Summer in Sacramento! We are officially headed into the 100 degree temperature ranges and dehydration/heat exhaustion are upon us. Many of us like to think that thirst is the cue to when we must drink water, but did you know that you should be drinking water before you feel thirsty? In fact, thirst, darker urine and fatigue are all early signs of ALREADY being dehydrated!
Water blesses us with healthy cellular metabolism (the way your cells grow and repair themselves), mental clarity, joint and muscle health and so much more! Sadly, many women have a chronic underconsumption of water. That random onset of headaches, muscle cramps, fast heart rate is very frequently related to dehydration. In fact, dehydration constitutes between 1 - 3% of all hospital admissions nationwide and is one of the most preventable reasons for hospital admission (Taylor K., Tripathi A., 2025).
The general water consumption recommendation for Women is about 11.5 cups of water per day (Harvard Healthy Publishing, 2026). This includes water consumed from food intake. However, this does not consider a persons individual body composition, exercise habits, environmental differences (such as living in a very hot climate versus cold climate), etc.
It is rather safe to assume that we as Mama's do not always have time to track our water intake. Not in that water bottle we drag around everywhere but rarely sip on and definitely not in the random handful of food we pick off our kids plate and stuff in our mouth every once in a while.
Here are some easy ways to get in some extra hydration without needing to rebuild your life into a fancy new routine:
1. Drink water as soon as you wake up.
This is an underrated hack.
Everyone is still asleep or barely waking up. Put a bottle next to your bed (do it right before you brush your teeth, it will serve as a memory hack) the night before. Then when you open your beautiful eyes in the morning, see it and drink it! Then you won't have to worry about remembering to drink water while trying to get everyone out of the house. Needless to say while sleeping your body would have been parched for (hopefully) 7-8+ hours, this will refresh you from the inside out!
2. Drink when your kid drinks!
How many times do you chase your toddler with a bottle? Chase yourself too. Lead by example, if you have more than one kid, all-the-more reason to participate and hydrate with your children. You see them with Water? You drink water. Like a contagious yawn.
3. Find your FAVORITE water bottle & treat it like a phone.
I don’t go anywhere without my phone. I doubt many moms leave the house without it. The phone comes upstairs, so does my water bottle. The cuter the water bottle the more likely I am to use it! Find one that you love in terms of ease of use, charm and general comfort. It doesn’t have to be large, just easy enough to take and refill.
As the temperature increases, increase your access to water. Wild animals travel for many miles to make sure they have water in the weather fluctuations (National Wildlife Research. 2004). They do it with their little ones as routine effort in their day to day lives, we can do the same!
Stay safe Mama's & have a wonderful week.