First for weight loss purposes, and then because of the IBS diagnosis, I have spent the last couple years trying to drink large quantities of water each day. A gallon a day, sometimes more. And, during the same period, I’ve had an increasing number of headaches.
The other day, I forgot my water bottle at home when I went to work. Typically, I’ll fill up a quart Nalgene bottle with hot water in the morning and make an herbal tea to drink. I count herbal teas as water since they’re pretty much flavored water. I’d usually drink two of those before lunch and at least one after, then another quart after getting home from work. If I exercised, then I’d add a sports drink type thing to try and keep my electrolytes up.
But without the Nalgene bottle, I ended up drinking a lot less altogether. Maybe 16 ounces of tea in the morning. Maybe a quart of water the rest of the day. And, unlike a lot of work days, I didn’t get a headache. So I decided to try consciously reducing my water intake as an experiment, and last week was the first week in a long time that I didn’t get a single horrible headache at work.
So maybe my quest to “stay hydrated” has backfired on me. It’s definitely an experiment that I’m going to be continuing to try and find out what the right balance of water is for me to drink in a day. I’m going to pay attention and try to figure it out without getting constipated or getting headaches.