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There is a Simple Water Cure For Many Types of Pain
Water is What You Are; Water is What You Need
Many disorders benefit from some sort of "water cure." Lack of water is very serious to the body. We don't think of a little thirst as painful but you can die in a few days from lack of water. Do water, health and even longevity go together? We need to realize that a chronic low level of dehydration; one that we can even adapt to and not feel uncomfortable about can, over time, lead to serious disease and considerable pain. We then need water therapy because, when your symptoms come from lack of water, water cures.
Your body's cells, tissues, and organs are composed of 75% water. The percentage decreases with age. Brain cells are made up of almost 85% water. Your blood and lymphatic fluids are nearly 100% water. Water is the solvent your body needs to carry out most of its functions and the water cure can help many of those work better.
The human body can become dehydrated even when abundant water is readily available. Humans seem to lose their thirst sensation and the critical perception of needing to drink more water. Not recognizing this need, they become gradually, increasingly, and then chronically dehydrated with age.
How Much Water do We Need in a Day?
The rule of thumb is: take your weight in lbs, divide by 2 and the result is the number of ounces you should drink in a day. For example, for a person weighing 160 lb:160 lb/2 = 80
80 oz = 10 glasses
(at 8 oz (250 ml)/glass)
The body secretes (but recycles) per day:
1000 ml saliva
2000 ml gastric juice
5500 ml intestinal juice
The body loses per day:
350 ml from the lungs
350 ml from the skin (increases with age as skin thins)
100 ml from sweat (can go up to 5000 ml)
1400 ml from urine
200 ml from stools
2400 ml Total = ~10 cups
We gain some from fluid in food and some from metabolism of food but the majority has to be taken in as water.
Do coffee, soft drinks etc. count? - no, they are diuretics.
Do you drink your 8-10 glasses per day?
Eight glasses of pure water counts as eight glasses of water.
Five glasses of water + three cups of coffee does not count as eight glasses. In fact, it is more like:
5 cups of water - 3 cups of coffee = 2 cups of water
The coffee not only doesn't count, but being a diuretic, it has a negative effect on our water balance. The numbers may not be exactly what the equation shows, but the point is that coffee takes out more water than it contributes. If you drink coffee don't add it in to your water account for the day but subtract it.
Adjusting to Increased Water Intake
You may be thinking, "If I drink more water, I'll just have to go to the bathroom more." To some extent that is true because your body has to adjust and your body makes adjustments slowly.
Your body is always trying to maintain a state of homeostasis:
homeo = unchanging
stasis = standing or state
This refers to the existence of a stable internal environment.
If you have not been in the habit of drinking enough water, your body has been conserving water so carefully for so long that it has to learn that the drought is finally over, that it has more water to use and doesn't have to be so conservative in its use of water.
Your body takes some time to react to any change in lifestyle. That applies to changes in water as well as more exercise, more food etc. It will adjust after a time. Better to not make a large, sudden change in water intake. But better to change than not.
We sometimes get impatient because positive changes don't happen quickly enough. A general rule is that for a change in lifestyle or when you begin taking something hoping for a benefit expect to wait up to three months to notice anything. The water cure is not instant.
Water - Salt Balance
What organs of our bodies deal with waste? - kidneys, bowels, skin, tears, liver, lymphatic, lungs, tongue. The lungs are a large organ to excrete waste. They secrete CO2 and mucus. Mucus is just lung excretion that is thickened because of an insufficient supply of water or an improper use of water. This can cause excessive throat clearing. For this condition you need the water cure.
Most people need more water but it should be balanced with salt. You don't need much salt. Pure regular table salt, sodium chloride (NaCl) is toxic. Children die each year form eating table salt.
Our modern chemical industries have learned how to process raw salt and extract the more valuable minerals from it and sell the leftovers, the slag, inexpensively to us. Table salt is about 98% pure sodium chloride with added agents to keep it free-flowing, keep it from absorbing water etc. Naturally-dehydrated sea salt (Celtic is one brand) is better. It has all the natural minerals in it.
If you start taking more water and don't adjust your salt intake you could develop an imbalance. It is recommended that a person take ¼ - ½ teaspoon of sea salt per day. Distilled water is good but needs to be balanced to the intake of salt to maintain the osmotic balance. Your blood gets its viscosity from the glucose and minerals it contains. If you suddenly drink more water your brain sees a viscosity problem - the blood is not thick enough. If it can't thicken it because it is short of these items, it will excrete the excess water and you're still dehydrated.
Water in the Morning
You are most likely to be most dehydrated first thing in the morning. This is because you lose water all night from respiration and via the skin and kidneys. We should ideally eat our largest meal of the day at breakfast for which we need lots of water to produce digestive juices.
What is the most common type of complaint of patients visiting their doctors? - digestive system problems, especially constipation and this turns out to be related to water intake (also fiber)
If working properly, a bowel movement should be a process taking a few seconds not pushing for 1 minute, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, come back and try again later.
Motilin is a hormone produced by the intestine which stimulates the transverse colon to clamp down in cycles (peristalsis). It is produced in reaction to the drinking of water, specifically warm, close-to-body-temperature water. Drinking 2-3 cups of warm water first thing in the morning (being active also helps) should aid in producing a bowel movement in a short time.
You may have to adjust slowly, gradually increase water volume and temperature and balancing with salt. This works really well - another great water cure.
So What is the Water Cure?
The Water Cure, in most cases, is just a matter of drinking enough water. Remember, be patient, adjust slowly and over time you will experience many benefits of the water cure. Changes may happen that you did not even anticipate or expect.
Water is a very important factor in health but not the only area of lifestyle you need to consider. Get
free doctor advice
free doctor advice
from experts in each area of lifestyle. Many aspects of lifestyle interact with each other. For instance,
Dr. Air
would say that having enough water for the lungs to operate properly is very important. Dehydration can be a contributing factor in such disorders as asthma.
Dr. Nutrition
would say that there are ideal water content levels for your food.
Other Water Facts
Chronic dehydration is the root cause of most degenerative diseases of the human body and is thus related to much of the pain we experience.
Morning sickness is a thirst signal of both the fetus and the mother.
You need approximately ½ t of salt for every 10 cups of water that you take in. So if you are drinking, for instance, distilled water you should take that into account.
Water helps to relieve anxiety and depression.
One of the best sources of information about water, it's uses and importance for health is the book
Your Body's Many Cries for Water by Dr. Batmanghelidj.
It's a fact - if you drink sufficient water, improved health will be your reward. Aside from what I have called "the water cure" - just getting enough water, there are many forms of water therapy that will be discussed on coming pages. For example, many people have found that a simple
cold water therapy
can be very helpful for rheumatoid arthritis. For now, if you would like a simple way to improve your health, just remember the water cure.
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