I recently learned that the average woman should drink 96 ounces of water per day, which sounds like a lot , especially since I rarely drink water unless it's with coffee or when I have a really bad hangover. But this is what doctors and Michelle Obama recommend because it's good for your health. So I thought I'd give it a try. I've also been suffering from acne lately, and I've read in dozens of women's magazines and websites that drinking more water is a miracle cure for my acne woes.
I challenged myself to drink the recommended amount of water every day for a week to see the effects on my skin and overall health. Can acne on chin be eliminated? Will the dark circles under the eyes disappear? Will I look 10 years younger after drinking three liters of water a day for a month, this British woman claims? There's only one way to find out.
The only daily habit I changed was drinking more water—specifically, the 91 ounces recommended by the Institute of Medicine. I didn’t change my eating plan, my alcohol intake, my skin care regimen, my sleep patterns, or my workout frequency (for the record, that was completely non-existent, but that’s another story). My biggest concern was how my bladder would react to the new influx of fluid, but peeing a lot was a risk I was willing to take because the benefits could be miraculous.
Buying a gallon of bottled water every day seems silly, especially since I live in New York City, which has some of the cleanest, tastiest tap water in the world. So my first step was to dig out a water bottle from the collection that accumulated under the sink. I ended up choosing the trusty Nalgene, which holds 32 ounces of water. I set a goal of drinking three full bottles a day, totaling 96 ounces—a full 5 ounces more than the recommended amount, because I'm nothing if not an overachiever.
Carrying Nalgene with you is a crucial step. Keeping the bottle nearby makes it easy to drink continuously (because if I want to take a sip, it's always there) as well as keep track of how much liquid I drink.
I quickly got into the habit, and ultimately, to my surprise, drinking that much fluid wasn't as challenging as I expected - especially over the course of a full day. When I really break it down, I drink 96 ounces of water over 17 hours a day (from wake up to bed). That's a lot of time, especially when I think about how often I drank a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor in one sitting in college. (Come on me.) I created a water plan: one bottle of Nalgene before lunch, one after lunch, and one after I got home for dinner. Breaking down tasks in this way helps make them feel more manageable and less daunting.
Let's get this out of the way first: I peed a lot. I went to the bathroom 12 times the first day, but then I stopped counting because I was terrified of documenting something so personal in such detail. The only time this problem came up was when bathroom access was restricted—like on the fifth day of the experiment, I was forced to wait in line behind four or five other women at a bar after drinking more than 64 ounces of water. In the bathroom. I also drank two bottles of beer that day. I was really scared that I was going to pee in my pants. But I quickly learned how to adapt to this and make sure to use an available bathroom before leaving any building.
Still, despite the extra trips to the ladies' room, it's easy to drink 91 ounces of water every day for a week. I hit my goal 6 out of 7 days, and the day I missed (Sunday) I was only half off Nalgene.
But here's the bad: I didn't see a huge change in my skin during the week—probably because I didn't change anything else about my routine. The acne on my chin has faded a bit, but it's hard to know if that's because I'm drinking more water or because I've just waited long enough. On the last day of the experiment, I noticed a small zit on my right cheek, so to be honest, I was a little worse off than when I started. The dark circles under my eyes that I hoped would be completely gone remained in place. I take a makeup-free selfie every morning when I wake up to track the changes, and frankly, I can't tell the difference in any of the seven photos. See for yourself: The photo on the left was taken on my first day, and the photo on the right was taken on my last day.
So drinking 91 ounces of water every day for a week isn't enough to keep my skin glowing. But there were other positive outcomes that I didn’t expect. Making this change in my daily routine made me more aware of other unhealthy aspects of my day. My coffee consumption has stayed the same since I'm relatively addicted to the stuff (that's another story for another day), but my typical late afternoon caffeine headache is gone, and the soda and wine I'm drinking Less than usual.
I also find that when I drink a glass of wine or beer, I'm actually drinking a glass of water at the same time as recommended. Because I know I need to meet my daily quota, I find myself grabbing a water bottle and taking a sip before snacking, and then eating less food than I might otherwise have eaten.
Even if my skin doesn't noticeably improve after a week, I will continue to carry Nalgene with me and drink 91 ounces of water. Maybe a week isn't enough time to see any significant results. Maybe over time I will break out less. Maybe my dark circles will be eliminated. Since it's so easy to incorporate this healthy habit into my daily routine, and I find it easy to continue after the official experiment is over, why not keep doing it—especially if it's what a doctor recommends, right?
Plus, my friend said the other day that my skin looks "radiant," so at least that's it.
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Image: Author; Jiffy
