How’s your hydration? Many people, especially adults who work full-time jobs or have similar time commitments, find it difficult to stay consistently hydrated throughout the day. Fortunately, you can do many things to ensure you’re staying hydrated, from getting a big water jug to setting reminders to help yourself drink more often. But what if there was a simple and convenient way for you to keep track of your daily hydration?

If that sounds interesting to you, you might want to try checking out a water jug with times written on the side.

Time Stamps on a Water Bottle

These water bottles are basically what they sound like-they’re water bottles, whether plastic, stainless steel, or thermos water bottles, which allow you to keep a lot of drinking water in them so that you can stay hydrated throughout the day. But that’s not too unique; the new feature of these water bottles is that they are labeled on the outside, with horizontal lines at various points of the bottle, each labeled with an hour of the day. For example, a water jug with times might have a line near the top that says “9 AM,” followed by “10 AM,” then 11, and so on. 

So why are they designed in that way? Well, the trick here is that you can time your water drinking (and thus your hydration) based on the labels on the side of the bottle. You’ll be able to see the water level in your bottle, and make sure that you’re drinking the recommended amount every hour.

This approach is different from how we normally reach our water intake for the day, but there are actually a lot of ways in which it’s very helpful. Many people don’t get enough water throughout the day, and this kind of bottle could help with that specifically. Many of those who aren’t getting enough water throughout the day are in that state because they only drink intermittently, probably just when they feel thirsty. This works okay in some circumstances, if you’re having a normal day and have access to water. However, in the middle of a busy day, we might not notice that we’re thirsty with everything else that’s going on, or it might be difficult to consistently make the time that we need for it. So, that leads us to the next point...

Why is the time marking so helpful?

To explain why these markings are so useful for many people, let’s think about the value of how we stay hydrated. 

First, something important to remember: it’s better to stay hydrated consistently than to drink a lot at once, then forget to drink for the rest of the day. Think of it like waves: a series of high waves, with tall crests and low troughs, would be like a non-consistent method of hydration. You’re very hydrated at some points, and much less hydrated at others. On the other hand, a consistent method of hydration, like keeping track of your water drinking through a water bottle with times on it, would be more like a calm body of water, with much smaller dips and rises in the waves.  

Perhaps that’s not a perfect analogy in every way, but I’m sure that you can see how much better it would be to try to swim through the calmer water! In the same way, it’s helpful for your body to keep hydrated consistently throughout the day.  

In the same way, it’s hard sometimes to just get the right amount of water for a day, even if you weren’t going to try to drink it all in one sitting. Most people don’t pay too much attention to the quantity of water that they drink-we might pay attention to how much soda we drink, or to other less-healthy beverages, but water is often more of an afterthought than anything else.  

A labeled water bottle will help with all of these things. When you have a labeled water bottle, that gives you small, manageable goals to approach throughout the day; this makes it much easier to make the time and effort needed to stay consistently hydrated. You’ll know that you only need to drink a very small amount of water every hour in order to stay on track, and if you’re thirsty, there’s nothing wrong with getting a little ahead of the game by drinking extra! 

However you approach it, this kind of water bottle can give you the step-by-step goals that many people find especially helpful when approaching big goals...like drinking the recommended amount of water intake in any given day! 

Motivational Drinking

Another thing you might want to consider is amotivational water bottle. These plastic water bottles have encouraging phrases written on them, instead of or in addition to the time measurements. 

These bottles have the additional benefit of reminding you of your goals and reasons for staying hydrated, and of keeping your spirits up throughout the day. A little encouragement never hurts, and sometimes seeing your reusable plastic bottle say, “You can do it!” is that little extra push you might need to finish your water for that hour, or even the whole day.  

Drinking Throughout the Day

We’ve talked in general terms about how drinking throughout the day, consistently, can be helpful, but now let’s look at some more of the specifics. Why is consistent drinking, of the kind that a labeled water bottle would help you achieve, so beneficial

1. It can help with weight management.

In addition to all the normal benefits of hydration, staying consistently hydrated throughout the day can help many people with their weight management. Drinking additional water before meals, not just during or after them,has been shown to help people consume less sugar and fat and make them feel more naturally full. 

2. It can help regulate your body temperature.

Dehydrationhas been linked to difficulties in controlling body temperature, meaning that inconsistent hydration can make it so your body stores excess heat and you get hot more easily throughout the day. Consistent hydration will help avoid this problem!

3. Consistent hydration can help reduce headaches.

Finally, one other benefit of consistent hydration is that it helps you avoid headaches, which are acommon side effect of dehydration. It’s hard to stop these headaches by hydrating once they start, so keeping a consistent water intake throughout the day will also stave these off.

So, if you’re interested in more consistent hydration, consider a water bottle with time stamps!