A great New Year’s resolution is to drink more water. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to improve your health in 2020.

Your body is 70% water and staying hydrated is a critical component of your overall wellbeing. Water plays many roles in your body, including maintaining electrolyte balance and blood pressure, lubricating joints, regulating body temperature, and promoting cell health. We simply cannot live without it.

The recommendation for adults is to consume half your body weight in ounces each day. And if you work out add 10-20 ounces per hour of exercise. As important as it is, many Americans don’t get the recommended amount and studies have shown that even mild dehydration can have negative effects on our health and productivity.

“I cannot stress enough to my patients the importance of getting enough water and staying hydrated,” Dr. Andy DeMarco commented. “Dehydration is especially dangerous for the very young and elderly, but everyone can suffer ill effects from lack of water.”

To ensure you get in all that water, here are a few tips from the experts at Connected Health:

• Start and end your day with water. Drink 8 ounces of water as soon as you are awake.
• Make a reusable water bottle an everyday accessory. Take it with you everywhere and refill as needed throughout the day.
• Set up reminders. If remembering to drink enough water is a challenge, set an hourly reminder on your phone or smart watch to prompt you to fill up!
• Get creative. If plain water is boring. Infuse it with fresh fruit, cucumbers or mint.
• Swap the sugar. Instead of that sugar-filled afternoon coffee, opt for a cup of green tea, a matcha latte or naturally flavored sparkling water.
• Eat your water. Choose foods high in water content like melons, celery, cabbage, lettuce, and zucchini.

Try tracking your water intake for three days to see where you stand and if you need to fill up your cup!

Did you know? Connected Health offers one-on-one nutrition coaching with our dietitian who can help you ensure you’re eating and drinking the right things.

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