For many, January is all about being better, doing more than you did last year, and picking up new habits like swapping alcohol out for good old H2O.
If you’re currently on a journey to better health and wondering where to start, maybe taking a leaf out of YouTuber Scott Luu’s book will help.
In 2020, the creator wanted to discover whether drinking more water over a prolonged period of time could change his productivity and performance levels.
His idea was to triple his regular water intake for 30 days and document how he found the process in a YouTube video.
As someone who didn’t drink a whole lot of liquid beforehand, it’s understandable that the first major effect Luu felt after drinking three liters a day was the need to go to the toilet.
The creator said that he experienced a ‘huge, huge, huge increase in peeing’ during the experiment, claiming instead of his usual six trips, he was going to the bathroom between 12 and 13 times a day.
However, he stated a ‘more useful’ effect of drinking so much water in the early days of the challenge was that he no longer felt ‘foggy’ the morning after completing a late-night editing session.
“Now that I started this water challenge, I chug half a liter of water in the morning and it’s like drinking clarity,” he explained.
“I can feel an immediate difference in energy, and it’s a bit freaky.
However, Luu claimed he was: “99 percent sure that’s just my mind reacting to the stimulus of drinking a lot of water because my body can’t really access that energy.”
Moreover, Luu claimed he no longer needed to include naps in his daily routine.
“Before the experiment, I took one daily 20-minute nap in the afternoon. During the experiment, it turned into six [days] out of the 30. Energy levels: a definite increase.”
Intriguingly, the social media star noticed that as the challenge progressed, he stopped feeling an ‘immediate’ power surge when chugging H20.
This is probably because his body was adjusting to the sheer amount of liquid being poured into it.
Rounding up his successful experiment, Luu mentioned that drinking water isn’t a ‘magical pill’ that can solve all your problems.
He stated: “If you don’t have your s**t together, the water would just give you more energy to keep on doing unproductive tasks.
“However, if you have intention and focus drinking more water will help boost clarity and energy, increase focus stamina, make you nap less, and cause you to pee a lot.”
Luu’s video has amassed 201,000 views since it was uploaded to YouTube in April 2020 and has collected hundreds of comments from admiring platform users.
One viewer typed: “This is so motivational and inspirational. Thank you so much for this! I am really grateful.”
“I remember i went a year replacing every drink with water (even at family gatherings, etc.) and I have to say that was my best year, my bloating went down a tiny bit and I didn’t feel groggy after a meal as when I used to drink soda almost non stop,” replied someone else.
A third said: “My blood sugars are under control after drinking 3+ litres of water everyday for 2 weeks. It makes me wonder whether diabetes is a symptom from a lack of water weight.”
