Water – life giving, life sustaining and the one thing that no human can do without. Water is around us and it is in us – to the tune of 70% of our body-weight! We cannot survive without water, and we need to replenish the water that we lose during the day via sweating, urination, breathing and other means.
Let us then have a look at some of the myths and truths about water:
Myths
- Everyone needs to drink eight glasses of water a day. This has been disproved – the Institute of Medicine recommends that women drink around 2 litres of fluid per day and men should drink about 3 litres. Drinking water is healthy, and should make up most of the fluids you drink daily but the rest can come from foods and other beverages.
- Drinking bottled water is healthier for you than drinking tap water. Many of the water bottling companies label their water as mineral water or vitamin enriched water where all they are is plain old tap water that they have bottled.
- Fluoride in tap water is100% safe for everyone. This is an outright lie! Fluoride in drinking water is toxic; it has been proven to be carcinogenic and very toxic, especially to young boys.
- Drinking water between meals is bad for the digestion -There is no scientific evidence to back this statement up. Most probably, drinking water between meals might reduce your appetite, which is not always a bad thing.
Truths
- Drinking water regularly throughout the day can prevent or ease joint pain in 80% of sufferers.
- Not drinking water regularly during the day is the No 1 cause of daytime fatigue
- Drinking water last thing at night will stop those midnight hunger pangs and helps to prevent heart attacks
- It only takes a 2% drop in body fluids to trigger mild dehydration which can affect short-term memory, difficulty in maintaining focus, cognitive abilities, and doing mathematical calculations
- Drinking 5 glasses of water per day will decrease the risk of colon cancer by 45%; it reduces the risk of breast cancer by 79% and bladder cancer by 50%
- Drinking water supplies in various countries have been found to contain an array of pharmaceuticals-including sex hormones, mood stabilisers, antibiotics, anti-convulsants, and antibiotics. Drugs such as cocaine have also been found in the drinking water in the UK
- Drinking water is the best way to replace the fluids that you lose but many people dislike drinking water because it is boring! Adding some fresh fruit, a few sprigs of fresh mint, some fresh grated ginger, or juice-infused ice blocks to your drinking water will make you drink more.
Drinking water is possible the most important thing that you will do every day. If you do not like the taste of water, invest in a water cooler that supplies you with fresh, chilled, tasty drinking water virtually non-stop. You can either get a bottled water cooler that contains natural spring water or a mains water cooler with a filter – either way you will definitely drink water more often as you will enjoy it more.
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