Making plain water seem as if it's flavoured when it's not is genius – Hayley Matthews

We've been trying to cut out fizzy juice in our house for several reasons. It's not great for your teeth, it's laden with lots of sugar and sweeteners (also not great), and it’s expensive.

Water can seem rather plain when contrasted with sugar-laden fizzy drinks (Picture: Darren England/Getty Images).

However my suggestion of drinking more council juice (water) didn't go down too well at first.

But then I discovered the Air Up bottle that makes water taste as if it is flavoured. My eldest son had been banging on about this for a while and so when one arrived through the door, he swiftly claimed it as his own.

How it works is genius to be honest. Our senses are amazing things, because when you smell something, it passes through the nose and manifests in the brain as taste.

Apparently a large proportion of the ‘tastes’ we experience are actually made up of things that we are smelling.

And with mild dehydration affecting mood, motivation and anxiety, as well as causing fatigue, headaches and general grumpiness, hydration is essential for a healthy body. More severe hydration can strain kidneys, which flush out waste products in urine, and can quickly affect how efficiently the body functions.

So drinking sufficient amounts of water is not to be shrugged off – especially if, like me, you're partial to a wine at night.

My eldest has discovered drinking an array of flavours (or should I say scents), and we've so far enjoyed the cola, sweet coconut, lemon and basil, peach tea and berry. I've never seen him drink so much water before, it's great – and his mood has improved too. Now I'll just need to order myself one.