Staying hydrated is crucial, but drinking the recommended six to eight glasses of water per day can be a challenge. If you find yourself struggling to meet hydration goals, try implementing positive reinforcement into your routine to encourage yourself to drink more water. Learn how to set goals for yourself and strengthen your hydration habits with helpful tips.
Set hydration goals
If you don’t drink enough water, dehydration is a major risk factor and you can experience the harmful effects before you even realize you are thirsty. In general: drink eight glasses of water a day should help most people maintain adequate hydration.
While this amount varies depending on body weight, eight 8-ounce glasses of water is a reasonable goal at the beginning of your hydration journey. As you improve your hydration status, you can adjust your goals to account for more complicated metrics. To start, aim for half a gallon or 64 ounces throughout the day.
Understand the principles of positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement attempts to change behavior by providing a reward. Negative reinforcement, the opposite, imposes a punishment when the behavior does not meet the required goal. Rewarding your behavior, especially if you’re trying to make healthier decisions for yourself, is a good approach to making changes that stick.
Individuals are more likely to associate the behavior change with a positive outcome, which can stimulate motivationraising morale and strengthening results. By using positive reinforcement in your hydration goals, you can teach yourself to look forward to drinking water every day.
How to build positive hydration habits
There are several ways to build habits using the principles of positive reinforcement to achieve your water goals. The following methods can help you drink more water throughout the day and live a healthier lifestyle.
Reward yourself
As a standard principle of positive reinforcement, earning rewards for meeting your water intake can make you look forward to hydration every day. Think of small treats, such as a more luxurious coffee or tea during lunch the next day or extra time to play a video game in the evening. You can also try longer-term rewards, such as adding money to a pot to save for a trip or a special meal.
Rewards should be outside of your normal routine and feel special when you reach the goal. Be careful not to stray into negative reinforcement methods by withholding the pleasures of life that you would normally enjoy. Once you’re consistently achieving a goal and the rewards just start to feel, try something new.
Set fun reminders
Phone reminders and calendar notifications can be useful tools for keeping yourself accountable, and they can be as useful and fun as you make them. If you find that traditional computerized reminders are straying into negative reinforcement territory, consider switching to cute, custom-made sticky notes. Hide them around your home for a surprise that will remind you to drink water when you come across them.
There are also apps that gamify your habits. You can record your water goals and intake throughout the day, and your character’s health bar will reflect your performance, encouraging you to return.
Customize your water bottle
Reusable water bottles are both trendy and incredibly convenient. Available in a variety of sizes and styles, there’s a bottle to help you track your water intake wherever you go. Carrying water with you all day is a great way to passively meet your hydration goals.
There are also Bluetooth water bottles that use technology to track your water intake. Whether you want to carry a large half-liter bottle with you or sip from something smaller, you can personalize your water drinking experience with stickers, colors and technology.
Flavor water
Flavored water is an excellent way to make it feel like a treat. Add fruit to your water for delicious natural flavors and health benefits such as added nutrients, antioxidants and vitamins. You can also experiment with different flavors and herbal teas, such as cucumber and mint.
Add flavored carbonated water to your day to contribute to your daily water intake while providing an alternative to soda or other sugary drinks. The drink tastes like a reward in itself and makes drinking water a lot more pleasant.
Add water to meals
Drinking water with meals supports digestion and contributes to your hydration goals. Other ways to increase your water intake during meals include drinking water foods with a higher water contentsuch as cucumber, lettuce and watermelon. Soups and teas are also good sources of hydration.
While these foods should not supplement your water intake, they do contribute to your overall hydration level. Including these in your diet can be a nice break from consistently drinking water, and you can use positive reinforcement to encourage yourself to consume these foods.
Maintain long-term hydration
Once you set goals and integrate these habits into your daily routine, make sure you stick to them and stick with them. Track your progress and record successes and shortcomings to keep improving every day. As time passes, you can reflect on how far you’ve come and realign yourself with new goals. Hydration is a lifelong commitment, so having a solid foundation and structure will help you in the long run.
Kick dehydration into the lid
Staying hydrated is one of the most important habits to build, and achieving hydration goals can be a major achievement. By setting yourself up for success through positive reinforcement, you can look forward to being hydrated every day.
