How to remember to drink water and take your medication

In short: attach the habit to something you already do every day (coffee, meals, brushing your teeth), keep the water bottle or the pills where you’ll see them, use a reminder at a fixed time for medication, and keep a simple record so you never have to wonder whether you already did it.

Forgetting to drink or to take a tablet isn’t a lack of willpower. Neither feels urgent in the moment, so they lose out to whatever does. The trick is to stop relying on remembering at all.

1. Attach it to something you already do

The most reliable reminder is a routine you never skip. Psychologists call it an implementation intention: “when X happens, I do Y.”

• Water: a glass with every meal, one with your first coffee, one each time you come back from the bathroom.
• Medication: with breakfast, or right after brushing your teeth, so the cue is the same every day.

The more specific the moment, the better it works. “In the morning” is vague; “after I put the kettle on” is a trigger.

2. Keep it in sight

Out of sight really is out of mind.

• Keep a full water bottle on your desk, not in the kitchen.
• Keep medication where the routine happens: by the toothbrush or the kettle, safely out of children’s reach.
• A weekly pill organiser shows at a glance whether today’s dose is gone.

3. Use reminders sparingly

A reminder that goes off too often turns into background noise, and soon you dismiss it without thinking.

• Medication: use a reminder at a fixed time. It should go off whether or not you’ve been busy.
• Water: a gentle nudge when you’ve gone a long time without a drink works better than an alarm every hour.
• Silence everything else at night and during meetings, so the reminders that matter still get noticed.

4. Keep a light record, without streaks

The most common medication question is “did I already take it?” A quick tick-off answers it and prevents a double dose. For water, a glance at roughly how much you’ve had is enough.

Avoid all-or-nothing streaks. Missing a day and “breaking the streak” makes many people give up; a record that simply shows the day is fine.

How much water is enough?

It varies with your size, the weather, and how active you are. As a reference, the European Food Safety Authority’s adequate intake is about 2.0 litres a day for women and 2.5 litres for men, from drinks and food together; much of it comes from food. You need more in heat and when you exercise. If you have a medical condition that limits fluids, follow your doctor’s advice instead.

Medication: a note on safety

• If you miss a dose, check the leaflet or ask a pharmacist before taking it late or doubling up. The answer depends on the medicine.
• A pharmacist can also suggest the best time of day for each medicine, which makes it easier to tie to a routine.
• No reminder app replaces medical advice, and none should be your only safeguard for a dose that really matters.

How Cues helps

Cues is a free iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch app that turns daily needs into bars that drain over time, so you see what’s running low before you hit empty.

• Water drains in about four hours, and refills by itself when you log a drink in any app that writes to Apple Health.
• A meds cue with fixed-time reminders that fire at the times you set, even during quiet hours.
• Top up without opening the app: tap a bar in a Home Screen widget, ask Siri to “Log a cue in Cues”, use a Control Center button, or top up from your Apple Watch.
• Quiet hours and a cap on reminders, so the nudges you do get stay meaningful.
• No streaks to break, and nothing to lose by ignoring it for a week.

Everything stays on your device, with no account. Cues is a self-care tracker, not a medical device.

Common questions