International Bottled Water Association | News Release | December 19, 2024
“Maintaining adequate hydration at this time of year is tricky because people tend to feel less thirsty in winter months, so they drink fewer fluids, which compounds the risk of health issues due to dehydration,” says IBWA Vice President of Communications Jill Culora. “And the warning signs of dehydration can be subtle or not at all apparent. This is why it’s important to maintain good, healthy hydration habits year-round by regularly consuming water – from the tap, filtered, or bottled – throughout the day.”
Every organ in the body needs water to function properly, and research shows that staying adequately hydrated could also help with serious illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, kidney disease progression, and cardiovascular diseases. (source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc6060834/)
Here are 8 tips to help you stay properly hydrated:
- Make water part of another routine. For example, drink a full glass of water every time you take a computer break, eat a meal, use the bathroom, or brush your teeth.
- Take water on the go. Every time you leave your home, make sure you have a full bottle of water with you and have it handy for sipping during your daily travels.
- Set reminders. Use your phone to track your water intake or make notes on your calendar. Aim to drink water throughout the day, even when you don’t feel thirsty. While there is no magic number for adequate water consumption, the National Academy of Medicine suggests daily intake from food and beverages should be approximately 92 ounces for women and 125 ounces for men, depending on a person’s climate environment and activity level.
- Take water to bed. Sipping a small drink of water before you go to sleep could lead to a more restful night. In addition, people lose a surprising amount of water just from breathing while they sleep.
- Add flavoring. If plain water isn’t tasty enough for you, try adding some fruit such as lemons, limes, orange slices, cucumber, strawberries, or watermelon.
- Increase consumption of water-rich foods. Water intake from foods count towards your daily water intake totals. So think about adding water-rich foods to your meal plans, such as broth (95% water), cucumbers (95%), celery (95%), lettuce (95%), tomatoes (94%), zucchini (94%), bell peppers (92%), and spinach (91%), milk (87%), and yogurt (85%).
- Up your water intake. When working out or participating in other physical activities (such as, shoveling the driveway or clearing your car of snow), make sure to drink water. People don’t notice sweat as much in winter months, but rest assured any moisture loss needs replacement.
- Monitor your urine color. To determine if you are adequately hydrated, checking your urine color is a simple way to assess your hydration level:
- Pale yellow or clear urine indicates good hydration.
- Dark yellow or amber urine may indicate dehydration.
“It’s also important to be mindful of your loved ones’ drinking habits, particularly older adults, who often intentionally drink less so they make fewer trips to the restroom,” says Culora.
People should avoid waiting until they are thirsty to drink because they’re already dehydrated at that point. A 1-2% loss in body weight can affect a person’s mood, energy level, and mental awareness, yet they might not realize that dehydration is to blame. Drinking water can help you achieve a normal level of hydration and thus improve mood, energy, and cognition. Drinking adequate amounts of water also helps your skin, as cold temperatures leave it dry and parched.
“In the winter, since people are less likely to feel thirsty, it’s important to be mindful about regularly consuming water in order to stay well-hydrated throughout the day,” says Culora. “If you drink a lot of water during the summer, that’s a good habit you should maintain during the colder months of the year.”
“During the holiday season, bottled water is the perfect beverage choice for those who want to avoid or moderate calories, caffeine, sugar, artificial colors or flavors, alcohol, and other ingredients,” says Culora.
“Whether as a replacement for high-calorie beverages or as a nonalcoholic drink option, bottled water offers consumers a refreshing, hydrating, and convenient beverage that provides consistent safety, quality, and good taste. And with the variety of types available – from spring and purified, to mineral and sparking – bottled water offers consumers many choices to suit their specific needs and preferences.”
“Like at any other point during the year, bottled water is an excellent choice for healthy hydration — helping consumers who want to stay hydrated or avoid calories, caffeine, sugar intake, artificial colors or flavors, and other ingredients,” says Culora. “Consumers continue to increasingly choose refreshing, healthy, hydrating, and convenient beverages such as bottled water because it delivers reliable safety, quality, and flavor.”
For more information about bottled water, visit IBWA’s website: www.bottledwater.org.
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Media Contact:
Jill Culora
[email protected]
703.647.4609
The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is the authoritative source of information about all types of bottled waters, including spring, mineral, purified, artesian, and sparkling. Founded in 1958, IBWA’s membership includes U.S. and international bottlers, distributors, and suppliers. IBWA is committed to working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water as a packaged food product, to set comprehensive and stringent standards for safe, high-quality bottled water products.
In addition to FDA regulations, IBWA member bottlers must adhere to the IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice, which mandates additional standards and practices that in some cases are more stringent than federal and state regulations. A key feature of the IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice is a mandatory annual plant inspection by an independent, third-party organization.
