Buying things is not the same as doing things. Weights don't work unless you pick them up. Books don't read themselves. And those supersized water bottles people are stampeding to get their hands on are just doorstops unless you're actually drinking water. Water bottle sales are an $8 billion business in the U.S., with Stanley alone clocking in with $750 million in annual sales for 2023. The Reddit r/HydroHomies sub has over a million subscribers, and TikTok and Instagram are drenched in enthusiastic water bottle content. So why, then, does it seem are so many of us are still not adequately hydrated?

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There's conflicting data on just how under watered we are, and the often cited figure that 75% of Americans are "chronically dehydrated" doesn't hold much, uh, water. Here's what we do know. The NIH suggests we aim for between 72 and 96 ounces of water a day. The CDC offers no specific recommended amount of daily fluid consumption, noting instead that needs "vary by age, sex, pregnancy status, and breastfeeding status." It estimates we average about 44 ounces of water a day, which isn't very much, especially given that about half of us drink at least one soda daily, and roughly 2/3 of us have at least one coffee a day. A 2023 poll from the consumer analytics company Civic Science revealed that nearly half of all respondents (47%) said they only drank between zero and three glasses of water per day.

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