinks.
Make a habit of asking for water alongside all of your drinks. It also helps counter the dehydration effects of caffeine and alcohol.
Keep by your bedside
Sleep with a bottle or glass of water by your bed. Everyone wakes up dehydrated, so drinking water in the morning is important for supporting energy, productivity and concentration. It is also a great way to instantly wake up and shake the cobwebs off.
Are you actually hungry or thirsty?
Sometimes our body tricks us into thinking we are hungry when we are actually thirsty. If you get the inkling for a mid-morning or afternoon snack, try a glass of water instead and you may not feel hungry anymore.
More often than not, we just want to quench our thirst and are fooled into thinking we’re hungry, thus solving a problem that isn’t actually there. Have a glass of water and feel your stomach relax and soothe.
Set Daily Goals
Setting a daily H2O intake goal can help you drink more water. Setting goals can help motivate and force positive change.
It can also help to record your progress, which keeps you motivated as it is a tangible way to see yourself reaching your goals – eventually it will become a habit.
Eat water-heavy foods
One simple way to get more H2O is to eat more foods that are high in water. These include lettuce, celery, zucchini, cabbage, watermelon and cantaloupe. If you simply don’t want to have water because it’s too boring, then water-heavy foods like watermelon could be the delicious answer for you.
Bathroom Break
Start a habit by drinking water after a common daily activity, such as going to the bathroom. If you have a glass after every bathroom trip, you build a habit and it becomes a routine.
You could pick another recurring moment in your daily routine to have your water with. This could be leaving your desk, or completing a job task, or every time you check the clock and so on …. the list goes on.
Find a moment or a regular activity that you would like to accompany with a sip of water and stick to it, before long it will be a routine.
There are many things that keep us from drinking water: busy schedules and bad habits can cause poor drinking stats. There are more ways than ever to get enough H2O, so try some of our recommendations above and see what happens to you.
Follow our website for more health and wellness advice.
Author: Lucy Walker
Lucy Walker is a journalist, author and health living enthusiast who has been involved with health writing since 2014.
