How To Drink More Water + 30 Day Habit Tracker
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I’m shocking at drinking water. There are some days that I can go the whole day with drinking 1-2 glasses of water.
I just don’t get thirsty.
I know how important it is to drink 6-8+ glasses of water a day and I tell all my clients to drink plenty of water, especially after a massage, but doing it myself? That’s a whole other story. It was until 2018. I passed out 3 times and the 3rd time I ended up in hospital as I hit my head on the dishwasher as I fell. (Surprisingly I never had a head ache. must have a pretty hard head:))
All my tests came back ok. Nothing wrong with my heart or brain. All blood tests came back good as well so it has become a bit of a mystery as to what caused me to pass out.
To be honest though, I hadn’t been feeling the best the last year or so. I was experiencing symptoms such as:
heart palpitations
light headedness
foggy head
not being able think properly
my eyesight had started to blur
hot and cold flushes
shakiness
tiredness
headaches
Um, now that I’ve written down my symptoms it actually looks a bit serious. I just thought I was tired and over working. Ha! Talk about head in the sand syndrome.
Anyway, while I was in hospital the nurses and Dr repeatedly asked me how much water I would drink in a typical day. I actually thought I wasn’t doing too bad in the water department (I KNOW!!) I knew I didn’t drink as much as I should but I didn’t realise how little I was drinking.
The reason the question was asked was apparently lack of water (or dehydration) can cause our blood pressure to drop, among a number of other symptoms. I never knew this. It kind of made sense. The only thing that was picked up was that my blood pressure would drop when I stood up. Not dramatically but it did drop.
So, once out of hospital I decided to run an experiment on myself. I love doing this- running little experiments on myself. What would happen if I increased my water intake over the next week?
I tried it and do you know what? Every single one of the symptoms mentioned above disappeared almost over night!
Wow!
To date I haven’t passed out for just over 6 months and the symptoms I mentioned above are way less if not gone all together.
There are some days where I get a bit forgetful and fall back into bad habits however I’m quickly reminded to drink water when I start feeling low again.
I also did some research into the effects of dehydration and I found it fascinating how much our bodies rely on water to keep them functioning at an optimal level. In fact, extreme dehydration can cause some frightening symptoms.
Here’s What A Lack Of Water Can Cause In Our Body:
dry mouth
sleepiness
Muscle weakness
fatigue
headache
dizziness
digestive issues
heart palpation’s
If That isn’t Enough, Check Out What Extreme Dehydration Can Cause:
confusion
irritability
low blood pressure
sunken eyes
skin that doesn’t bounce back when touched
rapid heart beat
fever
delirium
lethargy
convulsions
Yep, I had quite a few of those symptoms.
So, How Do I Increase My Water Intake?
I have to admit that after a while I get bored of water and sometimes the thought of drinking more makes me feel sick. This is not an excuse though and it has prompted me to go in search of more creative ways to increase my water levels.
If you find that you struggle to drink plain water you might want to try some of the suggestions below:
try putting a slice or two of lemon or lime or even orange in your water
Infuse water with berries or other fruits-
Add mint leaves and lemon
Herbal teas
I even went through a stage where I added a few drops of apple cider vinegar to my water. Some people can’t stand the taste but if you can it just takes the water taste away and has amazing health benefits
I purchased a Fressko bottle as I love the look of them. You can use it for cold and hot beverages. the cool thing is it has a tea strainer that sits in the top of the bottle so you can 'brew as you go’. You can also add fruit and herbs to it as well and it looks so stylish. This has actually helped me to drink more water as I really like the look of the bottle
FREE Habit Tracker
Something else I started, which has really helped me, is a habit tracker of the amount of water I need to drink a day. This has been such a great help as I can colour in a section for each glass of water I drink. It not only keeps me accountable, I can also see at the end of the day how much water I have actually had.
I’ve included a a copy of the habit tracker I used so if you’d like to use it as well you can GRAB IT HERE.
Now, I’m off to have another glass of water:)
How many glasses have you had today?