Water

 

Water has to be my love language. I’m happy when I’m drinking water, when I’m at the beach, in the shower and I love looking at our pool and swimming in it! They also help thin mucus, which is great for our lung health.

If I came to your home and you ask me what I’d like to drink I’ll either say ‘nothing’ (because I’ve brought my own water) or ‘water please’. That’s me, very simple. People, myself included when I’m offering a drink to others, can think it isn’t enough but honestly without it we wouldn’t survive.

Our bodies are made up of anywhere between 50-80% water, depending on the study you read or who you listen to. I also believe it varies from person to person, day to day. If we drink a lot of caffeine or soda we can tend to be more dehydrated, whereas if we have more water, herbal teas (that don’t contain caffeine) and water substitutes or fruits & vegetables then we can be more hydrated.

Water’s a great detoxifier for our bodies, so when we’re sick with the flu or have a tummy bug it’s important to keep our fluid intake up to help move things through, and out of, our bodies.

When our bodies hold a lot of mucus, like I do with bronchiectasis and non-tuberculosis mycobacterium, it’s really helpful to drink a good amount of water each day to help thin the mucus. Coughing up big clumps of mucus, I find, can be hard on my body, but when it comes out like liquid, that’s a lot easier. Think about it like snot, clumpy snot can get stuck, but a runny nose, well that just flows.

My approach with water

My body, based on my height and weight, requires about 2.6 litres of water a day. I used to be disciplined about drinking water, getting at least 2 litres a day, plus more if I was playing netball or doing fitness. However, I’d ‘fallen off the wagon’ so to speak, and getting back on took a bit of effort.

What worked for me was doing the math and tracking what I was drinking. My water bottle contains 750ml, so if I drank 3 of those a day that’s 2250ml or 2.25L. Then, I added in my Chinese herbal tea (no caffeine), which I normally have 2-3 of those a day, that’s another 500-750ml. Giving me a total of 2.75-3L a day.

Now that was more than I needed to drink, but if I exercised, gardened or simply went outside on a hot day, there goes some of that extra water.

I also found, initially, simply writing down each time I finished my water bottle or had a cup of my Chinese herbal tea, I was more successful. I also worked out when I wanted each water bottle completed by, for example, making sure I’d finished each bottle as follows: 11am, 3pm and bed time.

I wasn’t perfect and sometimes I was drinking way more than I should have close to bed time or I only drank 2 water bottles that day, but I did something and I was conscious of what I’d achieved.

About Water

We don’t really think much about water, water is just water, but it’s so much more to the point that I didn’t want to write this post because I knew it was going to be detailed and would require a lot of research. Plus, what’s literally in our water can vary based on where we live – our environment, the government, private companies and personal choice plays a big part in the water we consume.

Whilst 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, only 1% of it can be used for drinking water. I really enjoyed this website that shares Where Does Water Come From – check it out.

There are people, Water Sommeliers like Martin Riese, who make a living out of tasting water. Just like a Wine Sommelier, these people use their palates to assess the different types of water.

I looked at Martin Riese’s website and he rightly informs us that water is the foundation of everything. We water our plants to help them grow, without water our vegetables and fruit do not thrive, the trees we cut down to make our homes were all watered, the concrete is poured and water is a big part of that, we clean our dishes, wash our hair, we put water down for our pets…the list goes on.

Now if you’re still thinking ‘Susan, water is just water, let’s stop over-analysing here’, check out these great videos and shows. I’ve watched both of them, more than once:

So what do we ideally want our water to contain?

It’s actually easier to find out what we don’t want our water to contain and in essence, what we don’t want it to contain is faecal matter, pesticides, chemicals, viruses, bacteria, fungi etc. that can be harmful to our bodies long term. Our bodies are amazing detoxifiers, so small amounts of these things short term can be ok, but of course some can be deadly – so do your due diligence.

One of the keys here is the more toxins our bodies take in, the more work our bodies generally have to do to remove them from our bodies. Therefore, making sure we drink water that supports our bodies is going to, I believe, promote optimal health.

Coming back to the question of ‘what do we ideally want our water to contain?’ and based on what I’ve read, we don’t just want H2O because as Martin Riese so eloquently put it in the documentary series Down to Earth, when we consume water it will take the chemicals it needs from our bodies which can leave us depleted.

In all my research I got lost in the many ways I could share this information, my goal is always to keep it simple, but water is such a huge topic that was more challenging. I looked up my local government to see what they had to say about water management, but they pointed to my state government, who pointed to the ISO Standards, which I could purchase if I wanted to.

The ISO Standards focus on access and management of water, but it doesn’t say what should be in water.

In Down to Earth, Martin Riese shared that we need minerals in our water, and he mentioned:

  • Silica
  • Magnesium
  • Calcium, and
  • Potassium

I started to go down the rabbit hole of why those four minerals, but I stopped myself and instead looked at what I drink, which gave me the information I was looking for.

So what do I drink?

We get our drinking water from our local Go Natural store. We don’t drink the tap water where we live, I can smell the chlorine in it.

I went to fill up one of our water bottles this week and I took a screen shot of the information they provide, here’s a summary of that information:

  • We drink highly alkaline, filtered, remineralised and ionised drinking water. Which, according to the promotional information, is more energising for our bodies.
  • Highly alkaline water (when consumed – we’re talking about actually drinking it) may help to buffer our blood to assist our bodies with the release of acidic waste, potentially aiding our bodies to release harmful waste and eliminate toxins.
  • The water is purified using a 5 stage filter system including reverse osmosis, which removes fluoride, heavy metals and other harmful contaminants.
  • The water is remineralised with calcium, magnesium, potassium and silica. These minerals may help to aid the body nutritionally and eliminate wastes, including aluminium.
  • The water has an ORP (Oxygen Reduction Potential) of between -300 to -500. What I understand this to mean is the higher the negative charge the greater the ability to attract positive charged materials, like heavy metals, helping to remove them from our bodies.
  • The water is also oxygenated which can then go into our cells to help oxygenate our tissues, again promoting optimal health and helping to remove toxins.

Let’s break those minerals down

  • Calcium
    • We know that calcium is important for bone health, but why put calcium in our water?
    • Including calcium in our water can make it bioavailable to our bodies, which means we can be more likely to absorb it. That’s a real win.
    • The other benefit relates to heart health, and the National Library of Medicine study below suggests that calcium in our water can help reduce blood pressure and cardio vascular disease.
    • There’s also a possible link to weight management however more research is required here. My thinking is that generally drinking more water supports weight management because it hydrates our bodies, helping to detoxify our bodies and our cells function better.
    • There is also evidence to suggest that calcium can help with the secretion of mucus from our lungs.
    • Sources:
  • Magnesium
    • The benefits of magnesium in our life are multifaceted and there are many different compounds to magnesium so you need to do your research to discover what magnesium your body needs.
    • Magnesium’s important for enzyme function (source: University Hospitals). Enzyme function is the chemical reaction within cells (source: National Library of Medicine). These chemical reactions are one of the many amazing things our bodies do naturally for us without us even knowing.
      • Enzymes support cellular respiration. What this means is we breathe in oxygen, that oxygen goes to our cells and our cells use it to break down glucose and release energy. One of the big challenges with bronchiectasis, in particular, is fatigue. We can look healthy but we’re exhausted. Having good quality enzyme function can be very important. (source: study.com. This source was consistent with other information I read and I chose to use it as it was the most concise for the purpose of this post.)
    • Other benefits include heart, bone and metabolic health (metabolic health is mostly the regulation of blood glucose levels in the body), sleep and stress management.
      • Resistance training can be important as we age and it’s known to support bone health (think of it as a partner to calcium). That said, when we’re exhausted because our lungs aren’t functioning optimally, it can be tough to get out of bed and get that movement in.
      • Sleep and stress can be interlinked too, as one can affect the other. For me, I’ve always been a good sleeper but now I dream more than ever, so sometimes I feel like the quality of my sleep isn’t great. Then adding in the layer of bronchiectasis and night sweats, sleep isn’t comfortable.
      • Stress deserves its own bullet point because it’s a sneaky one. We can think we’re managing our stress levels but really, I believe, stress is managing us.
      • Source: University Hospitals
    • Making sure we get the right amount of magnesium for our bodies, can really support our overall health – and our stress.
  • Potassium
    • Found in an abundance of foods, potassium is an electrolyte that helps your muscles contract and acts as a counterbalance to sodium – Cleveland Clinic
    • How cool is that! Potassium is an electrolyte that supports our muscles. Our lungs are surrounded by muscles that help us to breathe. I believe, the more we support our muscles (and organs aka our lungs) to do their thing, they’ll allow us to do our things.
    • Electrolytes also help our bodies to balance the fluids in our cells, contract muscles and transmit nerve signals to the brain. Whenever I physically work out too hard or I’ve been out in the garden weeding, planting or moving rocks (whatever the task is that day) then I always look for an electrolyte to support me. I typically take it in the form of a drink like Hydralyte (powder and water), however I also have coconut water, a great source of electrolytes, in my juice. Source: Cleveland Clinic
    • Think of potassium and sodium as partners, Yin & Yang so to speak, it’s important to find a balance of the two and if we have too much sodium in our bodies, potassium can help balance that out, and vice versa.
      • Too much sodium in our lungs can cause inflammation and scaring (source: National Library of Medicine). Too little sodium in our bodies can cause Hyponatremia (source: Mayo Clinic).
      • Too much or too little potassium can lead to difficulty breathing, chest pain and can be quite severe to our bodies (Too much potassium source: Cleveland Clinic. Too little potassium source: National Library of Medicine).
      • It’s important to find our balance and as always, speak to your doctor if you have any concerns.
  • Silica

A point on Magnesium and Calcium

Magnesium can impact our bodies ability to absorb calcium. Think of Magnesium being king and it’s prioritised by our bodies. Therefore, whilst magnesium and calcium are both in my water, my body could still be low in calcium and could still require a supplement.

When taking magnesium and calcium as a supplement, you may want to take them at different times of the day. For example when I was taking these supplements, I’d take magnesium in the morning and calcium at night.

Always consult with your health practitioner about supplements.

Source: National Library of Medicine: Magnesium Sulfate

Chlorine and taste, odour & appearance

Chlorine is used to kill bacteria and pathogens in water but there are other ways to do this like using Activated Ozone and UV Light.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), most individuals are able to taste or smell chlorine in drinking-water at concentrations well below 5 mg/l, and some at levels as low as 0.3 mg/l. The taste threshold for chlorine is below the health-based guideline value of 5mg/l.

WHO also goes on to state:

1.1.6 Acceptability aspects: taste, odour and appearance

Water should be free of tastes and odours that would be objectionable to the majority of consumers.

In assessing the quality of drinking-water, consumers rely principally upon their senses… It is therefore wise to be aware of consumer perceptions and to take into account both health-related guideline values and aesthetic criteria when assessing drinking-water supplies and developing regulations and standards.

It makes sense, but a large population of the world still don’t have access to clean water sources and with lung health issues on the rise, I believe, access to quality water is important to quality health.

Sources:

Chakras

Water is clear in colour, or at least I believe it should be. When I think about water in relation to our chakras, I associate it with our Crown Chakra, which connects us to universal consciousness.

Dr. Masaru Emoto tested his belief that the structure of water could be changed by our thoughts and emotions, and, in my opinion, he proved it. The experiment was to associate positive and negative words to water and then freeze the water.

When water had positive words associated with it like love, gratitude and peace, the resulting frozen water crystals created beautiful images. When he associated negative words like evil and you disgust me, the frozen crystals were ugly and distorted.

He also conducted experiments with music and prayer, as well as taking water from beautiful locations and toxic locations – with similar results.

Our Crown Chakra is about spiritual connection. Drinking water, in a loving and kind way, I believe, can be very healing to our bodies. What if we spoke to our water with love, kindness, joy? What if we thanked our water for healing and nourishing our bodies. What if we embraced water as an intelligent healer? What if we embraced water as a spiritual healer?

I’m inspiring myself just by writing this. I know I love water and I know I’ve put affirmations on my water in the past but it’s time for me to up my game!

Sources:

In summary

We need to drink quality water. Simply filtering our water isn’t enough because it can strip out the minerals that we actually want in our water. Drinking enough water for our bodies helps our bodies to function and helps thin the mucus we can have in our lungs, making it easier to bring up.

Water also aids our bodies detoxification process so I can’t stress enough the importance of:

  1. Drinking water, then
  2. Drinking quality water, and finally
  3. Drinking enough water

We can take your time creating our water habit, that’s what I did, and sometimes we need to connect back with our water habit – that’s a good thing – to make sure we’re doing this fundamental thing to increase our overall health and wellness.

 

Disclaimer: Please remember to consult with your medical professionals before making changes in your life that can impact your health and wellness.

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