Drinking enough shouldn’t require constantly reminding yourself. These simple strategies can make hydration a natural part of your day.
You probably don’t need someone to tell you that drinking fluids is important.
The harder part is actually remembering to do it.
You start working, get involved in something, run errands, exercise, or simply don’t feel particularly thirsty. Then hours go by and you realize the water bottle you filled that morning is still sitting untouched.
If that sounds familiar, the solution may not be to try harder to “drink more water.”
Instead, try making hydration easier to remember and more convenient to do.
That’s very much the Shake Your Health Up approach: rather than depending on motivation, change something about your routine or environment and see whether it works better.
Here are some simple experiments worth trying.
1. Put water where you can see it
One of the simplest ways to change a habit is to change what’s visible.
If your water bottle is in another room, inside a bag, or tucked away in the refrigerator, drinking requires you to remember that it’s there.
Put it beside you instead.
If you work at a desk, keep water on your desk.
If you spend a lot of time in the car, bring a bottle with you.
If you tend to forget water when leaving the house, put your bottle beside something you know you won’t forget, such as your bag.
The idea is simple:
Don’t depend on remembering. Give yourself a visible reminder.
Try this
Fill a bottle in the morning and put it somewhere you’ll repeatedly see it for the next few hours.
Notice whether you drink more without consciously trying.
2. Attach drinking to something you already do
Creating an entirely new habit can be difficult.
Adding something to an existing routine is often easier.
Instead of thinking:
“I need to remember to drink more today.”
choose an event that already happens consistently.
For example:
- have water with breakfast
- drink some water when you start work
- have water with lunch
- drink when you return from a walk
- refill your bottle during a regular break
You’re giving hydration a place in your day rather than hoping you’ll remember it at random times.
You don’t need to use every one of these cues.
Choose one or two that fit naturally into your existing routine.
3. Find a bottle you actually like using
You don’t need a special water bottle to stay hydrated.
A glass from the kitchen works perfectly well.
But if you regularly take water to work, school, the gym, the car, or outdoors, the right bottle can remove some surprisingly annoying barriers.
Think about what actually matters to you.
Maybe you want something that’s:
- easy to clean
- comfortable to drink from
- leak resistant
- insulated
- large enough that you’re not constantly refilling it
- small enough to carry easily
- able to fit in your car’s cup holder
- easy to open with one hand
Those details sound trivial until an inconvenient bottle spends most of its life sitting in a cupboard.
The best bottle isn’t necessarily the most expensive one. It’s the one you’ll actually carry and use.
4. Make plain water more interesting
For some people, the problem isn’t remembering water.
They simply don’t enjoy drinking much of it.
If that’s you, experiment rather than forcing yourself through glass after glass of something you dislike.
You could try:
- cold water
- room-temperature water
- sparkling water
- lemon or lime
- cucumber
- berries
- mint or other herbs
- unsweetened flavored water
Even changing the temperature can make a surprising difference.
The objective isn’t to find the “healthiest possible water.”
It’s to find an option that makes drinking fluids easier without unnecessarily turning every drink into a heavily sweetened beverage.
5. Prepare tomorrow’s water tonight
Mornings are full of small decisions.
You can remove one of them.
Before going to bed:
- Fill your bottle.
- Put it in the refrigerator if you prefer it cold.
- Put it somewhere you’ll see or grab it in the morning.
That’s it.
It might save only a minute.
But the more interesting benefit is that tomorrow’s decision has already been made.
Instead of:
“I should probably bring some water.”
the bottle is simply ready to go.
This is the same strategy we use with make-ahead breakfasts: do the preparation when you aren’t rushed.
6. Keep water available in more than one place
If carrying one bottle everywhere doesn’t work for you, try the opposite approach.
Make water conveniently available where you normally spend time.
For example:
At home: a bottle or glass near your usual workspace.
At work: a bottle that stays at your desk.
During exercise: a dedicated bottle in your gym or sports bag.
In the car: bring water when heading out, especially on longer trips or warm days.
The goal isn’t to own a collection of expensive bottles.
It’s to remove this common barrier:
“I would drink something, but I don’t have anything with me.”
7. Use refills as a simple cue—not a competition
Some people enjoy tracking every glass or using a large marked bottle.
Others find that annoying.
You don’t necessarily need to measure every sip.
A simpler approach is to notice refills.
For example, if you normally carry a reusable bottle, refilling it at certain points in your day can become part of your routine.
The exact amount of fluid a person needs isn’t identical for everyone. Food, other beverages, activity, weather, body size, and individual health circumstances all affect hydration needs.
So don’t turn hydration into a contest to drink as much water as possible.
More isn’t automatically better.
Instead, focus on having fluids readily available and responding appropriately to thirst, activity and environmental conditions.
8. Remember that food contributes fluid too
Hydration doesn’t come exclusively from glasses of water.
Many foods contain substantial amounts of water.
Examples include:
- watermelon
- oranges
- berries
- cucumbers
- tomatoes
- lettuce
- soups
- yogurt
That doesn’t mean you should replace drinking with watermelon.
It simply means hydration is part of your overall diet rather than an isolated task involving a giant bottle.
A varied diet that includes fruits and vegetables contributes to your overall fluid intake as well.
9. Exercise and hot weather can change the equation
This is where hydration becomes a little more interesting.
When you sweat, you lose both water and electrolytes.
Electrolytes are minerals—including sodium, potassium, magnesium and chloride—that have important roles in fluid balance, nerve signaling and muscle function.
For ordinary daily hydration, you don’t necessarily need to add an electrolyte powder every time you drink water.
But exercise, substantial sweating, heat and other circumstances can increase fluid and electrolyte losses.
That’s where an electrolyte drink can become useful.
10. Consider an electrolyte drink when it makes sense
Isagenix currently offers a product simply called Hydrate.
It’s a powdered electrolyte drink mix packaged in individual sticks that you add to water.
The current formula provides more than 1,625 mg of electrolytes per serving, including:
- 450 mg sodium
- 260 mg potassium
- 35 mg magnesium
- 880 mg chloride
It also contains coconut water and uses pink Himalayan salt as a sodium source. The regular versions contain no sugar and zero calories.
I like the concept particularly for situations involving exercise and sweating because you’re addressing both parts of the equation:
water + electrolytes.
That doesn’t mean everyone needs an electrolyte drink throughout the day. If you’re sitting at a desk and eating normally, ordinary water may be all you need for that particular drink.
But after substantial sweating or during appropriate physical activity, having a convenient electrolyte option can be useful.
The individual packets also solve another problem we’ve been discussing throughout this article: convenience.
You can keep them available and add one to water when appropriate rather than buying a conventional sports drink.
Disclosure: I am an Isagenix Independent Associate and may earn compensation if you purchase Isagenix products through links on this page. I’ve personally used Isagenix shakes for more than 10 years. The opinions and experiences described here are my own.
How does it compare with a typical sports drink?
One thing I particularly like from a practical standpoint is that Hydrate doesn’t depend on a large amount of sugar to make an electrolyte drink appealing.
The current Hydrate varieties contain zero sugar and 0–10 calories, depending on the version. Isagenix states that the formula provides approximately three times the electrolytes found in typical sports drinks.
That makes it an interesting alternative for someone who wants electrolytes but doesn’t necessarily want a sugary sports drink every time they exercise.
Hydrate + Hyaluronic Acid — Watermelon
This version contains the same hydration ingredients plus 165 mg of hyaluronic acid and vitamin B5, which Isagenix positions as additional support for skin health.
If your main goal is hydration around exercise, I wouldn’t say you need the additional ingredient. Think of it as another option rather than an inherently superior Hydrate.
Hydrate + Immune Support — Peach Lemonade
This version combines the electrolyte formula with vitamins C and D and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), which Isagenix positions for additional immune-system support. It contains zero grams of sugar and 10 calories per serving.
Again, choose based on what you’re actually looking for rather than assuming the version with more ingredients is automatically better.
What about coffee and tea?
Hydration doesn’t have to mean drinking only plain water.
Other beverages can contribute to fluid intake too.
That means you don’t necessarily need to look at your morning coffee and think:
“That doesn’t count as any fluid at all.”
At the same time, it’s worth paying attention to what comes with your drink.
A cup of coffee and a large sweetened specialty coffee can be very different beverages nutritionally.
The same principle applies to bottled teas, juices, energy drinks and flavored beverages.
Rather than sorting drinks into rigid “good” and “bad” categories, ask:
What am I actually drinking, and how does it fit into the rest of my day?
Be careful with the “healthy drink” halo
Drinks are particularly easy to market as healthy.
Words such as:
natural
vitamin
energy
electrolyte
fruit
antioxidant
and sports
can make a beverage sound like something you should be drinking.
But the front of the bottle isn’t the nutrition label.
A beverage can contain useful ingredients while also containing things you weren’t particularly looking for.
Before buying something primarily for hydration, look at the actual nutrition information and ingredients.
Ask:
- What does this drink provide?
- Does it contain added sugar?
- Do I need the additional ingredients?
- Am I drinking it because it solves a problem—or because the packaging sounds healthy?
- Would water work just as well in this situation?
Sometimes the answer to that last question will simply be yes.
And that’s perfectly fine.
You don’t need to make hydration complicated
It’s easy to turn another basic health habit into a project.
You can track ounces.
Buy enormous bottles.
Set alarms.
Download an app.
Add powders.
Create a schedule.
None of that is necessarily wrong.
But start simpler.
Try changing your environment first.
Put water where you can see it.
Make it easy to carry.
Prepare it before you need it.
Attach drinking to routines that already exist.
Find ways of drinking water that you actually enjoy.
And consider electrolytes when your activity and circumstances make them useful.
Today’s Shake-Up
Instead of telling yourself to “drink more water,” choose one specific experiment:
☐ Fill tomorrow’s bottle tonight.
☐ Put water somewhere you’ll see it while working.
☐ Drink water with a meal you already eat every day.
☐ Try fruit, herbs, sparkling water or another simple way of making water more appealing.
☐ Put a reusable bottle in your work or exercise bag.
☐ Pay attention to what you’re drinking instead of automatically reaching for your usual beverage.
☐ If appropriate for your activity, experiment with an electrolyte drink after significant sweating.
Then ask yourself at the end of the day:
Did this make staying hydrated easier without requiring me to think about it all day?
If it did, keep it.
If it didn’t, try something different.
That’s the point of shaking things up.