Drinking hydrogen water helped me sleep better, but is a £299 bottle worth the investment?

While I may be lacking in some areas of health and wellness – I’m partial to eating too much spaghetti, have a tendency to watch “just one more episode” instead of getting eight hours of beauty sleep and probably don’t spend enough time on the expensive Peloton I shelled out for – my water intake is one area that I excel in.

A few years ago, I banished fizzy drinks from my diet. I never drink alcohol and I drink three litres of water a day, including lots of healthy green tea. Despite these excellent credentials, the thought of hacking my hydration excited me because even with my good habits, I often feel zapped of energy and dehydrated.

While I was waiting for the flask to arrive, I received an email with a timeline of what to expect. I was promised everything from “changing health at a cellular level”, “feeling reduced inflammation” and “increased aerobic performance” to “lower blood pressure”, “better digestion”, “reduced liver fat”, “less anxiety”, “improved gut microbiome” and even “potential anti-ageing benefits”.

My rational mind knew this sounded too good to be true, but I couldn’t help feeling excited about this elixir of immortality, currently winging its way to me in the post.

The Echo flask arrived in a snazzy black box, and immediately looked more aesthetically impressive than any of the other flasks, Stanley cups and Stanley dupes waiting in the cupboard. I imagined my other bottles feeling like Woody from Toy Story, watching me unbox the shiny new Buzz Lightyear as they sat sadly behind me, realising they’d soon be forgotten.

The smart bottle and its accompanying app were both straightforward to set up. While it hydrogenates, the bottle turns a pleasing shade of turquoise, and bubbles rise to the top. There’s a fancy screen on the side that counts down the 10 minutes until your water is hydrogenated, and you can also use this screen to operate cleaning cycles and pair the bottle with your phone.

The app nudges you when you haven’t been drinking enough too – useful if you tend to forget to hydrate when you’re busy.

The bottle’s 12-ounce capacity is on the smaller side. Options for larger capacities include a 1700ml hydrogen water pitcher at £950.99 and a large hydrogen water generator at a whopping £1,300.

For those on a tighter budget, or who feel doubtful about the benefits, hydrogen tablets offer a lower-cost way to explore the potential benefits before committing to a bottle purchase.

I tested the Echo Flask for a few weeks, drinking at least three flasks a day, and over this time, I did find myself drinking more water, though initially it was admittedly to get the small dopamine hit of watching the bottle light up, turn blue and begin to audibly bubble (during slow days of sitting at my desk for nine hours straight, I’ll take the small thrills).

Over my time testing the Echo Flask, I was intrigued to see how, if at all, using the flask would affect me. My insomnia has plagued me since I was a child and I lie awake for hours at night, thoughts dancing through my head insistently, then when I finally fall asleep too late, it causes me to be exhausted the next morning. The exhaustion lasts all day, until bedtime, when I’m suddenly on high alert, and so the cycle continues.

I’ve tried plenty of remedies for this ailment throughout my life, including hypnotherapy, reflexology, various supplements and so on. But after a few weeks of sipping from the Echo Flask religiously, dare I say without jinxing it, I found myself drifting off earlier than usual without the usual urge to stay awake and doom scroll.

Another pleasant and unexpected side effect was that I found my appetite had decreased slightly. I work from home and noticed my spontaneous visits to the kitchen to pick up some popcorn or a bowl of cereal were less frequent. I also noticed that my skin, normally blighted by eczema, and dry and flaky no matter how much moisturiser I use, felt smoother and looked brighter than it had for years.

While I was pleased to notice these changes, I took them with a pinch of salt. I know that fluctuations in sleep patterns, appetite, weight loss and so on can be down to everything from hormonal changes to the weather. Only time will tell if I have my new bottle to thank, or if I was just less stressed or hormonal during that time period. Could it have just been down to drinking even more water than usual? Or, perhaps, the power of the placebo effect?