It’s not easy to have a body. It’s basically an entire ecosystem that you’ve been put in charge of without even applying for the job. And now you have to water it every day. Not just a little bit, but all the time. A glass of water and then another and another… and so it goes. Just constantly drinking liquid as if your life depended on it (and it does).
But how much water is really enough? Expert recommendations vary, putting them between two and three liters, or eight glasses per day, depending on your size, the weather, and general activity levels (a marathon runner will need more water than someone, say me, who he sits in front of his laptop all day). And water doesn’t just keep you alive in a vague way. Regulates temperature, improves brain function and helps with skin health. Provides essential nutrients to cells and removes harmful toxins and waste. Yes, water really is that girl.
Although most of us know it, many of us don’t keep track of exactly how much we drink. It can be boring to drink water when we could just consume a Diet Coke, and who has time to constantly get up to go to the bathroom one more time when there are deadlines to meet and text messages to respond to. But are we missing any tricks? Could we transform our lives if we simply followed the guidelines and increased our water intake? There was only one way to find out. I decided to drink 2.5 liters of water a day for a week to see if it made any difference to my body, mind and soul.
Days one to three
Well, this is when I really start to see some improvements. For a long time, I have tended to experience a power drop around 2pm that lasts into the early evening. I thought this had something to do with circadian rhythms, or just my constitution, but during this experiment, I noticed that my usual midday slump never comes. In fact, I’m usually much more awake and focused during the day. Nor in an exaggerated way, like when you drink a lot of caffeine. What’s more, my thoughts are able to organize themselves perfectly without getting tired. I am more productive and definitely less slow.
It is also easier to drink the 2.5 liters. This is probably less because I’ve gotten used to it and more because I go to the gym several times between days three and five, so I physically need more water. As someone who is… the same height as Lady Gaga, I probably don’t need to drink as much water on days I’m sitting in an office with the air conditioning blasting. Drinking too much water can also be dangerous and cause something called water toxicity. So yeah, go easy on the old clear liquid if you’re feeling completely hydrated. But 2.5 liters was enough for me if I had been very active.
Days five to seven
When I look in the mirror after a week of this, I’m pretty sure my face looks brighter. Not in a really drastic way: this is not The Substance. Simply in the sense that my face looks like it does when I have a “good face day.” Imperceptible to others, but slightly wetter to my own eyes. I also continue to experience sustained mental clarity and a lack of slowness. In fact, since I started drinking my 2.5 liters, I haven’t felt tired until bedtime. Even during the days before my period, which is when I tend to turn into that tired-eyed DW meme, I feel good.
Now for the bottom line: drinking 2.5 liters a day hasn’t completely transformed my life in such a way that I’m going to throw out all my skincare products and quit my job to do traveling seminars on how to drink water. But the benefits are positive and notable enough to continue drinking the same amount long after this experiment. The constant getting up to go to the bathroom is a little annoying, but it’s a small price to pay for feeling like a well-oiled machine in human form. I had no idea beforehand that it was a rusty old machine, but we live and (hopefully) learn.
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