The Benefits of Water

We’ve heard it all before, water is needed for good health. We all use water, we drink a few glasses a day maybe, and take a shower or bath daily.

Drinking Pure Water…

The fact is that most people do not drink enough water. The World Health Organization recommends that adults drink eight large glasses of water daily, but few people actually do and many people consider drinking tea, coffee or alcohol as part of their fluid intake (which do not hydrate, they dehydrate). Many people do not recognize that they are dehydrated and as people grow older, the symptoms become more difficult to identify.

Symptoms of lack of water intake include headaches, constipation, lethargy, lack of alertness and changes in mood. Some doctors and health experts claim that not drinking enough water contributes to many of society’s most common serious ailments, such as asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. A dry or discolored tongue and darker than normal urine are signs that you are dehydrated.

Each person loses six pints of water daily: a pint perspiring, two in exhaling and three in urine. Water is essential for the body to replace lost water, to cool and lubricate and to flush out waste and toxins.

Getting into the Habit…

Drinking water in the morning flushes out the kidneys and regulates the bowels. Get into a habit of having a liter of pure water (filtered or bottled) by your beside. Upon waking, drink several glasses before showering. Add lemon juice for extra internal cleansing. (In the winter, you may use unsweetened herbal tea, or just warm water.)You may find yourself urinating more than normal, but your body will re-adjust to its new intake.

Take another liter of water to work/school with you. Drink 2 glasses mid-morning (not necessarily all at once) and another two glasses through the afternoon. Do not drink with meals as it dilutes the gastric juices, making digestion more difficult. Wait at least half an hour after drinking before eating. Similarly, after eating, wait at least an hour before drinking. For people who complain they always need to drink fluid with their meals, it’s usually because they don’t drink enough fluid in between meals! Herbal teas may be substituted for pure water (not caffeine teas, not juice).

Most people do not realize they are dehydrated, simply because they do not drink enough water! In fact, we should drink water before dehydration occurs. If you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated. A friend of mine was amazed when he discovered that after getting into the habit of drinking two liters of water daily, his headaches disappeared!