How I Make Sure I am Drinking Enough Water!

My whole life I have struggled with drinking enough water. When I get into a deep focus, whether that is on a task at work, reading books or watching tv, I completely zone out and become oblivious to my bodies needs. This ability to perceive internal bodily signals like hunger or thirst is known as interoception, and many neurodivergent individuals, particularly those with autism or ADHD, can struggle with interoception.

Water is incredibly important to our health (Adults should drink between 9 and 13 cups or 2-3L of water a day to stay hydrated), and people that are neurodivergent are more prone to dehydration which can of course have a negative impact on our health, but also on our symptoms!

• Dehydration can impact executive functioning, attention, and memory.

• Those with ADHD may be especially prone to dehydration due to hyperfocus, forgetfulness, and lower self-awareness.

• Stimulant medications can also lead to dehydration.

Initially I tried setting an alarm on my phone to drink water, I think that lasted about 3 days before it got really annoying and I never ended up drinking water when it went off. I then tried using apps on my phone to remind me to drink water, some were just plain reminders, but others were games where you had to water the plants to keep them alive, but again they just got annoying and I stopped using them. I also found that they became very distracting at work because whenever I got a notification to my phone I would check if it was the water reminder, and if it wasn't I would get distracted by whatever the notification was and have trouble refocusing on my task.

One day I saw a water bottle that my colleague had that intrigued me and I immediately purchased one for myself! It looked like a normal water bottle with a straw lid (straws are also very helpful for drinking more water!) but I noticed that at the bottom of her bottle there was an LED light strip that was glowing. When I asked her about it she told me that the bottle had a weight sensor in it to measure how much water she was drinking, and if she was behind her goal for that time of day, it would glow to remind her to drink water.

The bottle is from a brand called HidrateSpark, and can be purchased on their website, or through the Apple website. Not only does the bottle measure you water intake, the app links to your health app and updates it with your water intake, and also can link with your apple watch to look at your activity levels and determine an optimal water intake goal based on your activity. To top it off, you can customise the colour that the water bottle glows to your own preference as well! The water bottle can be washed in the dishwasher (as long as you remove the lid and the weight sensor puck), and they come in stainless steel or plastic options. It also comes with two lids, a standard lid and one with a straw. The app also lets you enter intake from other sources such as glasses of water, coffee, hot chocolate, protein shakes etc, and calculates he hydration you would gain based on those drinks (eg coffee only provides 90% hydration for the volume compared to water .

I think the feature I enjoy the most is when you meet your water goal for the day, it does a little frantic party glow which for me really provides that dopamine hit that we ADHDers love! I was just completely sold on this bottle and have been using it for over 2 years and still love it and recommend it to anyone that I can!

*Please note that I don't earn anything for recommending this bottle, I just think its that good!