“Drink more hot water!” I often hear this advice when I encounter small illnesses such as colds and stomachaches. “Drink eight glasses of water a day” is a method of health care that some “health professionals” believe in. Many people believe that drinking more water can be more detoxification, more detoxification can be healthier, but these statements are really correct?
The more water you drink, the more detoxification? But let the internal organs suffer
Water is an important part of the human body, accounting for 70% of the body weight, can be said to be the “source of life”. People can not eat for several days in a row, can not always do not drink water, but how to drink water can be careful how to do.
We drink water into the body, and not directly out of the body by flushing out the dirty things as simple as “detoxification”, but in the body through digestion, urination, respiratory work of multiple systems, after absorption, exchange, filtration and other complex processes, and then through the urine and stool, sweating, breathing in the water vapor out of the body. So drinking too much water will instead increase the burden on the internal organs. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that too much water excretion will not be excreted will produce phlegm and dampness, and even turn into “drinking evil”, edema or water accumulation in the body.
How much water should I drink a day? Adults need 1500-2500ml of water a day, but how much to drink depends on the time, place and person. If you sweat a lot in hot weather, you should drink more. Cold weather does not sweat, drink less water. The room is open heating, air conditioning, dry environment needs more water, humid water heavy place should not drink too much. Height, fat, thin, gender, food these factors will affect the need to drink water. High activity consumption, you need to drink more. People who are prone to edema, eczema, phlegm and dampness should be careful not to drink too much. If you are suffering from kidney disease, heart disease or liver disease, you should control the amount of water you drink according to your physician’s advice, as drinking too much water can aggravate your condition.
Thirst is the body dehydration? Two different things
How can you tell if you are drinking enough water every day? Some people think that thirst is a signal from the brain, prompting us “it’s time to drink water. Some people think that it is too late to drink water when you are thirsty, so you should always drink water whether you are thirsty or not. In fact, thirst and dehydration can not be equated. Lack of water can cause thirst, high blood sugar, eating too salty, heat stroke, fever can also trigger the feeling of thirst through the brain.
This situation is not a lack of water in the body, but too much sugar, salt and other components in the blood, need to add water to dilute a little, or the body temperature is too high, need to add water to cool down, so often drink a lot of water still feel thirsty. There are also some long-term hobby coffee, tea drinkers, not really “thirsty”, but the brain out of habit feel “need to have a cup of it”.
In traditional Chinese medicine theory, thirst is often due to internal heat consumed fluid, just drink water without removing internal heat, it is the same as “soup to stop the boil”, not to put out the stove fire, add more water in the pot will also burn dry. Some people are thirsty because the internal organs are not functioning properly and water cannot be transported in the normal way, not really water shortage. For example, in some patients with blood stasis, the blood stasis prevents water from being transported to the mouth and tongue, so they always feel thirsty but do not want to drink water, and even if they do, their thirst cannot be relieved.
So how can we know whether our body is dehydrated or not? The color of urine is a simple way to determine. The normal urine is light yellow, if the color deepens, appearing beer-colored, tea-colored, we should drink more water, the color is very light or no color means that the body is already trying to discharge excess water, do not need to drink.
Drink when you want? Twelve hours of drinking water to understand the
Drink water to choose the right time. Wake up every morning to drink a little water can replenish the loss of water during the night, but also to wake up the stomach and intestines, ready to eat breakfast. Before eating, after eating should not drink a lot of water, which will cause stomach fullness, affect appetite, but also dilute gastric juice, affecting the digestion and absorption of food. Do not drink too much water before going to bed at night, so as not to cause frequent waking up at night to urinate affect sleep.
In the twelve hours of the day, the dawn (5:00 to 7:00) for the large intestine meridian, drinking water can moisten the bowels and promote defecation. Six hours (9:00 to 11:00) for the spleen meridian blood, can transport water and grain, drinking water at this time is not easy to generate phlegm and dampness. Not yet (13:00 to 15:00) belongs to the small intestine meridian, responsible for drawing nutrients from the diet, drinking water at this time is most conducive to absorb water. Shen (15:00 to 17:00) is the most active bladder meridian time, appropriate drinking water is conducive to the body’s metabolic waste through the urine out of the body.
Tea instead of water to enhance the taste? White water is the most fragrant
The way to drink water is also a matter of attention. Some people are anxious to drink in large gulps, or because of the heat, sports thirsty in a hurry to fill a large bottle of drink. After drinking this often feel uncomfortable stomach, water blocked in the stomach and bloated and stuffy, and even nausea and want to vomit. This is because drinking too much too fierce than the stomach’s ability to work, the stomach can not empty the water in time.
The correct way to drink water is a small slow drink, a small number of times.
Some people do not like to drink plain water, often carbonated drinks, fruit juice, coffee and tea instead. Although drinks are good to drink, but often contain high sugar, drink a few more bottles unknowingly ingested too much sugar, which is not good for health. Coffee and tea make people excited, too much drinking may affect sleep. Drinking water is best to choose plain water, the temperature is slightly higher than the lips is appropriate. If you really want to drink some cold, you can hold it in your mouth for a while and then slowly swallow it to avoid sudden cold stimulation triggered by stomach pain.
“Thirsty to drink water, hungry to eat” is simple to say, but it is in line with the human physiological needs, in line with the natural laws of health principles. May we start from such small daily things as drinking water, pay attention to health, scientific health, and get a better life.
