Wednesday, July 29, 2015
9 Water Drinking Hacks to Make Staying Hydrated More Fun!
We all know the benefits of water (aside from, um, survival)—weight loss, better digestion, and gorgeous skin, to name a few. But while there are those Nalgene-toting water-guzzlers who have no problem hitting their 8 glasses a day (and beyond), there are some of us—myself included—who just can't help but see it as a chore. These tips make this non-negotiable easier (and dare we say, more fun?) than ever—no wincing necessary.
1. Play a drinking game. Why should the merriment be reserved for tequila? Instead of getting drunk, you're getting hydrated and gorgeous. Take a sip for every minute you're stuck on that conference call, a glug for every BuzzFeed break, and chug a cup if you catch yourself engaging in office gossip. On the weekend, take a swig of that H2O everytime someone on HGTV says, "space."
2. Buddy up. I enlisted another water-phobic friend, and we've made it our goal to drink a glass every hour. We GChat each other throughout the day to quickly check in and make sure we're keeping up.
3. Add a splash of something. Please put down those gross dissolvable packets and pick up a fresh lemon. Or coconut water. Or my favorite addition lately, kombucha. (It's not gross, it's delicious.) Just adding a lil' sumpin' sumpin' transforms that flavorless liquid you're choking back into something a little zesty.
4. Or a hunk of something. Frozen fruit. Watermelon. Cucumbers. Mint. All of the above are revelations. Trust me.
5. Sleep next to a tall glass. And I'm not referring to that good-looking guy. Sure, drinking water near bedtime (and thereafter) is not totally ideal: Getting up to use the bathroom multiple times per night is not great for beauty sleep. Yet my conundrum is that sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night feeling totally parched, but unless someone has a wheelbarrow to take me to my kitchen, I'm not. Getting. Up. This solves that problem, even if it means a quick interruption later on. (And it's definitely better than waking up feeling sallow and dehydrated.)
6. Use a straw. You know how you learned in college that you get drunk way faster this way? That's because there is some unexplainable appeal to sipping out of a tube. Don't ask. It just works.
7. Invest in a water bottle. If you put down a few bucks and carry that sucker with you everywhere, you might just be tempted to justify it with a few sips. Plus, it's better for the environment than the plastic cups at the water cooler, and if you get a large one, you won't have to get up from your desk as much. Here's our favorite!
8. And mark it up. This is a fitspo fave tip from the Pinterest set: Sharpie, meet water bottle. Mark lines on your bottle with different times throughout the day (like so), so you can actually see that you're staying on pace.
9. Some like it hot. As in, hot tea. And if the tips above are still not doing it for you, herbal tea is a way to drink water without truly drinking water. Just avoid green and black teas: The diuretic effect will negate what you're working toward.
And a few quick DON'TS:
1. Don't chew that ice, ice baby. You can't see me, but I'm raising my hand because I'm #guilty. But leave the ice chips to ladies in labor because it's a horrendous habit for your teeth.
2. No, coffee does not count. As mentioned above, caffeine is great for some things, and staying hydrated is not one of them. You may have heard or read that water is water, and juice, coffee, or whatever else can still provide hydration—and it's true that they're better than nothing at all, or in a pinch. But just like you can't say "Hey, this vodka will do wonders for my complexion!", nothing holds a candle to good ole, pure H2O.
3. Don't be dirty. Keep it clean, folks. If you're not sipping from your office water cooler, get a bottle with a built-in filter (or charcoal) to make sure you're not knocking back a bunch of fluoride or other fun contaminants. Same goes at home: Get a filter pitcher, or better yet, invest in a filter for your tap. It's just chump change when it comes to your health.
See? You're out of excuses. Drink up.