W is for Water!💦

Hey friends! This is the first part of the WHOLENESS acronym that we are covering in this series of health nuggets. Most commonly we hear about the benefits of staying hydrated, but it doesn’t stop there! Let’s jump right into this subject.

Staying hydrated is key to keeping homeostasis, or in other words, a stability of processes in your body to help your body function as you should! What you normally hear is that 7-8 cups of water a day is what you should take, although this depends more on your weight, height and age. The easiest way to get an idea of how much water you need is to divide your weight by half. This is how many oz of water you approximately need a day. So if a person weights, 200lbs, he or she needs 100 oz of water, which translates to 12.5 cups. If a person weights 100lbs, then he or she needs 50oz of water, which translates to 6 cups and ¼. A study showed that five glasses or more of water a day significantly reduced the risk for fatal heart attacks 40% in women and 54% in men! It is especially important to drink enough water in the morning, as most heart attacks occur in the morning due to platelets being stickier. If your body is not hydrated well enough to carry on the hormones and blood that your body needs throughout youself, then a heart attack can more easily occur. Even just being thirsty is a sign of dehydration, so make sure you are frequently drinking enough water!!

Another huge benefit of water is hydrotherapy. For those that do not know, hydrotherapy is a type of water therapy, as the name implies. There are so many different types of therapy, but some of the most common are hot foot baths, general revulsive, and steam inhalation. Most hydrotherapy treatments can be done at home with items that you already have!! Hydrotherapy has all kinds of benefits, from decreasing inflammation, increasing white blood cell production, relieving different forms of congestion and even spiking up your immunity! We will have future videos covering different hydrotherapy treatments, so stay tune!

A last, but super interesting fact that I would like to cover is the benefits of simply existing next to running water. Yes! Running water has multiple benefits even if we are simply standing next to it! Our world, including ourselves, are made up of either mostly negative or mostly positive ions. Our cells at rest are made up of mainly negative ions, as well as running water, sunlight, light winds and are generally found in large areas of nature like at forests, beaches and and mountains. On the other hand, positive ions have a detrimental effect on our health. These are found in pollution, toxic chemicals, mold, and other harmful substances. Quoting from a study on the National Library of Medicine “NAIs (aka negative air ions) have benefits on human health, such as the respiratory system, cardiovascular system, emotion, learning and memory, cognition, brain development, reproduction, growth and development, and anticancer effects.” Isn’t God wonderful? Why did he create Adam and Eve in a garden and not in a city? He knew that nature itself is so powerful for our healing! 

So, now we have seen the powerful benefits of water and how it can be used to better our health! In the next blog, we will be covering the next letter in this acronym, which is Habits. See you soon!

Link to YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cku7QgrV5Ys&t=33s

- Victoria Flores, Health Coach & Medical Missionary