I Drank Gallon of Water Daily for 365 Days — This Is What Happened

3 things this challenge gave me

Photo by Lennart Schneider on Unsplash

Water plays a key role in many processes of our bodies. It takes part in lubricating joints, body temperature regulations, transporting nutrients, supplying the musculoskeletal system, and is essential for energy production. So, taking care of your water balance seems like a great idea.

But what is “enough water”?

According to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, we have different daily norms for men and women:

• 16 cups (4 liters ~ gallon) of water for men
• 12 cups (3 liters) of water for women

I thought that “norm” was a too strong word for so much water daily. It sounded more like a challenge to me. That’s exactly what I turned this experiment into.

A year ago I wasn’t drinking enough water. If you don’t drink the “daily norm” too — that’s fine, most people don’t drink enough.

So I decided to challenge myself with 365 days of drinking a gallon (4 liters) of water daily. That was a lot of water to drink. But the long-term effects of my challenge were worth the trouble.

First I did some calculations. We receive 20% of the required daily water norm with…