Water of Life

Everyone knows that we need water to survive; we can go for weeks without food and still survive, but we’d die after only a few days without water.

Water makes up 70% of our bodies; it transports nutrients to everywhere in our system and moves waste away from us. Water breaks down food, regulates body temperature and helps our skin keep its elasticity. In addition to all this, water can speed up weight-loss, create energy, counteract the effects of heat and cold on our skin, give the immune system a boost and combat winter depression or SAD.

Even though we know how important water is to life, most of us still don’t drink enough of it; a large portion of diseases that break out in poorer third world countries are due to a massive deficiency in water consumption rather than unclean living conditions.

It is thought that 90% of people in the US and Europe are chronically dehydrated, that most of our illnesses spring from this problem.

On a normal cool day when we are not perspiring, our bodies lose about 3.5 pints (2 litres) of water; some say we should be drinking 8 glasses of water per day, others argue that this may be excessive.

Some scientists say that when your mouth is dry it is already way past the point where your body needs water, a kind of panic alarm; others argue that we should simply obey our thirsts, drink when we feel the need.

The thing is many of us ignore our thirsts, put it to the back of our minds because we are too busy at work; saying we’ll get a drink at lunch even if we are thirsty now and lunch is another hour or two away.

Benefits of drinking plenty of water:

1. Water washes harmful chemicals from our body; the liver, lymphatic system, arteries, veins and kidneys can become overloaded with toxins, water helps flush out these areas and enables them to function at peak efficiency.
2. When dehydrated the same hormones come into play as when we are over-stressed; which means you can think you are stressed even if there is no need to be, it could just be that you need more water.
3. Losing weight can be made easier by drinking a glass of water or two before meals; the brain can not always differentiate between the body’s need for water and food, often when we think we are hungry our body needs water. Feelings of low energy are caused by both the need for food and the need for water. Drink water if you feel hungry between meals and wait half an hour or so, if the hunger pains go away you know your body was thirsty, if not you can eat. You can shed pounds and pounds in no time this way.
4. The hypothalamus regulates body temperature, the release of hormones and thirst and hunger. It needs a plentiful supply of water to function properly; when it doesn’t get a sufficient supply the hypothalamus behaves abnormally and makes us feel irritable and depressed.
5. Skin needs water to keep its elasticity; the body's major organs are first in the queue for water though, if you don’t drink enough there will be none left to maintain your skin.

Other great ways of using water to improve your health besides drinking it:

1. Hydrotherapy can be very useful if you are going through a miserable patch in your life; hydrotherapy is where you relax in a specially made pool that has aromatherapy oils added, the water is heated to just below body temperature to give maximum relaxation to your muscles which will greatly decrease your bad feelings.
2. Floatation or isolation tanks became popular in the 1990s and are a very valid water therapy option; around 90% of the work the brain has to cope with is related to gravity, changes in sound, lighting and temperature… the tank’s water is controlled so it matches your surface body temperature while you float in the dark without sounds, your brain will be almost completely at rest and you will be very relaxed. Aromatherapy oils and/or aroma floats are sometimes added if requested.
3. Thalassotherapy is the same as hydrotherapy apart from sea-water is used; you get all the benefits of the first, plus it’s said to be really good for the skin.
4. Colonic irrigation is extremely effective at lifting one’s spirits if you can get around the idea of having water sluiced into the parts where things don’t normally go; lukewarm, highly filtered water is flushed into the colon (up your rear) and washes out a lot of toxins which can make us fill ill and weak by re-entering the bloodstream. One would normally feel light and full of energy after this treatment.
5. Stress can be lessened by taking a lukewarm bath; fill the bath up half way with water at body temperature then get in, slowly add cold water for around fifteen minutes then get out and wrap yourself up in a warm towel. The temperature changes force your kidneys to work harder and help fight insomnia as well as stress.
6. Simply splashing your face with warm water will do wonders for your skin; doing this regularly will stimulate circulation and encourage the natural balance of moisture in your skin that is lost throughout the day.