5 Smart Tips for Staying Hydrated Throughout the Day

The Ultimate Self-Care Workbook

If you’re vowing to drink more H2O, you’re in good company. It’s a personal challenge that Jennifer Ashton, MD, chief medical correspondent of ABC News, took on, writing about her experience in her book The Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Fitter — One Month at a Time. She decided to drink only water and (unsweetened) seltzer for one month to see if it could make a measurable difference in how she felt and looked, and if she could develop the habit for the long haul. “Simply put, water is the most effective way to hydrate your body. Not only do soda and juice contain sugar and calories, which aren’t good for your overall health, they are difficult for your stomach to digest, which can aggravate dehydration,” she says.

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Here are six smart ways to drink more water — and make it tasty, too:

Uncommon Goods), which keeps track of how many times you refill in a day, or the Drink More Water Bottle ($15, Uncommon Goods), which tallies your amount by time of day. That will give you a baseline (even if that reality check is: I never refilled my bottle!) and help you calculate what you need to add.

2. Hydrate When You Wake Up and Before Meals

If you put a water bottle in front of you, it’s easy to get lost in the day’s tasks and forget to take sips, but prioritizing hydration morning, day, and night is important. “Try to have about two glasses of water first thing in the morning and then one glass of water before every meal and snack,” says Moskovitz. There’s a double benefit to pairing food and water: “Drinking H2O also helps you slow down during meal time. If you start a meal with a very empty tummy, it’s easy to eat much faster and forget to thoroughly chew, which impacts how well food is digested,” she says.

What’s more, it also may help you eat less. In a review of 11 studies and two additional reviews published in August 2013 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that increasing water intake helped dieters lose weight, but the habit did not help reduce weight in those who were not looking to shed pounds. Drinking more H2O may help dieters because it might suppress hunger, thus helping people eat less at that meal. Nonetheless, the researchers emphasize that the findings only suggest a link between hydration and weight loss. To prove that no other factors were responsible for the weight loss, more studies are needed. “The evidence for this association is still low, mostly because of the lack of good-quality studies,” they write.

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3. Eat Your Water by Following a Produce-Heavy Diet

Fruits and vegetables have a high water content that will help you meet your daily quota, says Libby Mills, RDN, a Philadelphia-based spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Fruits like cantaloupe, strawberries, and watermelon and vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, celery, spinach, and cooked squash are about 90 percent water,” she says. Dairy products, including milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese, are also good sources of water.

4. Experiment With How You Drink Water to Maximize Enjoyment

For Dr. Ashton, she had to want to drink more. If you’re the type of person who thinks plain water is, well, too plain, experiment with different temperatures and tastes. “I knew that if I made hydration as palatable as possible, I’d be able to keep it up more easily,” she says. So she tried water with ice, without ice, at room temperature, and flavored with slices of fruit. Her preference ended up being plain cold water with no ice, but that doesn’t have to be yours. Try out different flavors by adding fresh fruit (like the discarded strawberry tops from breakfast), vegetables (cucumber slices), or herbs (fresh basil or ginger).

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5. Keep Track of Hydration With a Smartphone App

Make your water bottle your smartphone’s new companion. “Just like you keep your phone right next to you at all times, you should keep a BPA-free water bottle [within reach],” says Moskovitz. Make your phone work for you by using a well-rated, popular hydration-tracking app, like Water Reminder (free on Google Play), Drink Water Reminder N Tracker (free on the App Store), or Water Drink Reminder (free on Google Play), which allow you to keep track of what you’re consuming. They will also remind you during the day to start swigging. If you don’t want to download an app, set a timer on your phone to go off every hour to remind you to drink.