How I Finally Figured out how to Drink more Water

I am not the most evolved being when it comes to drinking enough water.

I continually forget to take my water bottle along. And when I do take it along, I often misplace it or leave it in the car.

 To be honest, I just forget to drink water! And I then suffer from the resulting lethargy and headaches... wondering why I'm so exhausted!

Except in the summer... when I'm working in the garden... then I can drink water like a fish (I know... fish don't drink water... but you get the point).

This is a rather hypocritical state for me to be in. When my Dad was struggling with dementia, I had signs posted all around his suite, urging him to drink more water. We had full glasses of water sitting on the counter and his dining table and his side table. None of it made any difference. He was chronically dehydrated and yet, because the elderly tend to have decreased thirst, he just wouldn't drink enough. 

So... here I am... in kind of the same boat... although not as elderly! I know that not drinking enough water leads to all sorts of issues (including restless leg syndrome) but... how to actually drink more water?

Last weekend, I think I figured it out... at least, I hope so...

Here's my trick. Every time I go to the toilet, I grab my toothbrush cup, fill it with water and drink it down. After I'm finished using the toilet, I do it again. Simple and easy.

This is a beautiful example of habit stacking... except not really, because going to the bathroom is a necessity not a habit! But still... I'm tacking the habit of drinking more water onto something that is already a solid (or liquid) part of my day.

My toothbrush cup

The beauty in this is... the more water that I drink... the more I need to go to the bathroom and... the more often I go to the bathroom... the more water I will drink!

A classic example of a positive feedback loop.

Now, my toothbrush cup isn't huge... it only holds a shade over 6 ounces and a standard glass is 8 oz.  Given that the average human should be drinking 8 glasses of water (8 oz glasses) a day... that's, let's see... 64 ounces, which means I need to drink 11 toothbrush cups worth of water. Soo... if I go to the bathroom 6 times in a day, I'm set!

I like this method because it's: (a) super simple and (b) it's done in small steps. I don't need to drink a litre at a time. All I need to do is drink 6 ounces before I go to the toilet and 6 ounces afterwards. Love it!

P.S.

And yes, I drink the tap water here. We have excellent tap water and I've never been much of a bottled water fan.

P.P.S.

As an aside... I've had that toothbrush cup for... ooohhh... since I was about 5 years old. That faded, dilapidated sticker used to be a little mouse. My sister had a white cup, my mom had a green one and my dad had a yellow one. I think my toothbrush cup is the last one standing...

P.P.S.

Having done this for a week now... I can definitely say... It WORKS! I am drinking my daily quota of water and it's not hard. Most days I'm drinking 15 of my little toothbrush cups. And... in order to keep track of this, my partner suggested a super simple system... We have a pottery dish with decorative rocks on the bathroom counter. It has 15 rocks in it and every time I drink a cup of water, I remove a rock from the plate and place it on the counter...

Super simple but anything would work, moving marbles from one glass to another... or paperclips or... whatever. Get creative... Even a piece of paper where you can track how many glasses/cups you drink.