Articles

by Joyce d’Souza

One can never really underestimate the importance of water in our lives.  Water is responsible for life on earth. In fact, it is life itself. Plants, animals and every living being depend on water for their survival.

If there is no water, I guess, there’d be no life on earth. Just as two-thirds or 75% of the earth is covered with water; so is, two-thirds or 75% of our bodies contain water. A human body has the capacity of storing about 42 litres of water, at any given point in time. Our bodies cannot operate without water, as water forms the basis of the entire gamut of functioning. It serves as a lubricant, specially protecting the joints in the body; it insulates, protects and gives flexibility to the muscles and ligaments; it is required to form the saliva and the digestive juices that help in softening the food particles in the body and allowing free movement through the intestinal tract thereby helping in the elimination of waste and undigested food from the body; and most importantly, it helps in regulating the body temperature.  All the crucial functions of the body - respiration, digestion, circulation, secretion, elimination, maintaining body temperature - require water to function.

Through the removal of undigested food, and toxins from the body, a small quantity of around 2 to 3 liters of water is thrown out each day through waste, elimination, perspiration, urination and respiration and this needs to be put back into the system or else it may lead to dehydration, body weakness, muscle fatigue and may be the cause of various other illnesses.

Drinking water works wonders for our system.  Water is responsible for adding volatility thus allowing a more thorough circulation of blood in each and every part of the body. As it travels within the body, it washes the internal organs carrying away the toxic waste, cleaning the tissue cells, replenishing nutrients wherever needed and adding solubility to lymph and gland secretions. It cleanses, removes toxins from our bodies, and purifies our system. Since body cells largely depend on water, even a small quantity of water that may be expelled may affect the functioning of our bodies.

To replenish the water that gets out of the system, just drinking water is not good enough.  To allow the water that we drink to act and have the best effect, there is a systematic approach to drinking water that can have the maximum beneficial results.  The best method would be to drink two glasses of water as soon as you get out of bed, even before brushing your teeth.  Mid-morning would be about two glasses and two more in the mid-afternoon; or you can take the required quantity of water needed for the day (about six to eight glasses) and keep sipping it all through the day.  The kidneys, which are responsible to cleanse the blood gets loaded if not enough water is drunk. Drinking enough water helps the kidneys and makes their task easier, or they might just collapse under stress.

Water Therapy:

The Japanese Medical Society have studied how water plays an important role within our bodies and have come up with a Water Therapy course which, they say is a foolproof method of remaining healthy and fit, free of all illnesses.  It is a common practice in Japan to drink about four glasses of water as soon as you wake up and on an empty stomach. Through intensive research, they have discovered that drinking water has ‘cured’ many an ailment including heart ailments, arthritis, headaches and migraine, obesity, diarrhea, constipation, tuberculosis, kidney and urinary diseases and cancer as well.

Besides, they also give the method of treatment, in order to have the best effect for preventing, curing and eliminating illnesses even of grave intensity:

As soon as you wake up in the morning even before brushing your teeth, drink four glasses of water. You may, soon after, brush and clean your mouth but do not eat anything at least for 45 minutes thus allowing the water to penetrate into your body and act on the system.

The Medical Association of Japan says, it is proven that this method can cure even grave and life-threatening diseases, and within a given period of time:

High Blood Pressure - 30 days
Gastroentitis - 10 days
Diabetes - 30 days
Constipation - 10 days
Cancer - 180 days
Tuberculosis - 90 days
Arthritis (patients should follow the above treatment only for 3 days in the 1st week, and from 2nd week onwards daily).

There may be a tendency to empty your bladder a few times, with that much water getting into your system all at one time; but, this is healthy and will have no side effects at all.

And why should water be had before brushing your teeth and washing your mouth, and not after?

The saliva that gets collected in the mouth during sleep has a lot of curative properties. Throwing that out of your system is throwing away your immunity.  Thus it is important to drink water before washing your mouth.

Also, do not drink water along with your meals.  It’s best to have it 15 or 20 minutes before or/and after your meals.  Drinking water immediately before or after or during meals slows down digestion as the water tends to dilute the gastric and digestive juices. At no point in time should chilled water or cold drinks be had immediately after meals, as this tends to solidify the oil content in the food that you’ve just consumed, and may slow down digestion; and this undigested food may transform itself into sludge and react with the juices within the body, which may turn toxic and cancerous.  It’s best to have some warm water after a meal. That is why in Chinese restaurants, you find them serving hot herbal teas with the food

It is also advisable to drink water either at room temperature or slightly warmish.  This is because the water that rushes into the system has to be at body temperature.  Drinking extremely hot water or water that is too cold may shock the system and send wrong signals or may also tend to kill thirst, which in turn would enable one not to drink enough.

Water is sure a miracle drink. It’s the best detox agent, it helps regulate metabolism and plays an important role in the prevention and cure of diseases. It’s available in plenty and most of all it’s free . . . a gift of nature!!


Joyce d’Souza is a regular contributor of Yogic Arcles to Six Senses Yoga Society.  She is a trained instructor of Yoga, and a Yoga Therapist having studied Yoga at the Gurukul and at University level.  Joyce lives in India.

© 2007 Six Senses Yoga Society