The Powerful Effect of Drinking Water & How to Better Cover Your Daily Intake
Why is it important to drink water throughout the day?
Water consumption is a key player when it comes to our health. It plays an important role in many vital functions of the body such as our metabolism, bringing nutrients to our cells, releasing toxins, the protection of our joints and organs, maintaining body temperature and ensuring our brain works in an optimal way. It also greatly affects our skin, hydration and glow. This way our water intake directly affects our physical appearance. True beauty naturally starts from within based on how we nourish ourselves, physically, emotionally and mentally. The recommended daily water intake is 2-3 litres depending on activity levels, age, weight, pregnancy etc. However, many people struggle to drink this amount and have a tendency to favor coffee or drinks with sugar. To help ensure your daily water intake is sufficient and create better rituals around water for yourself do read on.
Find your why and create an upward going spiral
Habits mean a lot when it comes to our behavioral patterns and when we’re seeking to either break an old or implement a new one, it’s important we have the motivation needed for us to succeed. Change is hard because it will always require us to re-adjust and recode our conditioning - and the easiest thing would be to just leave things as they are. However, through better habits around water and hydration, we can help the body remember what’s good for it. This can help create a positive effect for our health where we make good choices for ourselves and our body on a wider scale. So to optimize your daily water intake, I recommend you find the underlying reason for why you want to do so before you start. Perhaps you’re wanting your skin to be more clear and bright. Perhaps you’d like more quality sleep without needing to wake up and use the bathroom or it could be that you’d just like to feel healthier. There are so many reasons to drink more water. But make sure you find the deeper underlying reason true to you. By knowing your why you increase the meaning of drinking more water and it will help you keep going even when you want to fall back into old habits and patterns.
Begin your day with a glass of water - even before getting out of bed
Once we’ve made one healthy choice, it can inspire your next choices to be healthy as well. Therefore it’s a good idea to have a glass of water on your night stand when you go to bed and then drink it first thing when you wake up. This way you’ve already started your day, acting in service of your body. At the same time you’ll be reminding your body that it likes water, so that it will remember to ask for more of it throughout the day. Further, drinking water before getting out of bed means you’re re-hydrating your body before giving it caffeine (if you’re a coffee drinker). In our sleep we breathe deeply and sometimes we sweat a little too. This makes it natural to wake up in a slightly dehydrated body. Since coffee naturally stimulates the need to use the bathroom this can dehydrate us further - unless we’ve already secured ourselves by drinking water before coffee.
Speaking of coffee.. Have a glass of water with it (please!)
Coffee is something we tend to consume in large amounts without refilling our inner water supplies. This means, we often use coffee to put out our thirst. Additionally it means we’re pumping a substance into the body, which boosts our production of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol is good if we need to mobilize the body and respond to a threat. However, if we don’t use it to take physical action, extensive levels of cortisol have a tendency to increase our belly fat. Coffee in small amounts is okay, but it’s important it doesn’t become too much. To ensure this, it’s a great idea to always have a glass of water with each cup of coffee you have. Whenever we have water with our coffee we will be putting out our thirst using water. Also over time you’ll see how the body will naturally begin to choose water over coffee - even if both things are there. The body is so wise and when it’s reminded of its options, it will typically choose what’s best for it. Finally, having water with your coffee is also good because it can help lessen the damage and coloring of your teeth. It can’t take away the effect completely of course, however the water will help flush the mouth so that less dis-colouring gets stuck on your teeth.
Use a (beautiful) water bottle
Something that causes many people to wake up at night and lower their sleep quality is the need to use the bathroom. This usually happens when we’ve had too much to drink near bed time, because we haven’t had sufficient water throughout the day. Less thirst at night and better quality sleep can be obtained easily by making sure we drink water through the course of the day, rather than in the evening. To ensure this, a water bottle is a great ally. This is both because keeping a water bottle next to you will help remind you to drink water as well as help you keep track of your daily water intake. When breaking an old habit or starting a new one, it’s easy to get frustrated or irritated with the change we’re trying to make - simply because changes are hard. Therefore it can be good to get a water bottle you really like aesthetically, so you find the change or reminder of it less irritating. I really love the lovely water bottles from AYA&IDA. You can get them in a variety of colors and sizes here, but find what really makes you tick.
Increase the quality of your water with a water filter
In Scandinavia where I live, we like to pride ourselves in the fact that we take good care of one another and the environment. At least this is what we tell ourselves. However, it’s a fact that even in a place like Denmark, we have traces of medicine and pesticides as well as other chemicals in our drinking water (you can read more about these things here). In wanting to truly nourish and care for our bodies it’s vital to be attentive to what we fill into it. And clean drinking water couldn’t be more important. Using filters that filter the water we drink is a great way to support this. Personally I’ve been very happy with the filter I have from Danish brand AQWA - especially since it’s developed for the Danish water supply and conditions. It takes out toxic chemicals like micro plastics and heavy metals without adding new ones in, and it generally improves the quality of the water. You can put this product straight onto your water tab or under the sink and there’s also a model for your shower. Plus their prices are quite good because affordable cleen water is part of their mission statement. You can find more things on these filtres here. (Disclaimer, this is not an ad I just really like this brand).
Have your water in beautiful crystal glasses
Everything tastes better when served in a beautiful way. This includes water, which is easy to forget. Some people tend to not drink enough water because we associate it with something ‘boring’ whilst coffee or a sugary drink feels more indulgent. If you fall into this category, you may help yourself shift this perspective by luxury-fying your water presentation. For instance you could serve yourself a glass of water in a beautiful wine glass or in a colourful crystal glass like these ones from the brand Anna Vin Lipa. I like the size of these glasses, since they hold quite a bit, hence it can help you cover your water intake with greater ease. The vibe and setup we create for ourselves truly matters for our experience of what we’re consuming, so don’t underestimate what this can do for you.
Add extra flavour and nourishment to your water by adding a slice of cucumber
In addition to serving your water in a luxurious way, you can also optimize your water by adding in a slice of cucumber, apple, orange, berries or the likes. Fresh herbs like basil or mint also does the trick as it adds both aesthetics as well as flavor to your water without adding artificial sweeteners, preservatives or chemicals. Also it means you’re infusing your water with just a little bit of vitamins, which only adds to its benefits to your skin. What is important is that you find the exact thing that works for you, so do experiments to find what it takes for you to cover your daily water intake.
I hope this is helpful.
Much love,
