Every so often I’ll have a day where I just feel off — my back stiff, my feet aching, and a kind of overall malaise I can’t quite explain. Most days I feel great, so when these “crummy days” pop up out of nowhere, they always catch me by surprise.

Then one afternoon I finally noticed the pattern.

On the days I felt the worst… I hadn’t had a single glass of water.

I had my three strong cups of morning coffee, sure. Sea salt in one of them. But real water? None. And it’s funny — I didn’t even feel thirsty. I just felt lousy.

So I did the obvious thing I somehow forgot to do: I drank water. Three or four glasses. And within half an hour I felt like a different person. My back loosened, the nerve irritation in my feet settled down, and my energy came back. I went from dragging myself through the day to feeling normal again.

That’s when it hit me: mild dehydration doesn’t always show up as thirst. Sometimes it shows up as stiffness, low energy, fogginess, or nerve pain. And with age — and a condition like DISH that already makes things a little tight — the effects hit even harder.

The coffee doesn’t help either. Don’t get me wrong, I love my morning coffee, but it does increase fluid loss early in the day. Combine that with intermittent fasting, where you’re not getting hydration from food, and it’s the perfect recipe for a mid-day crash.

Once I made the connection, the fix was almost laughably simple. Now I follow one rule:

Whatever amount of coffee I drink in the morning, I match it with the same amount of water by noon. Then I drink a few more glasses through the afternoon.

That’s it. No complicated formulas. Just consistent hydration.

Since I started doing this, those random “crummy days” have pretty much disappeared. It’s amazing how something so basic can make such a difference — but water really is the most forgotten health hack. Most of us walk around with headaches, stiffness, or low energy and blame age, stress, or bad luck, when our body is simply asking for a drink.

If you’re having one of those mystery off-days, try a few big glasses of water. It worked fast for me.