Hi Friends!
We’re changing things up here today and chatting a little bit about water. How does water affect your mood, you might ask? My friend and fellow RD Jenna from Fresh Food Perspectives is here to offer some info on its’ impact. I think it’s super interesting and I hope you will too! Jenna is mom to two little boys and she’s been a great source of information and support during my pregnancy/new mom journey, which I really appreciate! Check out her blog for healthy recipes and nutrition tips!
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Hey everyone! It’s so nice to meet you via this wonderful blog. I am a fellow RD blogger over at Fresh Food Perspectives where I like to share a fresh perspective on real-life healthy living. I’m a wife to a football coach, a mom to two little boys, and a working girl at both the University of North Florida and in my private nutrition practice/blog.. Join in by adding ideas, articles, recipes, tips, workouts or anything that makes healthy living easier for you by using the hashtag #MakeHealthyEasy. Read more about it at this blog post.
Today I’d like to talk to you about what you’re drinking and how it makes you feel. And no, I’m not referring to sugary drinks or alcohol. I’m talking about your water intake. How does water affect your mood?
Please stick with me. This is isn’t your same old drink more water information.
I typically think of water intake as like a “Behavior Change 101” step. When I teach healthy living classes, this is one of the first things I start with: drink more water! We all probably know that this is an important step for being healthy.
But, have you checked in on this habit in a while? Do you really know that you’re drinking enough? Did you know that your water intake could be directly impacting your mood and brain power?
OK, that was a lot of questions, but hopefully you really thought about them.
I recently had to ask myself all these questions about my water intake because I just assume that I drink enough. What I found out though, was that I was not drinking as much as I thought and it was negatively affecting my mood, energy level and emotions.
What got me thinking about my water was a very interesting study I came across recently that looked at the connection between water intake, emotions, energy, and mental performance.
{Bear with me as I geek out on the science here for just a second…}
The study tracked changes in people’s mood when they went from either a restricted intake of water (1 Liter/day) to a high water intake (2.5 Liters/day) or vice versa. For a frame of reference, 1 Liter is about 4 ¼ cups and 2.5 Liters is about 10 ½ cups.
When participants went from a time of restricted intake (1 Liter) to elevated water intake (2.5 Liters), they experienced significantly less fatigue and sleepiness with improved brain power (less confusion). On the flip side, when participants went from a high water intake to a restricted intake, participants experienced a drop in “vigor”, contentedness, ability to stay calm and overall positive feelings.
{Geek out session is now over.}
**Editor’s note: If you’re a longtime reader you probably know that I (Lindsay) am a huge water lover. My giant water bottle makes an appearance in many of my meal pics!**
After doing a quick self assessment, I realized a few things: I am getting headaches more frequently, I am a lot more tired, I’d say my brain is running on about 50% these days, some days I feel more overwhelmed by motherhood than I am proud to admit, and yes, I’m not drinking enough water due to a variety of reasons. Hmmm. Maybe water intake isn’t so “101” level afterall.
In the past week, I have really put forth effort in drinking more water. (Yes, this is happening to me like right now). As I sit here typing, I am realizing I have had less headaches, my brain feels a touch sharper and I’m in a much better mood-place this week.
You and I both know that water is an important component to good health. But, as I’ve personally found, it’s easy to forget and easy to neglect in our day to day minutiae. In fact, let me take a brief moment to remind us all of something important about healthy living in general: It’s always good to do a check-in on your day to day behaviors, even if you think you’re OK.
When working with clients over the years, I have found that when life changes (in big or small ways) it’s important take a moment to make sure your normal healthy habits are still working for you. It can be frustrating when your typical strategies aren’t producing the same results anymore. But you know what, that’s pretty normal. I suggest pulling out a pen and paper and jotting down a few new strategies for accomplishing your goal. Being deliberate is the only way to make a change.
And sometimes, you just need a fresh plan of attack.
**Editor’s note: One of my favorite ways to keep my water intake up in the colder months- hot water with lemon and fresh ginger**
I’ve needed a new plan of attack for drinking more water. One of my ideas is to add dehydrated lemon slices to my water because it makes it just a little more delicious and fun. (You can read my blog post on how to dehydrate at home to do the same.)
So take a quick moment to really think about how you’re feeling these days, and how much water you’re really drinking. Maybe you’re need a little water check up and it could make a really big difference in how you feel too.
Wouldn’t it be nice for us all to feel better and have more brain power just by drinking more water? That’s certainly a way to #MakeHealthyEasy.
[Tweet “Come learn how water intake can impact your mood from @JbraddockRD and @leangrnbeanblog”]
You can also connect with Jenna via the social media links below:
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Let’s chat:
Do you have any tips or strategies you have for drinking enough water?
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This could explain my recent headaches and overall feeling of fatigue. I will most certainly increase my water intake and see how I’m feeling. Thank you for sharing and I love your hashtag #makehealthyeasy
LOVE this!! water is so important for a plethora of reasons! i start with a huge tumbler full of room temperature water and apple cider vinegar first thing in the morning. i love the taste and it switches things up a bit. occasionally if i get “bored” with water, i will add frozen fruit to it or add a cocogo (frozen coconut water) – and i always choose water over other drinks (juices, sodas, etc.)
WOw! This is crazy, how interesting, and i never would have thought to use a dehydrated lemon. As water is so important to staying hydrated, and without that I would never be able to run like I do, posts like this are important. I have heard about the vinegar water, and the room temperature water, but had never considered it before.
I ALWAYS have my 1 liter Nalgene with me. I make sure I stay hydrated!
Such an awesome post! Lately, I’ve been putting lemon wedges in some hot water and it’s allowing me to drink a ton more water than I use to! I also think it is improving my skin, win-win!
When I don’t drink enough water throughout the day, I am without fail rewarded with an atrocious migraine that evening. They get so bad that I can’t sleep, so now I am very intentional about avoiding it. Such an awesome, informative post!
Great Post! My husband and I just got back from a Clinic to get a 2 day physical, had to fast and they set our apt back even further, still not aloud anything to drink, we both got so dehydrated and sick, headache dizzy weak they couldn’t find our veins to draw blood it was AWFUL, now I understand how dangerous it is not have water. Took us that whole day to recover! Thanks for you info.
yes! i love adding lemon, lime, raspberry, or cucumber. I try to put in a big pitcher and drink it all up by end of day. Happy dance!
This is so interesting that they did a study on this. Before I had my daughter, I was vigilant about drinking tons of water daily and that rapidly slacked off after having her. Some days I make a better effort than others but I know I definitely get more headaches & more tired when I’m not drinking enough. Thanks for the reminder – I’m off to fill up my water bottle for the work day 🙂
Thanks for this! Always a great reminder to drink more water – I’ll be more mindful the next couple days to keep that intake up 🙂
I’m always looking for tips on how to drink more water because I’m not the greatest at doing this and I’m sure it has an effect. Very interesting info in this article too about mood! I feel this mostly in the warmer months when it’s easiest to dehydrate.
Hi Jenna & Lindsay!! SOO weird, I’ve been sing the effects of my improved hydration and this morning before I opened this email I thought to myself “gosh I feel soooo much better now that I’m drinking more” YAY!! Mood booster!
Funny how that happens Kristina! Same here.
I used to be AWFUL about drinking enough water, but now I am incredibly proactive about it because it truly does make me feel better. I always set a goal of drinking at least 80-100 ounces per day, and normally I get there!
So, I kicked the soda and sugar substitute habit earlier this year and went from hating drinking water, to only drinking water (like 99% of the time, I have a coffee when I need to feel like a hipster once or twice a week). Things I noticed, the more I drank, the easier it was to drink more – the more I wanted. And, I didn’t have sweeping ups and lows through the day, my energy, even with tons of running and mountain biking, stayed level through the day (as long as I was smart and maintained healthy intake while on long runs). It really is kind of crazy what your body can do with a little more water. AND now that I’ve been on a 99% water only sort of drinking, I can say I crave cocktails less – even in social settings, and when I do snap a can of soda thinking I need it, I end up spitting it out and throwing it away (twice last week, once with a Coke, once with a Dr Pepper – they both tasted horrible to me!!) Ok – end my giant reply…. ;D
Love this article! I was just thinking the other day about how tired and sluggish I’ve felt lately and realized that I have definitely not been drinking enough water. I am totally going to try the dehydrated lemon trick, those sound so good!
Wow, I learned something new today! I’ve been really dehydrated from our long overseas flight, and okay, probably a little too much red wine in France. I was chalking my icky mood up to jetlag, but even in the mornings after 8 hours of sleep, I still felt bleh. Getting a big glass of water now!
I love this! It’s easy to overlook some of the simplest solutions- and drinking more water is about as easy as it gets, but SO powerful. Awesome post!
I know water intake is important for all kinds of reasons, but for some reason I find it really hard to keep up! Being pregnant makes me even thirstier, so I have glasses and bottles stashed all over the house!
Thanks for sharing this info!
this is so interesting, and it totally makes sense!
i love data! water is obviously important, but i’d never considered the correlation with mood.
What’s funny is that my husband makes fun of me for always telling him to drink more water whenever he tells me what’s ailing him. “You think water is the cure for everything!” he says. Truthfully, I only suggest it when I think it will help, but there’s probably more to water intake in feeling better in any sense!
Very interesting post. I am a huge advocate of drinking enough water and the right kind that supports your health.
I definitely get headaches when I am not drinking enough water. I drink a lot of decaf tea at work to help with my water intake. It some how seems to be more fun than my water bottle.
sooo interesting!! I kinda geeked out reading this too since I am queen water hoarder. literally have water with me ALWAYS, everywhere! I never understand how some could go all day without any. I think I’d have a heart attack;-) Great read!
Water – the essence of life! 🙂 I do really notice body & mood changed when I can’t get it in!
I can’t live without my 32 fl oz water bottle! I have a borderline panic attack when I don’t have a reliable water source at all times and almost immediately feel dehydrated (all mental). Love this post and your insight as to why water is so important. I swear by it for fatigue and headaches.
I know I def do not drink enough water on a daily basis. I’m not a huge water fan to begin with but I tend to just take little sips. And I know it for sure impacts my alertness and mood. When I consciously try to up my intake I feel 10x better.
Ive noticed this. If I don’t drink (or go to the bathroom) enough during the day my anxiety levels and amount of headaches rise. Always. I try to drink plenty during the day… but also the second I don’t feel good I try to grab a glass of water, or lemon water. Such a great post!
I definitely notice a huge difference in my overall mood when I don’t drink enough water. I also notice a change in my skin, too – it’s a lot smoother when I’m properly hydrated.
awesome, thanks!