It is common knowledge that 60-70% of our body is water. This makes drinking water essential to our body and mind. We lose water from our bodies all the time by sweating, passing urine, etc. So we need to restore the water we lost to avoid any physical or mental complications.

According to Harvard researchers, we need to drink 4-6 glasses of water per day. But as we all know, it is recommended that we should have an average of 64 ounces (8 cups/2 liters) of water per day. Mostly, men should consume around 3 liters of water per day while women should have around 2 liters per day.

Knowing how important it is to stay hydrated, yet with our busy lives, we get to forget to keep ourselves hydrated. Yes, forget! Unless our mouth starts getting dry out of thirst, we don’t usually remember to drink water.

Now before we get into how to stay hydrated, let me first help you understand why we need to stay hydrated. Dehydration may not be a disease, but it as dangerous to our body. Here are some benefits of staying hydrated:

• Prevents digestive problems like constipation.
• Flushes toxins from your body.
• Prevents illness like rheumatoid arthritis and kidney infections.
• Amazing for keeping your skin healthy with a smooth and clear complexion.
• Delays the aging process.
• Promotes weight loss.
• Helps boost brain activities like thinking and reasoning.
• Improves your mood.

These are just the common and basic benefits of staying hydrated. There are many other science-based benefits that you can look into here.

Tips on how to stay hydrated

After knowing how staying hydrated can benefit your body and mind, here are some ways to keep your drinking water whenever possible.

Find motivation

I know this may sound weird at first, but think about it. If you find a motivation to keep you hydrated, it will push you to keep drinking water as much as you can.

You can stay motivated by having a deep understanding of what can happen if you keep yourself dehydrated. Think of someone you know who was affected by dehydration or read about people who were affected by it and make that your source of motivation. I am sure you will try your best not to go through what they did.

Drink one glass of water before bed and one glass when you wake up

This is something I do every single day! Before going to bed by 5-10 mins, I drink a full glass of warm water. When I wake up, I drink flavored warm water (I add lemon to my glass).

Drinking water ignites your metabolism. So drinking water first thing in the morning will help with having better health throughout your day. Also having to drink warm water before bed is soothing and relaxing which will help you have a better good night’s sleep.

Drink a glass of water before every meal

That will be three cups of water easily taken from your daily water intake. Try making this a habit.

This will not only help you stay hydrated but also help with weight loss. When you drink a glass of water before your meal, it will make you feel full hence less food intake.

Set a reminder

With our busy schedules, it is normal to forget to drink water if we didn’t feel thirsty. I don’t know if it is only me, but I postpone drinking water sometimes when I am busy with something. I know it is not right, but hey, I am trying to change 😁

You can use an app as a reminder to drink water. I use Water Drink Reminder for my Android phone. For iPhone users, Daily Water – Drink Reminder is a good app (my friend recommended it).

Drink a glass of water after every cup of coffee

Have you ever thought about this? In some coffee shops whenever you order a cup of coffee, water is already served with it. This is because drinking water after coffee has its benefits. Mainly, it eases digestion and prevents dehydration after drinking coffee. Some of you may notice your mouth going dry after having an expresso.

If you are like me, then you would drink 2 cups of coffee per day. So that is two extra glass of water from your daily water intake goal. That’s like hitting two birds with one stone.

Drink a full glass of water with every medicine you take

Whenever you take any medication, try to drink a full glass of water with it. Apart from keeping you hydrated, drinking a lot of water with medication makes the medicine work properly with your body. No matter what medication (pills) you take, gotta drink a full glass of water with it to benefit from the medicine.

If certain medicines are advised to be taken with lots of water, then you need more than one glass to get your med to work properly.

Eat spicy food

Okay…I know some of you may hate spicy food or may even have trouble having them due to digestion problems. But it is a great way to make you wanna drink water.

It is not necessary to have a full (tasty) meal of spicy food if you can’t have it, but just a bite or two would make you want to gulp water down your throat.

Drink more water while exercising

This is a very important tip. If you stay dehydrated while exercising, there is a high risk that you will develop blood clots. This is because when you are losing water through sweat, it narrows your blood vessels and thickens your blood.

To avoid this, try taking a sip of water during your exercise. Don’t gulp a lot of water while exercising because that will make you feel heavy (for me, it hurts my tummy if I drank a lot of water while exercising). So it is enough to just take some sips while exercising.

Add a flavor to your water

If you feel bored with drinking just water the whole day, then try to add natural flavors to your water for a change. This will change its taste and make drinking water more interesting.

If you can’t purchase natural sweeteners, then you can add any fruit you wish to your water bottle. I normally add lemon to my water bottle because it has the most advantage of all other flavors. However, for a change, I may add orange or strawberry to not get bored of it.

Have food with high water

You don’t have to avoid dehydration by only having to drink water. You can also eat food that is high in water to stay hydrated.

Some foods that are rich in water include watermelon, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, etc. Having these also help you stay hydrated.

Other ways to stay hydrated

• Always carry a water bottle with you.
• As soon as the water is finished, get it refilled immediately.
• Track your water intake by investing in a smart water bottle.
• Add more ice to your cold drinks.

Final Thoughts

I suggest you build a basic understanding of why you need to avoid dehydration. This way you can always look for simple tips and tricks to keep yourself hydrated.

To keep it simple, you wanna stay as healthy as you can, gotta drink a lot of water! The tips and tricks mentioned above are some ideas to help you drink more water and keep you hydrated all day.

Thank you for reading till the end 🙂

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How do you keep yourself hydrated? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

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