by Kelley Tenney

Have ever felt tired, unproductive, unable to focus? Maybe you have even found yourself with a headache during or at the end of your day. Whatever the case, it leads to low productivity and there may be a culprit that you have yet to consider.

It is easy to chalk these things up to just having a stressful day; having the burden of finishing all the things on the “To Do List”. And for many, doing this along with fulfilling other roles and responsibilities.

This may not be due to stress. Or at least, only due to stress. There could be some other causes that you are faced with outside of the stress and the responsibility of all of your roles. The low energy, lack of focus and potentially a consistent occurrence of headaches and maybe even migraines may be affecting you.

There is one common culprit that many don’t consider and that is hydration. How often do you think about the importance of water? What I have found in working with so many of my clients, is that most are not drinking enough water and they are not keeping themselves fully hydrated.

There are so many studies that have been done about productivity in the workforce. Conclusions have shown that you need to be fully hydrated in order to be 100 percent productive. In fact, even a 1 percent drop in hydration shows that it could lead to a twelve percent drop in productivity. And as we get more dehydrated throughout the day, a three to four percent drop in hydration could lead to up to 25 to 50 percent loss of productivity.

And what they find in the workplace, is no different than those that are working day in, day out, and have really long hours. It’s so easy to forget to eat. It’s so easy to forget to take a break. It’s so easy forget to forget to drink water when there’s nobody telling you that it’s break time an so forth.

The effects of being dehydrated are fairly well known when it comes to physical impact. Most know that when doing physical exercise or movement, that water is important in terms of physical performance. But a lot of people don’t understand that water can actually also affect energy and lead to low productivity.

Studies show that dehydration can lead to a lack of energy, difficulty and concentration. Headaches are considered to be a major factor of dehydration and migraines. Many believe that headaches occur because of stress. But very often it could be simply because they are not drinking enough water.

Regulating moods have also been attached to being fully hydrated. There have been a ton of studies that have proven that dehydration can lead to negative moods and even interfere with our ability to make good decisions and to think.

Here are three easy tips to make sure that you are getting enough water.

The first step is to cut off that coffee. There’s something comforting about the smell of coffee or drinking coffee. Even the act of having the coffee cup to each for is a habit for many.

However, caffeine can not only be dehydrating but and you are drinking it instead of drinking water. So set a limit, whether it’s the number of cups of coffee or a certain time of the morning where you will stop drinking coffee and switch to water. Focusing on cutting back the coffee or whatever else you might be drinking in the morning and exchanging it for water is a great way to make sure that you’re getting hydration in.

Carry a water bottle. Fill it up in the beginning of the day and gauge how much you are drinking throughout the day. Ideally, around mid-day, it should need to be refilled.

The general consensus is to drink eight glasses of water a day and those glasses should be eight ounces. This equates to about 64 ounces. Check how much water your bottle holds and do the math from there. If the bottle holds 25 ounces, then you should be drinking just over two bottles minimum.

It’s really easy to drink water and to remember to do so when you have a water bottle sitting in front of you at your desk or wherever it is that you’re working. If you’re going from appointment to appointment, or one place to another, you are also guaranteed to not have to go long periods of time without water.

Lastly, spruce up your water. Many people say that they like the flavor in the afternoon so they drink soda or they prefer something else because water can just be flavorless.

But adding a lemon or a lime, mint, or even adding some cucumber to your water is something that can give you the flavor that you may desire, especially late in the afternoon if you find yourself craving things. Simply making your water a bit more flavorful can make instead of reaching for that soda or going and getting an ice tea.

Want my favorite Flavored Water Recipes? Click here.

Next time you are noticing that lack of focus, lack of energy, mental cloudiness, and low productivity just turn to your water bottle so that you can hydrate your way back!