After focusing on developing a better sleep schedule and the impacts it had on my mental health in the past two weeks, I thought that this week I could attempt a new habit and dive into the positive impacts it has on me! I thought that a good habit to develop was drinking more water!
I chose this habit because I always feel so much better when I have been drinking water consistently throughout the day and I wanted to know how this simple act would benefit me throughout the week. I was hoping to get into the routine of drinking water more often by the end of this week. According to Healthline, dehydration has been linked to an increase in depression, anxiety and other mental health states. Increasing your water intake can lead to feeling more happiness and feeling more calm. I also think that this habit would help me lessen the amount of coffee/soda that I drink by replacing it with water.
My goal this week was to drink at least two water bottles full of water each day. My water bottle as some of you may have seen in class already, holds 32 oz of water. The daily recommended amount is around 4 to 6 cups of water. If I drink 2 bottles of water a day that would be 8 cups of water!
Overall, I reached my goal each day by drinking two water bottles worth of water each day. What helped me stay motivated was having a way to measure my water intake with my water bottle. I also noticed how I didn’t have coffee every morning because most mornings I was just focused more on drinking enough water throughout the day, this was a good habit to break! Sometimes habits are not good for you and breaking habits can be harder than building new ones.
I noticed that by drinking a good amount of water each day I felt a lot more relaxed and out together. Feeling dehydrated always makes me irritated and tired so by avoiding this issue I felt a lot more energized. I recommend that everyone tries to drink more water each day since it is such a simple habit to pick up and leads to great rewards!
Sources:
Stanborough, R. J. (2020, December 15). Dehydration and anxiety: Understanding the connection. Healthline. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from .https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/dehydration-andanxiety#:~:text=Research%20also%20shows%20that%20water,among%20other%20unhealthy%20mental%20states.
How much water should you drink? Harvard Health. (2022, May 15). Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-much-water-should-you-drink
October 23, 2022 at 3:44 pm
Hi Lexi,
Thank you for sharing! I am one of those people who always struggles with sleep. I either can’t fall asleep or I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep. I never realized that maybe it could be because I am not drinking enough water. I also didn’t know that not drinking enough water can affect your mental health.
I am now going to try this myself. I do try to drink enough water, but coffee is always my go to, which is not great. I want to see drinking more water will help me.
October 31, 2022 at 11:33 am
Hi Lexi 🙂 This was a wonderful read. Thank you for reminding me to drink water because I’m sure that it could really benefit me. I’ll try and drink 2 water bottles a day as well!