I’m starting to stand on my side the Lifehacker commentators On the subject: Drinking any amount of water (in this case, a gallon) every day feels like scientific hocus-pocus, a measure that looks good on paper, but the need for which varies greatly from person to person – and of course, too of your diet since you are getting water out the food you eat, also.
Does a person really have to drink a gallon of water every day? Probably not. Does it make you healthier to drink more water than average? Safe up to a point. But I’m starting to believe that the biggest benefit of consuming a gallon of water a day is that you’ll be moving a lot more, what with all the times you get up to pee.
As for the actual health benefits, I’m not a scientist, but I drank as much of a gallon of water (i.e., as I could) every day for the entire month.It is difficult!), and I don’t feel that different. My constantly dry skin doesn’t feel slippery and hydrated. I haven’t lost any significant weight (but who knows, maybe that’ll change if I stop puffing myself up with all that water); and I’m still not a great morning person. Only now do I wake up and drink water while staring into the void that is my desktop monitor. I think drinking water helps me wake up a little more than doing nothing, so there it is. I bet jumping in the shower right after waking up would have a similar effect. Or sip a delicious cold brew.
I am struggling to think of other benefits that I saw from Lifehacker’s watery fitness challenge. I pee a lot more and as I go to the bathroom more and more I keep reminding myself, “Ah, I should allow some time to clean the bathroom.” This is never a bad thing. I also clean my water jug a lot more – every day, really. This is good! And it’s generally a good thing to drink pure, refreshing water rather than harmful, fizzy soda. I haven’t touched the latter since the beginning of March, and I’m sure I can get a health benefit from not drinking useless carbohydrates and sugar every day. I’m still waiting for the bathroom scales Beget meeven though.
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Still, this water challenge reminds me of the simple premise that a quick fix doesn’t make a healthy lifestyle. You can’t force your path to a better body simply by making a drastic change in your life – like drinking an absurd amount of water every day. A gradual change across multiple areas pays better than an extreme change in a target area, unless you are aiming for an obvious healthy change like “no more fast food”.
More specifically, I think I would probably see more tangible health benefits if I combined a newfound appreciation for water – not an extreme devotion to a gallon a day, but simply adding more water to my life – with other activities. Maybe a nice walk during lunch a couple of times a week or a set time on the spin bike. Or even something as small as “going to bed at an appropriate time every night” or “taking more breaks from the stupid computer, my lifeline to the world during the pandemic”.
That’s the biggest benefit I’ve had from this three week water challenge so far. Unfortunately, it didn’t improve my skin, but it made me think more about a healthier lifestyle. As a result, I’ve started making other small changes that will hopefully lead to gradual improvements. Drinking all of this water every day has been a good health reminder, if not necessarily an act that will recharge my health on its own.
Even so, my bladder is likely to be Olympic level at this point. If there’s one thing training this month, this is it.
