Drink the waterHabits

unbry

Drink the water

A short book about going through the day slightly dry and reaching for coffee and biscuits instead

24 chapters10,515 wordsAbout 48 minFirst edition

What's inside

·Before you startThis is a short book and you can read it in two sittings. It's about a habit so ordinary that it barely counts as one. You get up, you have a coffee, you…2 min
1Two coffees and a headache at threeSeven o'clock, a coffee. The first one is the good one. Ten o'clock, at your desk, another, because someone's going to the machine and it would be odd not…2 min
2Why the day goes dryNobody decides to spend the day dry. The day goes dry because of five things that are each reasonable, and I want to give them their due before I take…2 min
3"I'm not thirsty"If you're not thirsty, you can't be short of fluid. That's the belief, and it's a fair one, because thirst is what the body has for the job, and if the…2 min
4"Coffee counts, so I'm fine"This one is half right, and the half that's right matters, so I'll give it first. The NHS says that water, lower-fat milk and sugar-free drinks, including…2 min
5"I'd never manage eight glasses"Eight glasses of water a day, and coffee doesn't count. Everyone's heard it, most people have failed at it, and the failure is a reason to do nothing…2 min
6"The afternoon is just like that"The heaviness after lunch, the headache, the screen that's harder to read at three than it was at eleven. Everyone gets that, you've been told, and it's…2 min
7"I'm hungry, not thirsty"The two o'clock biscuit and the four o'clock one. You reach for them because you're peckish, and being peckish is being hungry, and hungry people eat.…2 min
8"Water doesn't actually do anything"You've drunk a glass of water before and felt nothing. Nothing lifted, nothing cleared. So whatever the studies say about laboratories, in your experience…2 min
9"I don't like the taste"Some people don't, and it's not an affectation. Water from a tap in a hard-water area has a taste, water from a plastic bottle that's been on a desk all…2 min
10"I'd be in the loo all day"This is the objection people don't say and act on, and it deserves a straight answer, because it's true for a while. If you go from three cups a day to…2 min
11"I haven't got time to think about it"The last of the reasonable objections is that hydration is one more thing. There are apps that remind you to drink, bottles with hours marked on the side…2 min
12"Coffee dehydrates you anyway"You may have come to this book believing the opposite of chapter 4. Coffee is a diuretic, everyone knows that, so the two coffees before eleven aren't…2 min
13"It's a fad"Hydration has become a look. People carry two-litre bottles with encouraging phrases printed at intervals down the side. There are electrolyte sachets for…2 min
14What the dry day costsPut the pieces together and look at the bill. Not because you don't know it, but because it's paid in small amounts across the day and the total never…2 min
15What the stand-in doesThe third coffee helps. So does the biscuit. I'm not going to pretend they don't, because you can feel them helping and a book that argues with your own…2 min
16The pairHere's the method, and it's small enough to fit in a sentence. Every time you have a hot drink or a meal, you have a glass of water with it. The hot…2 min
17The glass firstThe pair handles the morning. The flat hour needs one more thing, because the flat hour is where the stand-in lives and the stand-in is the reach. The…2 min
18The pale checkThe pair and the glass first need no counting. They do need one check, and it's the one the NHS uses. Once a day, look at the colour of your pee. What to…2 min
19The decisionHere's the rule, in one sentence. I have a glass of water with every hot drink and every meal, and at the flat hour I have a glass first and wait ten…2 min
20Heat, illness, older relatives, pregnancy, hearts and kidneys, and when it's more than a dry dayThe rule is for an ordinary adult on an ordinary day. Here are the days and the people it isn't for, and what the NHS says instead. Heat, exercise and…2 min
21When the day went dry againIt will. A week of travel, a run of early meetings, a cold, a house move, and you'll look up on a Thursday and realise the glass hasn't been next to the…1 min
22Three o'clock, with a glassSeven o'clock, a coffee, and a glass of water next to it, drunk while the kettle cools. Ten o'clock, someone's going to the machine, and you say coffee…1 min
·NotesThese notes give the sources behind each chapter and say where the book is giving my own reasoning rather than a finding. This book is not medical advice.…7 min