In spite of the fact that staying hydrated is an important part of living a healthy life, we don’t always drink enough water. But once we found a way to fit a seven-minute workout and a cleansing meditation session into our busy workweek, we knew it was time to clean up how we drank. As a busy woman who can’t even remember to put a water bottle in her work bag, let alone drink eight glasses of water every day, I knew I needed a little help to get my brain going so I would remember to drink more water on a regular basis. So, to help me reach my new hydration goals, I decided to try out a trendy smart water bottle that literally glows red to remind you to drink more water. I wanted to see if being reminded to drink water every hour would actually help me make a habit that sticks.
Smart Water Bottle for Yoga
However there are a lot of smart water bottles on the market, I chose to test the Hidrate Spark 2.0, which is a sleek smart water bottle with lots of features to remind bosses to drink more water. After getting the bottle in the mail, it was easy to put it back together and put the sensor in the right place inside the water bottle. The next step was to get the free Hidrate Spark app on my phone and connect the bottle to it using Bluetooth. Then I was told to enter my personal information, such as my name, height, weight, level of activity, and bedtime. I was also asked to set a personal hydration goal and tell the app how many times a day I wanted to be reminded to drink more water. You can set push notifications on your phone (they look like funny tweets) and decide how often you want the water bottle to light up to remind you to drink. You can also set the glow’s brightness to low, medium, or high, depending on whether you want a subtle reminder that won’t bother your coworkers or an alarm light that will wake you up from your work.
After I put in all of my information, the app told me that my personal goal should be to drink three and a half bottles of water every day. Day one went well. I found it pretty easy to fill and use the water bottle, and I loved that you could still put ice cubes in it (call me a water snob, but I hate room-temperature water). Since the sensor works best when the water bottle is sitting flat on a surface, I put the bottle on my desk. Every hour or so, I would get a push notification or blinking alert to remind me to stay hydrated. At first, I wasn’t sure if I would actually notice the blinking light, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did catch my eye and remind me to take a sip of aqua. I easily reached my goal after a full day of drinking and running to the bathroom. In fact, I met most of my goals during the week, even if it meant I had to drink a whole bottle of water right before bed.
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As with any new technology, there are still some things that could be made better. I liked the idea that you didn’t have to plug the bottle into a power outlet to charge the sensor at first, but the battery didn’t last very long, and I used up the two free batteries in a few weeks, which probably isn’t good for people who care about the environment. Also, as mentioned above, the sensor works best when the bottle is on a flat surface. This is fine for the office, but if you want to take it on a hike or the trail, you may not get the most accurate reading.
Overall, my week with the Hidrate Spark 2.0 was a success. I was drinking more water than ever (I could tell because my skin was clearer and I went to the bathroom more often), and I could feel myself forming a lasting habit of drinking water that I could keep up. I won’t be giving up my trusty S’well any time soon, but my week with a smart water bottle was a great way to train this busy woman who wanted an easy way to trick her brain into drinking more water.
