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 How much water do you drink a day, as water?

You know, we ask every patient this question and in almost every case we get exactly the same answer. Any ideas what the answer is? Did it pop into your head when you read the title of this piece?

In almost every case the patient answers "not as much as I should do"!

Now if you know you're not drinking enough water, why on earth don't you? Well perhaps it's because you're dehydrated.

Drinking enough water is the single most health improving thing that you can do for yourself after remembering to breathe! Furthermore it's virtually FREE.

So why is dehydration such a problem?

Simply put virtually everything in the body takes place in an aqueous environment. i.e. in a fluid medium. If the body is dehydrated the body fluids are thicker and more viscous, so everything requires more effort. It's the difference between wading through water and wading through treacle.

If you're dehydrated then cell membranes get thicker to try and preserve the water that is inside the cell. This makes it much harder to get nutrients into a cell and the waste products out again. It gets more serious than this however.

Do you know that it has been estimated that every cell only gets about 40% of its energy requirement from metabolic processes? That's right only about 40% of the energy needs of a cell comes from the fuel we provide for it in the form of nutrition.

So the question is "where does the other 60% come from?"

The short answer is that nobody knows for sure. There are three best educated guesses knocking around at the moment. Two of them are directly related to dehydration and the third is indirectly related to it.

1. The laws of thermodynamics state that energy is neither created nor destroyed; it is merely transformed into an other form, until entropy gradually dissipates it. (I am paraphrasing here as it's been a long time since I did any physics, and that's the best I can remember it. If anyone feels the need to correct me please email me.) So the energy of the Brownian motion in the cell is converted for the cell's use. Brownian motion, if you recall is the incessant jiggling of small particles caused by the random movement of the molecules of the suspending fluid. The more dehydrated the suspending fluid is the greater the surface tension is so you get less Brownian motion.

2. As water is drawn through microscopic pores in the cell membrane a turbine effect is created which generates energy; and

3. A photoelectric effect happens when light shines through a cell membrane generating energy. When the cell is dehydrated the membrane gets thicker which reduces the amount of light that will get through.

So at a very fundamental level of cellular metabolism being fully hydrated can make dramatic changes to your energy levels.

What are the symptoms of dehydration?

According to Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, the author of "Your body's many cries for water", they include:-

  • Feeling tired
  • Feeling flushed
  • Feeling irritable
  • Feeling anxious
  • Feeling dejected
  • Feeling depressed
  • Not sleeping well
  • Feeling heavy headed
  • Cravings
  • Asthma
  • Allergies
  • Hypertension
  • Constipation
  • Type II diabetes
  • Autoimmune disease
  • Heartburn
  • Dyspeptic pain
  • Anginal pain
  • Lower back pain
  • Rheumatoid joint pain
  • Headaches
  • Colitis pain
  • Fibromyagia
  • Bulimia
  • Morning sickness during pregnancy

Give me one good reason why I should drink more water

Dr. Batmangehelidj also gives us 46 reasons why your body needs enough water every day in his book "Water and salt…your healers from within".

  1. Without water nothing lives.
  2. Comparative shortage of water first suppresses and eventually kills some aspect of the body.
  3. Water is the main source of energy; it is the 'cash flow' of the body.
  4. Water generates electrical and magnetic energy inside each and every cell of the body. It provides the power to live.
  5. Water is the bonding adhesive in the architectural design of the cell structure.
  6. Water prevents DNA damage and makes its repair mechanisms more efficient. Therefore, less abnormal DNA is made.
  7. Water increases greatly the efficiency of the immune system in the bone marrow, where the immune system is formed (all its mechanisms), including its efficiency against cancer.
  8. Water is the main solvent for all foods, vitamins, and minerals. It is used in the breakdown of food into smaller particles and their eventual metabolism and assimilation.
  9. Water energises food, and the food particles are then able to supply the body with this energy during digestion. This is why food without water has no energy value for the body.
  10. Water increases the body's rate of absorption of essential substances in food.
  11. Water is used to transport all substances inside the body.
  12. Water increases the efficiency of red blood cells in collecting oxygen from the lungs.
  13. When water reaches a cell, it brings the cell oxygen and takes its waste gases to the lungs for disposal.
  14. Water clears toxic waste from the different parts of the body and takes it to the liver and kidneys for disposal.
  15. Water is the main lubricant in the joint spaces and helps prevent arthritis and back pain.
  16. Water is used in the spinal discs to make them shock-absorbing water cushions.
  17. Water is the best lubricating laxative and prevents constipation.
  18. Water helps reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
  19. Water prevents clogging of arteries in the heart and brain.
  20. Water is essential for the body's cooling (sweat) and heating (electrical) systems.
  21. Water gives us the power and electrical energy for all brain functions, most particularly thinking.
  22. Water is directly needed for the efficient manufacture of all neuro- transmitters, including serotonin.
  23. Water is directly needed for the production of all hormones made by the brain, including melatonin.
  24. Water can help prevent attention deficit disorder in children and adults.
  25. Water increases efficiency at work. It expands your attention span.
  26. Water is a better pick-me-up than any other beverage in the world and has no side effects.
  27. Water helps reduce stress, anxiety and depression.
  28. Water restores normal sleep rhythms.
  29. Water helps reduce fatigue. It gives us the energy of youth.
  30. Water makes the skin smoother and helps decrease the effects of ageing.
  31. Water gives lustre and shine to the eyes.
  32. Water helps prevent glaucoma.
  33. Water normalises the blood manufacturing systems in the bone marrow. It helps prevent leukaemia and lymphoma.
  34. Water is absolutely vital to making the immune system more efficient in different regions to fight infections and cancer cells where they are formed.
  35. Water dilutes the blood and prevents it from clotting during circulation.
  36. Water decreases premenstrual pains and hot flushes.
  37. Water and heartbeats create the dilution and waves the keep things from regimenting in the bloodstream.
  38. The human body has no stored water to draw on during dehydration. This is why you must drink regularly and throughout the day.
  39. Dehydration prevents sex hormone production, one of the primary causes of impotence and loss of libido.
  40. Drinking water separates the sensations of thirst and hunger.
  41. To lose weight water is the best way to go. Drink water on time and lose weight without much dieting. Also you will not eat excessively when you feel hungry but are in fact only thirsty for water.
  42. Dehydration causes deposits of toxic sediments in the tissue spaces, joints, kidneys, liver, brain, and skin. Water will clear these deposits.
  43. Water reduces the incidence of morning sickness in pregnancy.
  44. Water integrates mind and body functions. It increases ability to realise goals and purpose.
  45. Water helps prevent the loss of memory as we age. It helps reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Lou Gehrig's disease.
  46. Water helps reverse addictive urges, including those for caffeine, alcohol, and some drugs.

So how much do we need to drink a day?

According to Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj most adults need approximately four and a half pints of water a day as water. Most of the things we drink are diuretics, which make us lose water. Anything with tea in, coffee, caffeine, sugar, artificial sweetener, carbon dioxide or alcohol are diuretics and make us lose water.

The body absorbs water. It is a passive process. It doesn't require any resources to get it into us. If there is anything in the water, or if there is anything in the stomach so that it forms a "soup" when we drink it, the body treats it as a food and digests it, which is an active process and requires body resources. So the trick is to get the water into us when the stomach is empty. Drinking a pint of water half an hour before your three main meals and a half pint of water two and a half hours after each of your three main meals is a way of doing this.

One thing to remember

Chlorine is present in most municipal water supplies and is bactericidal. There is some evidence to suggest that normal bowel flora, the so-called friendly bacteria, are more susceptible to chlorine than are pathogenic bacteria. This means that if you are drinking large amounts of tap water you could be upsetting the bowel's bacterial balance. Filtering the water will remove chlorine.

For more information about this or why rehydration is such a good thing for the rest of you, we recommend Dr. Batmanghelidj's books.

Your body's many cries for water.

Buy from Amazon  Amazon Link

Water and salt…your healers from within.

Buy from Amazon  Amazon Link

So let me re-ask that pesky question we started with.

How much water are you going to drink a day, as water?

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