“This is what happened when I took hydration seriously for just two weeks”

In 2023, Buxton is proud to partner with Mind to support the sweat and tears of 15 Rise Up Runners. 15 real people, each facing their own physical and mental struggles, who are bravely taking on the ultimate test of resilience; The London Marathon. Their road to the race will be part of Buxton and Mind’s wider mission to promote better physical and mental wellbeing across the nation, through exercise and hydration.

Drinking more water is perhaps chief among those resolutions that are at the top of everyone’s list and tend to stay there. Like sleeping eight hours a night, eating a wide variety of fresh food or steering clear of alcohol. It’s the kind of thing I’ve always known I should be doing more of than I have been doing.

That is until I was set the challenge of taking my hydration seriously for two weeks, and I finally got to find out whether staying hydrated is as good and simple as people say.

The first thing I discovered was how wrong I was about how seriously I’d been taking my hydration previously. I resolved to diligently track my water intake and found I was probably averaging a litre or so a day – on a good day. Considering the active lifetyle I lead, this was way beneath what I should have been drinking.

It wasn’t until I actually monitored my drinking that I realised I would tend to neglect it through much of the day, instead having relatively small amounts in the morning and then in the evening.

So, after doing the audit, I used the same app – Waterminder, in my case, though there are plenty of other ones available – to give me regular notifications to drink. Every 90 minutes or so, it would pop up and remind me to have a sip if I hadn’t recently.

The experiment began in earnest, with a big bottle of water, constant reminders, and a commitment to hold myself to my targets. At first, it felt a little odd, constantly carrying a water bottle around and being pinged by my watch about drinking from it.

But very quickly it began to feel normal, and I came to see those constant pings as reminders that I was looking after my health. I started to feel better, too, as my body came to appreciate being looked after.

My attention didn’t drop as the evening arrived, something that I had presumed was just a natural consequence of the long day. And my concentration kept steady throughout the day, meaning I was able to stay in the kind of flow state that can be so helpful for remaining productive at work. I began to feel better in my body, too. My skin felt more hydrated, and I didn’t feel as tired.

Heading into the experiment, I made myself deeply aware of the scientific research that indicates all this: that even a relatively small drop in body water can impair physical and cognitive functions, and that staying hydrated is therefore important to keeping them going. But actually feeling it happen is a very different experience.

One thing that isn’t mentioned quite so often when people are telling you to drink more water is the obvious fact that it also means you go to the toilet more. That in turn serves as a regular reminder to stand up, to walk around a little, and in so doing to take a break from your desk. Experts are unanimous that constant sitting is bad for your wellbeing and your productivity, and I immediately felt lifted by integrating that light movement into my day.

This, really, is what a practice of regular water drinking does, I found. You feel somehow fresher, quicker, more alert– just better.

Have you ever cycled home with a chain that needs a grease, and experienced that nagging feeling that something doesn’t feel right? And then when you get it oiled up, everything feels slicker, and you realise just how much you’d been missing? That’s how I felt after those two weeks. I hadn’t become a new person, undergone a vast personality change or acquired superpowers.

I was the same but better. My mood was brighter, I felt less fatigued and general movement felt easier. In modest but important ways, I just felt healthier. And proper hydration was the key.

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Find out more about the Sweat and Tears campaign and how it aims to promote better physical and mental well-being across the nation, through exercise and hydration.