Stay Hydrated: A reminder that changed my life

Almost every day, we come across some examples that remind us to drink water regularly. Staying hydrated is the least that we can do for our bodies which work so hard to keep us alive. An average male is suggested to drink 3.7L (15 cups approx.) of water per day. Similar numbers for women stand at 2.7L (11 cups).

But, who are we kidding? Knowing something has no connection with actually doing it. Some people have amped up their health stats by realizing the benefits of coconut water and benefits of drinking hot water. We know a lot of things that are good for us, but very few of us actually go ahead and implement them in their daily lives. In this post, I plan to share one use case of my friend Alexa and how it helped me develop a habit of drinking water.

Echo Dot is an amazing device to own. Lately it helped me search for my missing wife (Read here). This time around, it is on a much simple mission: Reminding me to drink water. So very quickly, there are two ways to do that.

1. Alexa Skill:

So there is an ‘out of the box’ Alexa Skill that can help you do this. Pros of this method is that it is super easy to configure and free. As easy as installing an application. You can use the Alexa app on play store to do the same. Once you have enabled the skill, all you have to do say, “Alexa, start water reminder“.

As soon as that keyword is triggered, Alexa will remind you to drink water every hour for the next 8 hours. Simple right?

So what are its cons?

• This one is boring. Come on, don’t tell me you guys don’t need an extra motivation to simply do something your virtual assistant says.

• Also, this one is not customizable. Whatever time you trigger it, it is going to remind you for next 8 hours. That is all.

• What if you are like me and forget to trigger the skill only?

Hence the other method:

2. alexa Routine

Routines are customizable actions Alexa can do on the basis of multiple triggers like, voice keywords you pick, time, smart devices etc.

For this use case, we pick time as the trigger. So as soon as clock strikes 10 AM, no need to remind Alexa to remind me to drink water. She will simply start her routine and say “Drink Water“.

The next step in the routine includes a waiting period of one hour. Post the wait period, she would again remind me to drink water.

I tried to make this as quirky as possible by using fun phrases to remind me of something, ideally, I shouldn’t be needing any reminders for.

lastly,

Anyone else feeling thirsty after reading this? Until next time..