She Put A Glass By The Sink And Stopped Having Afternoon Headaches

Not a water bottle, not an app with reminders. A plain glass, in a place she passes eleven times a day.

Carol had the kind of headache that showed up around three in the afternoon, four or five days a week, for most of a year. She assumed it was her screen, or her glasses, or her job.

A nurse at her annual check-up asked how much water she drank and Carol realized she genuinely did not know. Probably two glasses. Possibly one.

She had tried the big bottle with the time markings on it. It sat on her desk and she resented it. What worked was a plain glass turned upside down next to the kitchen sink.

Why the glass by the sink worked

• She passes that sink about eleven times a day without planning to.
• The glass is already there, so there is no step before drinking.
• Upside down means clean, which removes the only excuse.
• No counting, no app, no number to hit.
• She fills it after, so the next one is ready.

What she noticed, and what she did not

The three o'clock headache is mostly gone. Carol is careful to say mostly, because it still turns up on bad weeks.

She says the honest lesson was not about water. It was that she had been trying to solve a problem with a system instead of putting the thing where her hands already go.

The content on this page is for general information and personal reading only. It is not medical advice and does not replace a conversation with a qualified professional. Names have been changed for privacy.