Of all the three basic necessities of life (air, water and food), water is perhaps the most difficult need to fulfill in the right manner.
Air is ubiquitous, and is almost the same around everywhere (unless you are living in a chimney or in a smothering place where you don't belong).
Food on the other hand is everywhere too. If you are living anywhere near human civilization, you should not die hungry.
Water on the other hand, is not something that is same everywhere. Nor is drinkable water as ubiquitous as you'd like to believe. And also, just because you are living in a human civilization, it doesn't guarantee that you have access to safe drinking water.
Ask the children of Africa. They are a part of civilization. They drink water. They know better.
Even in countries that are not considered poor, having great military strength and decent infrastructure, water isn't that great.
And these are just the cases that involve the quality of water. Even if you have drinkable water, there's the question of how much you should drink? How often should you drink? When should you drink? Is hot water better or cold water?
To answer all these questions, let's get started with our mini guide to the Art of Drinking Water-
Q.1 How much should we drink?
Experts say that one should drink 6-8 ounces of water daily which is around 2 Litres or half-a-gallon.
However the right amount of water is also a question that depends on your lifestyle, where you live and the climate etc.
For Athletes, the equation changes.
Athletes who do heavy training, need to be in between this lower and upper range-
Low end of range = Body weight (lbs) x 0.5 = (ounces of fluid/day)
High end of range = Body weight (lbs) x 1.0 = (ounces of fluid/day)
A simple Funda is to drink water at regular intervals, in amounts that seem fit at the time. A healthy kidney can eliminate 0.8 liters to 1 liter an hour, and your body is pretty good at telling you when it has had enough, so drink up! This will make sure you remain sufficiently hydrated.
Q. How often should one drink water?
As simple math tells us, drinking half a litre water within every 4 hour interval can do the trick. But again, if you are travelling in bright sunlight on a hot day, you may simply increase the intake.
Q. Hot water or cold water?
Personal preferences aside, both hot and cold water serve their specific purposes.
Whole exercising, the body temperature goes up, and drinking cold water helps regulate the core temperature.
On the downside, cold water makes the vessels shrink, and this restricting the digestion. Warm water helps break down food, aids constipation, and even helps you lose weight while improving blood circulation
Q. When to consume water?
The simple rule says- whenever thirsty but there are also times and activities during and around which you should be drinking water.
These are generally as given below-
1) After waking up- You know when the body is least hydrated? It is soon after you wake up! This is because by the time you wake up, you have been without water for at least 7 hours (depends on how much you sleep). Drinking a large, cool glass of water after you wake up has been shown to fire up your metabolism by a whopping 24% for 90 minutes!
2) Before Meal- Don't confuse this with just before meal. For that is not good. It dilutes the digestive juices present in the stomach and messes with the absorption process of food. One should drink water around an hour before meal and should also keep the same margin after the meal.
3) Before a Bath- Drinking a glass of water before a warm shower is scientifically known to reduce blood pressure. This relaxes the body and makes you calmer.
4) Before Sleep- Having a warm glass of water just before bedtime is said to relieve toxins from the body while also keeping you sufficiently hydrated throughout the night.
Q. What kind of water should you drink?
This is perhaps the most important question in the list. The kind of water you drink has a direct bearing on your health and your vitality. It affects the way you look, your energy levels and your overall demeanor.
There are many different kinds of water people use for drinking and they vary from place to place. Let's discuss the important ones in brief.
Well water- Well water can be alright but usually it is contaminated. They have a high chance of contamination from minerals like iron and manganese. Generally the State Testing laboratories do not test this water for a variety of toxic chemicals which makes the water unsafe. Only pristine wells, that are well maintained can be used but that too at the drinker’s risk.
Distilled water- Distilled water is a kind of purified water that is generally used for laboratory purposes. It is devoid of all and any solid content which means its basically ‘too pure’. It lacks all minerals and chemicals that naturally occur in water. So is Distilled water safe to drink? Yes. But is it recommended to drink? No.
Spring water- Spring water is the natural water that appears on surface from within the ground. Spring water has been filtered by the earth in ways we do not completely understand, but which works better than any invented means of purifying water. It contains all the naturally occurring minerals and is safe for drinking. This is the reason spring water is the most suggested type of drinking water and is nowadays available in bottles either in natural or form or post filtration process that does affect the mineral composition of the water.
Tap water- Tap water may be safe to drink or not depending on where you live. In some countries, regulatory bodies undertake steps to make tap water drinkable while others do not. In such a case, the water is generally only used for cleaning and washing purposes. Tap water is generally not considered the best option to drink since it often contains heavy metals, fluoride, chlorine, medicines like antibiotics and antidepressants and hundreds of chemicals. This is why most homes are nowadays splurged with water purification system.
Alkaline Water- Artificial alkaline water is generally ionized to increase its pH to between 8 and 10. This is particularly good for people who suffer from chronic acidity. The water is typically rich in alkalizing compounds, including calcium, silica, potassium, magnesium, and bicarbonate which makes it rich in these minerals. A major issue with this kind of water is that there is not enough research conclusively showing the benefits actually exist.
Purified Bottled water- Purified Bottled waters are increasingly becoming commonplace and are found almost everywhere around the world. They are considered safest to drink but recent research shows they are not at all so good. The plastic that is used for packaging purposes often has the risk of seeping into the water. Moreover, packaged water has very little amount of TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), usually in the range of 4 ppm to 100 ppm. Experts say that water best fit for consumption purposes should have a TDS range of around 250-350.
Generally Spring water is considered the best option, followed by Alkaline water. For places where these might not be available, one should only consider the safest possible option from the given given list. Only if more than one of these options are available, that one should look for other benefits.
Now that you are through with the Universal Drinking Water Guide, there's just one thing left to say - Happy Drinking Steemers!