In almost every single health-related article I’ve written here at LittleThings, there’s one home treatment method that always appears: drink enough water.
But what is enough water? How many bottles of water a day should I drink? And is “enough” water actually reasonable? I decided to find out.
Staying hydrated can aid with everything from skin health to kidney stones, and can help you feel more energetic, awake, and alert throughout the day.
Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston swear by drinking bottles and bottles of water every day.
Plus, it’s not like I’m getting a surgical procedure done or laser-removing all of my body hair. Drinking a few more bottles of water is probably the easiest thing I can do to look more like a celeb.
I’ve always known that drinking water is good for you — I used to be a competitive gymnast, and during that time I drank a lot of water (that’s kind of just what you do when you’re working out for five hours every day).
But now, if I’m given a choice of water or something else (soda, juice, etc.), I’ll probably choose the non-water option. I know water is healthier, but let’s be real, it’s just not as yummy.
In an effort to find out how reasonable it is to drink the doctor-recommended amount of water (that I recommend to our readers so often), I decided to cut out all other drinks and only drink water for a week.
Here’s what happened.
How Much Water Should You Drink A Day?
According to the Mayo Clinic, different people need to drink different amounts of water each day, depending on how healthy you are, what the temperature/climate is, and how much you exercise.
The general recommendation is for people to drink six to eight glasses of water or other fluids each day. That comes to 48 to 64 ounces of water each day.
Because there are eight fluid ounces in a cup, you should drink eight cups of water per day.
Most disposable water bottles are around 16 ounces, so that would mean you should drink three to four bottles of water each day.
Benefits Of Drinking Water
There are a variety of benefits to drinking water — your body needs an appropriate amount of water in order to function properly.
The Mayo Clinic explains that water makes up 60 percent of your body weight. Every single system in your body relies on water to function.
According to WebMD, some of the benefits of drinking enough bottles of water include energizing muscles, controlling calories, hydrating your skin, helping your kidneys, and maintaining normal bowel function.
Preparation
To prepare for my water experiment, I bought a one-liter (about 32 ounce) CamelBak water bottle.
I bought the light blue one because it was the most LittleThings-like, then I turned to Pinterest for inspiration.
I knew I wanted to put some notes on my water bottle to encourage me to keep going, and I decided the best course of action would be to make myself a little timeline.
Since the water bottle was about 32 ounces and I wanted to drink 64 ounces each day, I knew I’d need to drink two full bottles of water each day.
I marked times on the water bottle as seen in the photo above.
At 7 a.m., I’d start with a full bottle of water.
By 3 p.m., I’d finish the first bottle and refill.
By 11 p.m., I’d finish the second bottle of water.
Day 1
I’m not going to lie — I was nervous about this experiment.
I typically drink some water throughout the day, but only drinking bottles of water for an entire week? It sounded difficult.
I also have never been huge on drinking a lot of fluids. In high school, my dad would always get mad at me for putting half-finished drinks in the fridge, but I could just never finish them at once!
On day one I was pretty positive I was going to have to force myself to drink the water most of the time — and I can’t say I got off to the best start.
I woke up late and was supposed to be heading to my friend’s house for brunch, but I instantly wanted coffee the moment I got out of bed.
I finally got myself to the subway station, only to realize that my train wasn’t running.
Half an hour later I was finally on the train, but I realized it was already well after 11 a.m. and I had barely started drinking water.
I chugged down some of the water, but I noticed a girl with an iced coffee across the train and was instantly jealous.
I even had a caffeine headache… It was going to be a long week.
Day 2
By the end of day one, I had successfully downed my entire water bottle twice. I was looking forward to getting into a drinking-water routine as I headed to work on Monday morning.
I originally thought that writing the times on my water bottle wouldn’t really help, but it honestly was the biggest lifesaver.
It was so easy to glance at my computer’s clock, then check to make sure my water intake matched up.
I fell a little behind during day two, but I knew I would catch up when I went to a barre class that night.
By the end of the evening, I’d gotten through both of my bottles of water, and I was surprised that I was actually looking forward to day three.
Day 3
On my way to work on day three, there was a power outage on another train, which meant I sat on the train for over an hour and a half before ending up back home.
Working from home was harder than I thought it would be because there were more temptations, like lemonade and iced tea.
And even though I’m pretty inactive at work, I was even more inactive at home, which made me less thirsty in general.
By day three, though, I was happy to find that I’d finally stopped having headaches.
Day 4
Day four went as expected: there were no surprises, and I finished my bottles of water without any drama.
By day four, drinking the 64 ounces of water didn’t feel like a challenge anymore; it actually felt pretty natural.
This was the first day I could imagine drinking this much water regularly (and not just for the week).
Day 5
On day five I started noticing that I was craving soda, but I kept going with my water.
Anytime I thought about wanting to drink something else, I sipped on my water and reminded myself that it was so much healthier to drink the water.
I was also surprised on the night of day five that I finished my water early and actually wanted more — even though I was craving other drinks, I was also craving extra water.
Day 6
Day six was once again uneventful. I successfully drank all my water and felt the water cravings continue like the day before.
All week, I made sure to carry the water bottle in my purse — I thought it would be heavy and annoying, but by day six it felt natural to fill up the bottle and put it in my bag before I left my house in the morning.
Day 7
On day seven, I went to the dentist’s office, then to brunch.
I knew that they would numb my mouth at the dentist, so I tried to drink as much water as I could before my appointment.
I finished my water at brunch, but then realized I had no way to refill it before going home, so I stepped out into the rain and caught a few droplets (as you can see in the photo above).
It wasn’t a real solution, but it pointed to the fact that even a week in, I still didn’t have my water planning down pat.
During the afternoon and evening on day seven, I swear I probably peed 15 times.
I was shocked that it hadn’t hit me until day seven, but I felt like literally all the water from the week was coming out of me at once.
What Does Drinking 64 Ounces Of Water A Day Do?
By the end of the week, I was definitely ready to be done with the experiment.
I wanted to be able to drink on my own schedule and not only drink water (although, I won’t lie, I did cave a few times and have a couple small cups of coffee when it was absolutely necessary).
I think to get the full benefits of drinking enough water, it needs to be a full-on lifestyle change, not just a week-long experiment.
But I did notice that, after getting over the caffeine withdrawal, I felt like I had more natural energy throughout the week.
I’ll also get a little gross here, but my bowel function was definitely more regular than it normally is.
My appetite seemed to stay the same (I might have actually eaten even more snacks since I didn’t have any calories going to drinks).
As far as skin health goes, I didn’t notice any major changes, but I did feel a little less oily when I woke up each morning (which is definitely a plus in my book!).
How Much Is Too Much Water?
Although it’s hard, Mayo Clinic says it is actually possible to drink too much water (but it’s very rare among healthy adults who eat a normal diet).
If you drink too much water, your kidneys aren’t able to get rid of the extra water.
This means that the minerals in your blood get diluted, which can make your blood sodium levels too low — this is called hyponatremia.
There’s no exact amount of water that’s considered too much, but unless you’re an endurance athlete (like a marathon runner), you typically don’t need to worry about drinking too much water.
At the end of the week, I was happy to have had so much water — and I’ll definitely try to keep drinking a lot of water in the future.
If you’re thinking about trying to drink more water, you should definitely go for it. It’s not as hard as you might think!
I was honestly surprised at how easy I found it to drink so much water.
If you do try this experiment yourself, I would recommend writing on your water bottle — it helped so much more than I expected.
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