If you buy a bottle of water or another bottled drink in the store, recycling the bottle afterward will help to reduce your single-use plastic waste. But what about alternatives to simply recycling it? Of course, you could reuse the bottle by refilling it and drinking out of it again, but what about some more creative, fun, and interesting ways to reuse or upcycle plastic water bottles. Here are a few ideas that you could try.
A piggy bank
Screw the top on your bottle and cut a slit somewhere around the middle and you’ve got yourself a DIY piggy bank, perfect for a rainy-day fund for yourself or for your kids to start saving their pocket money. They can decorate it however they like, too.
Plant pots
Cut out the majority of one side of a plastic bottle, then you can fill it with soil and plant seeds or bulbs inside the bottle, making a DIY plant holder for your home or garden. Alternatively, you can cut a bottle in half and use each half as a planter, although the bottom half will be more stable to stand up than the top. Here are some tips on the different types of plants you can grow this way.
Food storage containers
Rather than buying tubs and other containers for storing food in your kitchen, you can reuse old water bottles. Thoroughly clean and dry any bottles before using them, then you can store anything that can be poured into and out of a bottle. Think of things like flour, rice, oats, and anything else that’s a similar consistency. You can also store homemade sauces and condiments this way.
Crafts and games
If you have kids, then their imagination is the limit when it comes to turning bottles into something else. A water bottle could become a jet pack, a volcano, a rocket ship, and so much more. And you can create fun games for the kids or the whole family, such as turning bottles into skittles for bowling, or water shooters for water fights.
Stationery holders
A water bottle with the top cut off makes a great place to store all of your kids’ crayons and other stationery items. Or if someone in your family likes painting, bottles can be used both for storing paintbrushes and as a place for filling with water to rinse your brushes.
We ensure that all the water bottles we collect from you are properly disposed of and recycled, but you could try some of these ideas for reusing your water bottles instead. If you need a bottled water delivery service for your home or office, then contact Mountain Park Spring Water to find out more about our services.
Water is a wonderful thing. As well as keeping us alive, it gives us more energy, helps us stay alert and focused, improves our skin, aids digestion, and lots of other great things. And water can even be used as a kind of therapy to treat or manage a range of conditions of health problems, both physical and mental.
Using water as a kind of therapy is known as hydrotherapy, or sometimes just known as water therapy or aquatic therapy. Let’s dive into the topic of hydrotherapy to learn more about it.
What is hydrotherapy?
Hydrotherapy is a catch-all term for any kind of therapy that uses water, which may be used as a complementary treatment. A variety of facilities may be used depending on the type of therapy and the condition being treated, such as swimming pools, saunas, whirlpools, baths, and physical therapy tanks. And depending on the type of equipment being used, the water may be either hot or cold, and various levels of water pressure or stream types may be used.
For example, one kind of hydrotherapy may simply involve floating in temperate water to enjoy the relaxation benefits or the soothing effects of the water on your joints or skin, for example, while another may involve more rigorous exercises to strengthen the muscles or joints after an injury.
What is hydrotherapy used for?
Depending on the type of water therapy being used, this kind of treatment can be used for joint or muscle pain, skin conditions, chronic pain conditions, recovery from an injury or surgery, and even mental health issues and neurological conditions. Athletes may even use hydrotherapy to recover after a training session or competition.
What are the benefits of hydrotherapy?
Compared to exercises like running, water-based activity is extremely low impact when it comes to your joints. This means you can use it to stay active or strengthen your body without putting too much strain on your joints, or to relieve symptoms of arthritis. Warm water can also be effective at relieving pain, and it increases blood flow, which is another benefit when it comes to recovery.
In terms of your mental health, hydrotherapy can be extremely relaxing, helping to reduce stress levels and anxiety, even helping to manage some symptoms of depression. This relaxation effect can improve quality of sleep, too, which is important for anyone recovering from an injury or dealing with chronic pain, as well as those managing their mental health.
At Mountain Park Spring Water, we deliver fresh spring water to your home or office to help look after your physical and mental wellbeing. Get in touch to find out more about our services, accessories, or the quality and source of our water, with bottled water delivery across Virginia and North Carolina.
Is there a best way to drink water? It’s probably not something you give much thought to other than trying to drink enough each day, but there are theories and practices relating to this question. We’ve looked before at the best times of day to drink water and how often you should drink water throughout the day, but in this blog, we’ll look at a specific practice – Japanese water therapy.
What is Japanese water therapy?
Japanese water therapy is a specific set of rules surrounding consumption of water and food, particularly first thing in the morning. It is thought to have been popularized in Japanese medicine. It involves drinking room temperature water on an empty stomach every morning before you eat anything, and even before brushing your teeth.
More specifically, you should drink 4-5 glasses of water before breaking your fast by eating. You must then wait 45 minutes after drinking this amount of water before you eat breakfast. At breakfast, you should eat for no longer than 15 minutes, and then wait at least 2 hours before eating or drinking anything else.
The water you drink must be room temperature because it is thought that cold water hardens any oils and fats in your digestive system, making it bad for your health, although there isn’t any scientific evidence to prove this.
What are the benefits of Japanese water therapy?
While there isn’t much evidence to prove the actual benefits of Japanese water therapy, here are some of its claimed benefits…
- Weight loss – This type of water therapy is said to boost your metabolism, helping you lose weight
- Aid digestion – It is thought to cleanse your digestive system, improving the absorption of nutrients from your food and preventing problems like constipation
- Treat ailments – Japanese water therapy claims to treat a range of ailments and conditions, from high blood pressure and digestive issues to cancer and type 2 diabetes
People who try Japanese water therapy may see some benefits, but these likely come from the fact that you are drinking more water in general, not due to the strict guidelines of the therapy itself. Drinking enough water helps to regulate your digestion, give you more energy, and help you have better-looking skin and hair, among other benefits.
Similarly, Japanese water therapy could help you lose weight, but there is little to no research to suggest that it raises your metabolism. Instead, you’re likely to be consuming fewer calories because you may be replacing your morning coffee and sugary drinks throughout the day with water. And waiting 2 hours before eating or drinking after your meals means you are less likely to snack.
Bear in mind that there are also risks that come with drinking too much water at once. You should avoid drinking more than 4 cups or 1 liter of water in an hour to prevent the risk of water intoxication.
The important thing is that you stay hydrated throughout the day, so follow a routine that helps you do this safely and healthily. Contact Mountain Park Spring Water for our bottled water delivery service around Virginia and North Carolina.
