A Simple Hack to Drink More Water Every Day – Backed by Psychology!

We may survive without food for weeks or months, but without water, it’s not possible. because it’s essentially what our body is composed of. On average, an adult human body consists of approximately 60% water. Water is present in every cell, and it’s the medium in which all metabolic reactions occur. I write this blog to share my personal experience of drinking water during the work time. I usually drink a very little amount of water because I don’t feel thirsty, and I often forget. The bottle I brought to the workplace was so appealing. An SS bottle with a blue coating roughly contains 750 ml of water and is easy to carry in the bag. But the problem is that I rarely drink water from it. By the evening, almost half the water would still be left. over time, I started experiencing fatigue, dry skin, and all. So thought to change this behavior and decided to drink more water. However, the very next day itself after making this decision, I forgot to take my bottle to work so I bought a 1-liter drinking water from a bakery (disposable clear bottle). That day I finished the entire bottle during work hours, and it made me aware of how dehydrated I was as there was no urge to urinate. From then on, I started refilling the same clear transparent bottle daily (which holds one liter of water) and carried it to work, placed it within my sight.

Most of the days, I drank all the water and there were some days when a few mL were left. Although, I observed a significant improvement in water intake than before. What I noticed is that seeing the water through the clear transparent bottle created an urge to drink even when not feeling thirsty. Another thing I did intentionally was keeping the bottle within arm’s reach during the break hour and I quickly drink some water when I hear the siren signaling the end of break. Over time, this action slowly turned into a habit. This small change has worked for me unknowingly, and later I noticed how it works. FIRST IS, there is a psychology behind visual hints. As thirst is a delayed signal, we often forget to drink water. But our brain is designed to prioritize visual information over other inputs because sight helps us react quickly to the environment to make decisions and triggers behavior. A clear transparent bottle works better since it can remind us to drink- the sight of water does it for us. For this, it’s important to place the bottle where you frequently look. Also, a transparent bottle shows how much water is left to drink and pushes us to complete it. The SECOND thing is pairing it with a reminder, like associating drinking water with break times or other routines. These together helps form a habit, and over time, drinking water becomes an effortless process. It’s simple and effective.