Hydration is an essential part of our daily lives and absolutely indispensable when it’s necessary to focus on intensive tasks like translating. But despite the guidelines that adults should drink at least 1.5 to 2 litres a day, many people fail to ensure that they have a proper moisture intake. The people from the British company HydrateM8 provide a solution however. In this month’s xl8 review the HydrateM8 bottle is put to the test.

The importance of hydration for translators (and others)

Drinking fluids is crucial for staying health and maintaining the function of every system in our body. We are created with a body that cannot function without fluids. Fluids carry nutrients to our cells, flush bacteria from our bladders and do countless other jobs. If we do not stay hydrated over the day, we can run into troubles and if we do not drink for a longer period, we ruin our bodies or even risk dying. So if we do not drink enough fluids, we can risk headache because our brains are not receiving enough moisture, we can intoxicate ourselves because unhealthy substances are not removed from our bodies and our health degrades, leading to wrinkles and physical troubles. Even a slight decrease in hydration can have major consequences, such as fatigue, impaired mental capacity (brain fog), constipation and increased blood pressure. That is why healthcare professionals advise us to take enough water over the day, so that our body systems keep functioning properly.

The fact that many symptoms of dehydration, like a slight headache or impaired mental capacity are considered ‘normal’ does not mean that they are actually normal. Still many translators, interpreters and other professionals do not drink enough during the day. Apart from the physical problems that might create, they are also risking being inefficient due to brain fog or even risk becoming ill due to detoxification.

Still many translators, interpreters and other professionals do not drink enough during the day.

So hydration is of paramount importance – and that is not a surprise given that our body is about 60 per cent made up from water. By drinking plenty of water we can improve our physical performance, help lose weight, boost our mood and brainpower, prevent headaches and protect ourselves against diseases. Long story short: drinking is indispensable and it can even boost our bottom line.

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Despite the clear benefits of hydration for our health, many of us fail to drink enough water during the day. While the negative results of that can be quickly felt, we still don’t seem to succeed in improving the benefits of hydration. Let me speak for myself: apart from a couple of cups of coffee and tea, I never took any other fluids during the day and got used to brain fog and other kinds of fatigue. I simply got used to these feelings until I stumbled upon a bottle to measure my daily hydration and my eyes were opened. Now I am using a buddy to make sure that I drink enough water during the day: it’s called HydrateM8.

The HydrateM8 bottle

The HydrateM8 bottle is a bottle, designed and sold by the British company HydrateM8. The HydrateM8 bottle is meant to stimulate people like me to drink enough during the day. In order to help people of different types the company has both HydrateM8 bottles of 600 ml and 900 ml. At my request the company sent a HydrateM8 bottle of 900 ml for review. I received the black edition with the inspirational text “Focus and Finish” on front of it. HydrateM8 offers its bottle also in other colour options, like pink, green, teal and blue – each with a different inspirational and funny quote that reminds you to achieve the goal of drinking enough.

The HydrateM8 bottle is meant to stimulate people like me to drink enough during the day.

If that goal is to drink about two litres of water per day, a HydrateM8 bottle of 900 ml is certainly too small. However, HydrateM8 found a great solution for that by dividing the 900 ml into hourly goals. At the backside of the HydrateM8 bottle you will find a scale that shows 8 AM–12 PM on the left side and 2 PM–6 PM on the right. The scale enables you to see at a glance how much you have drunk (and should have drunk) and how much you have left to go. Of course it will not be a problem if you skip an hour, but it’s then your task to compensate for that amount in the upcoming hours.

At the backside of the HydrateM8 bottle you will find a scale that shows 8 AM–12 PM on the left side and 2 PM–6 PM on the right.

The bottle itself is from a quality grade plastic which has proven to be tough. The cap has an integrated clip that enables you to clip the HydrateM8 bottle on a bag while travelling, while you can also simply use it to carry the bottle by hand. In the cap, a durable straw from a soft, quality material is integrated. With a push of the button, the flip-out spout is opened, which enables you to use the straw for drinking. Thanks to this flip-out spout the bottle is not only easy to use but leaking water on your desk or keyboard is virtually eliminated.

The HydrateM8 bottle so far only showed one disadvantage: the cap is always closed at the same position on top of the bottle. Therefore you will always have the push button and spout on front of the bottle, which makes it somewhat difficult to see the backside with the water tracker.

HydrateM8 advises not putting the bottle in the dishwasher, so you should wash it by hand to ensure its durability.

How does the HydrateM8 bottle work?

Thanks to its design, the durable materials and the flip-out spout the HydrateM8 bottle has everything in it to ease the life of translators. You only need to fill it twice a day, push the button and use the straw to get hydrated. How does it work?

After almost two months of use I am satisfied with it. While I never managed to drink two litres of water a day in the past, I now do. First of all the HydrateM8 bottle has made me aware of what I was missing, so even if I do not use it I still try to get my water. Apart from that, it is incredible how manageable drinking two litres of water is when you break it up into hourly stages. Dividing 900 ml by six stages (on the scale) means that you only need to drink 150 ml per hour, which is 2.5 ml by minute. Of course I do not drink each minute – instead I am drinking only 150 ml as soon as I see that an hour has gone by. However, no matter my habits I still manage to drink enough.

I felt the payoff very quickly when I used the HydrateM8 bottle. Because using the soft straw to drink was easy, I felt refreshed and less tired the same day. I also noticed that my skin was better hydrated and that the cloud of dust in my head disappeared. The immediately visible results improved my adherence considerably.

The downside was that I needed to have a break more often to discharge the waste my kidneys filtered out, but that also had an upside: I am walking slightly more steps each day now, which is better for my health as well.

HydrateM8 discount

In the past two months a couple of people in my environment saw the great benefits (and results) of the HydrateM8 bottle and have bought a bottle already. That is why I asked the guys of HydrateM8 bottle to offer a HydrateM8 discount for followers of xl8.review. Do you want to get a HydrateM8 discount? Share this post on social media and enjoy 10% off a HydrateM8 bottle.