Being a college student puts a lot of stress on the body. In between studying for tests, attending classes, and participating in clubs or sports- kids don’t find the time to take care of themselves because they’re running around constantly. It’s very important to find ways to take care of your body while on the go, but a lot of students struggle with ways that they can stay healthy, or just don’t have the knowledge to know what can benefit them. What has helped me take care of my body substantially over the course of my freshman year of college is not a secret, but a much underrated life hack: water.

And I’m sure you’re rolling your eyes because your doctors and the media have told you for years that drinking water is essential to your health but you’ve been getting along fine without drinking water that much, so you don’t understand all the buzz. I was the same way before realizing how much water has impacted my health in a positive way. I thought I was a fairly healthy person before, but the improvements that I’ve made by incorporating more water in my diet says otherwise.

When I was in high school, I suffered from major headaches. Every day I would start feeling my head start to pound around noon, and it would continue throughout the day until I could take some ibuprofen to relieve the pain. I didn’t know what was causing them, but I coped, thinking that the situation could always be worse. But after a particularly long period of 2 or 3 days with a non-stop headache, I decided to make a visit to my doctor.

My doctor told me that my headaches were caused in part to stress, eating very little during the day, and dehydration. I learned that when your body is becoming dehydrated, a headache can result from fatigue. One way to reduce this sense of fatigue is by drinking a glass of cold water, which helps refresh you and wake you up from that tired feeling. This can help stop the pounding headache, and leave you feeling more awake during that middle of the day lull. Drinking the recommended 64 ounces of water a day helps keep me on my feet during the long days- and my energy levels are a lot higher than they were in high school. My headaches are less and less frequent, because my body isn’t suffering from dehydration. It’s easier for me to pay attention during my classes in college when I have a water bottle beside me that I can sip from in order to regain concentration, or feel more energized. Something I always try to do is drink a cold glass of water right after getting out of bed in the morning, because it helps wake me up from that groggy feeling and hydrate my body which has been severely lacking in water intake during my sleep.

If that wasn’t reason enough, drinking more water in college has significantly helped clear up my skin. As a person who understands what it’s like to be made uncomfortable by acne, I always praise water as the best medicine to treat a broken-out face. Water flushes toxins and bacteria from out of your body, which helps reduce what is clogging the pores in your skin. Additionally, it provides a lot of moisture for people who are suffering from dry skin. And it isn’t a huge deal for college students yet- but dehydration does in fact speed up the rate at which people grow wrinkles! So being hydrated will help reduce your chances of those signs of aging.

Something else that is a common issue for college students is maintaining a healthy weight. People also lose the ability to track their weight in college because the “Freshman 15” is no myth with unlimited access to dining halls and 2 am pizza deliveries that work to pack on the extra pounds. But, turning to water in order to stop that growling stomach actually works! For example, when your stomach begins to growl, but it’s an odd time in between meals for you to eat something, try drinking a glass of water in order to make your stomach feel full. It will stop the pain from your rumbling stomach, and cause no unnecessary calorie intake. And while I find this trick useful to help tide me over, trust me, I still love that 2 am pizza delivery, because everything can be done in moderation! Or if strictly water isn’t your style, try eating foods high in water-content. Things like fruits, vegetables, soups and oatmeal are larger in volume, requiring your body to process them more slowly, helping you feel fuller faster.

Drinking water is an extremely easy habit to maintain once you start it. I recommend getting a water bottle that has labels on it that track how much water you have in your bottle at any given point. I have a 32 oz. bottle that has markers for every eight ounces, which is equivalent to one glass of water. In this way, I can try to find times during the day in which I can easily drink one cup at a time. You don’t have to down the bottle all at once, because this might upset your stomach. Just take your time and keep chugging along (haha).

There are 24 hours in a day, so I think that everyone should be able to find a couple minutes here and there in order to treat their bodies well for all that they do every day without fail. You’ll feel so much better than you already do, for all the reasons I’ve listed and so many more! As my freshman year is winding to a close, and there are a lot of tips I could give to kids who are ready to tackle their first year, one of the biggest ones doesn’t even apply solely to college students! Drinking water is a necessity at any age- and anyone can start drinking water in order to improve their quality of life right away.