As we all say that water is life. And then somehow it started that one has to drink plenty of water, naturally as water is life, drink as much you can, you are getting life. As I am an Allopath when I started reading about water in Ayurveda I was surprised to know about the comments on the water. I am presenting all this water story ahead. I am following this principles for myself, on my patients and I am getting amazing results
Before understanding water let us know about five element theory.
THE FIVE BASIC ELEMENTS THEORY
To understand Ayurveda we must know its basic principles. The most important principle of Ayurveda is the Theory of the Five Basic Elements (Panchmahabhoot). Ayurveda explains that the basic physical structure of every being, everything, animate or inanimate, in the universe is made out of different permutations and combinations of these five basic elements; also our body.
The five elements are: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space (Prithvi, Aap, Tej, Vayu and Akash in Sanskrit). Every single matter has all of them in a different and particular proportion. We can say they are the basic units from which everything is made up. Actually, they are the tiniest forms of matter. We cannot break them into further smaller elements. That is how they are the five basic elements.
These five basic elements have their own particular qualities. When they get together, in different permutations and combinations, they come out as different forms of matter, having the qualities of the dominant element. For example: wood, iron, cotton, glass, mercury and such a vast variety. In some the earth element may be dominant showing its qualities; in others the air element may be dominant, and they will have its qualities. The same will happen with the each one of them.
The permutation and combination change within each thing, each object, each matter, so each one has a different quality or nature. For example, a potato and an eggplant may have the same volume but they will have different weight; and that difference is showing their particular combination, their different nature.
Our body is nothing but the combination of the different organs and substances made out of these five elements. Some of these organs and substances may have more earth; others may have more water, more fire or air, different permutations and combinations of the five basic elements. These combinations will give their qualities to a particular organ or substance. For example, the muscles contain more earth and water, the bones are a combination of earth and air, the urine contains more water and fire, and so on. Any alteration from their natural combination turns into an imbalance or disease. The bones getting softer, the urine getting thicker, the muscles becoming harder, these are all indicators of an imbalance.
Now let us have a look at water element in detail.
The second element is water. Imagine water and think about the qualities of the water element. Yes, it is liquid, cold, heavy, and always flows downwards, towards the gravity. It is also soft and smooth. When you look around, anything that is liquid, soft, smooth, has the dominance of the water element. And cohesiveness is the most important quality of the water element.
When you think about food items it is very simple to identify products with the dominance of the water element. For example, milk, butter milk, yogurt, ghee (clarified butter) and most of the fruits. However, these watery things also vary in their proportion of water. Ghee and oils, for instance, are denser than other liquid things. Naturally they are heavier, containing more earth as compared to other watery items.
What do the qualities of the water element offer to the body? The liquidity of water is responsible for the various fluids in the body such as blood, sweat, urine, lymphatic fluid and the fluids inside the cells. So keeping the optimum liquidity of these fluids is a task of the water element.
As it is cold in nature, the water element plays the role of maintaining the body temperature. Experience the coldness of room temperature water. It is a cooling. You can feel its cooling effect. Naturally, whenever its temperature goes up, due to any reason, the body demands water or anything watery in nature to balance the temperature.
Water is heavy. Lift a bucket full of water and you can experience its heaviness. Of course, it is lighter than the earth element. Compare the bucket full of water with one full of mud or stones and you will feel the difference. But still, compared to the other elements, it is heavy in nature. So whatever weight the body has is due to both earth and water elements. This weight offers stability to the body. So whenever it reduces the body loses its stability.Experience what happens when you get loose motions. As lot of water goes out of the body you will feel giddiness.
On the other hand, drinking excess of water or watery things can also lead to heaviness in the body. It makes you feel heavy. If a person is drinking water in large quantities, even when thirst is not there, this will lead to accumulation of water and he may increase his weight and develop swellings, oedema in the body.
And the most important quality of the water in the body is that of cohesiveness. Cohesiveness means holding the things together. If water goes away, if it evaporates from the soil, every particle of the soil gets separated. They are together because of the water element. Similarly, all the particles, all the other basic elements of the body are together because of the water element. If the water reduces in the body, dryness increases and the skin starts getting peeled off. The separation starts, different particles get separated. For example, the soles start cracking in the feet, which is another form of separation. Do you remember what happens to the soil in a drought? It cracks.
As the earth element plays the role of building blocks, the bricks, the water element plays the role of the mortar, which holds the bricks together. In Sanskrit this quality of holding is known as Sneh. Another meaning for Sneh is a bond of love, a bond of friendship between two persons. As Sneh between them reduces they separate. Sneh also means providing lubrication. There are certain areas of the body that need good amounts of lubrication such as the brain, the nervous tissue, the joints, the muscles, the intestinal track, the eyes, the heart and the skin. Proper lubrication will allow these components of our body to work efficiently.
The water element is related to the sense of taste. Very clear, isn’t it? You can feel your mouth watering in front of some tasty food, can’t you? When water is balanced in our body, our capacity to perceive the tastes of the food is at its optimum. When the water decreases, the mouth becomes dry and it is difficult to perceive any taste.
Now let us see how much the ideal water quantity one should have per day is. As you know now a days wherever you go you get a guidance that you should drink plenty of water. The reasoning is that we forget to drink water. And this lack of water causes kidney stones. So if you suffer from kidney stones Doctor asks you to drink buckets of water and it is forever. It seems logical that to create pressure for some days you are drinking excess water which will help you to push the stone down. But just for that many days not always. As we go ahead you will get an explanation about better lubricants than water and we should lubricate our body with them rather than water.
Another reason comes ahead is this excess water will wash out the toxins. Rather now a days the research has come out that if you drink water in excess the essential minerals such as sodium, potassium gets washes out with urine creating imbalance inside.
One can understand the psychology behind drinking it in excess. If someone claims that drinking water in such & such quantity gets rid of 100 of diseases, why one should not get attracted to it. And on top of it we get good quality water at our home. Just open the tap and water is available, not to spend money for it. Just think if you have to spend some money for the water, you would have thought 100 times before going for this experiment.
Now just think about the signal of thirst. Why body has this signal inbuilt in it? What is the need of this signal? It is very much clear that this highly sensitive body, this intelligent machine gives signal of thirst whenever the water content inside the body goes down. So body is requesting for water. And see how body behaves. If you give enough of water immediately body says to you, oh dear thank you very much. I am feeling so nice. This highly sensitive body knows its need and always speaks with you. Our duty is just to listen to it.
And that’s what our elders was doing for years together. Just listening to the body signals. And this is about every signal of the body, thirst, hunger, tiredness etc. They were using their experience and we use our intellect. We have become like machines, we have gone far away from the nature! Our own nature!
Someone says drink three litres, someone says drink five and some may say drink seven litres per day. Whom to listen to? You ask different Doctors you will get different answer. Whom to listen to? At least all these experts should sit together and come to some consensus. It is not possible. In reality everybody is different and therefore the need of water is different for every one of us. Someone has a cold body and will need less water and someone has a very warm body, gets lot of sweat, will need more water.
And for the same person the need of water will change with so many factors. It’s summer and need will go up, in rains it will go down. We can easily experience this. Rain starts and thirst goes down. Who did this? You did this deliberately? No, it happened. Our wise body did it.
Someday you are doing the office work, sitting in an AC office and other day you are walking under the sun. What happens to your thirst? Does it remain same? Then how someone else can decide our thirst. We must think on this very seriously. The rule of Ayurveda is very simple. Drink when you are thirsty and drink as per your thirst, not less not more. And today the mother runs after the child thinking that he has not drunk water for many hours. He doesn’t want to drink but mother forces him.
Please try to recollect. Was our mother was running after us like that? What did we do? When we were thirsty we used to run inside the home, grab water and quench our thirst. So simple! What to talk about children, a small baby drinking milk of mother knows when to stop. People say we forget to drink water so one should keep on drinking it. Actually if you forgot, body brings the next thirst so strong that you run to quench it.
The purpose of explaining about the signal of thirst in so much detail is that no one will believe that drinking excess of water can lead to so many imbalances, so many diseases. And water or any liquid such as coconut water, fruit juices, soups, lemon water, soft drinks, butter milk, tea & coffee etc,in excess is unnecessary.Today some article says, butter milk is Amrit, nectar. And now we want nectar and start drinking bottles full of butter milk. The consequences are dangerous. The wisdom of Ayurveda speaks about optimisation, for whom and how much? And no one else can decide this. You are your own Master!
For instance, the person may start getting cold and cough again and again. Nose and chest will be full of mucus. After all, what is this mucus? It is a substance having water element dominance. Besides, if one drinks deliberately, the kidneys try to take out as much water as they can. The body does not want this excess of water. But the kidneys have their own capacity. It does not happen that you pour any quantity of water inside the body and it will take out the totality of the unnecessary amount. So some water starts accumulating in the body, taking the form of mucus. And this will cause cold and cough again and again.
(A case history.—a patient came with a complaint of cold & cough. He was surprised with this cold as he was saying again and again I never had this before in my life. I don’t know what is happening to me from last six months. We know nothing happens without a cause. When asked about it he said nothing has changed in my lifestyle, in my food. Yes, I read an article on water and since then I am drinking 1-2 litres of excess water, that’s all. Now it seems that it was not something important change to him, a very casual thing. The reason was very obvious to us. We asked him to stop this excess water and to reports to us. He was expecting a bunch of medicines but we didn't give him any. He was very disappointed as today everyone wants medicines. He called us after 8-10 days saying that his cold has vanished. He was surprised about the cause & effect relationship of water and cold. Then we explained to him why we didn't gave him medicines. If we would have given him the medicines he would have thought that the he got cured due to medicine and not because of reducing the water.)
This excess of water is a very good medium for the proliferation of bacteria and viruses. Remember during the rainy seasons the way water accumulates forming puddles. They become a good medium for the proliferation of bacteria, viruses, insects, and others. It does not happen that the bacteria comes first and develops a puddle. In Ayurveda, the way of treating this type of infections is cleaning the puddle, taking out the excess of water, the mucus, kapha & drying it up. Automatically, the infection will subside. So excess of water can be a very important reason for the growth of these organisms in the body. In the same way, many fungal infections can happen due to excess of water. A person follows an antifungal treatment, gets relief and in few days it appears again. Remember we have to work on the root-cause.
Another very dangerous effect of increased water on the body is the suppression of the fire. Just as in the outside world water can extinguish a bonfire; similarly excess water reduces the digestive fire, the digestive juices in the body. And if hunger reduces, indigestion starts. As the digestive acids get diluted by water, the digestion will not happen properly. The food will remain raw and become sticky. One part will come out in the form of sticky stools that will stick to the pot. Another part will be absorbed in the blood as sticky unripe food and will make the blood sticky. This can lead to a blockage in the arteries, various skin diseases and allergies such as eczema, or bronchial asthma. So excess water is one of the most important causes of indigestion and many diseases related to it. Actually, many patients have shared their experience of reduced hunger and indigestion after they started drinking excess water.
Ayurveda also mentions that a very important reason of diabetes is drinking too much water, excess of liquids. Naturally this surplus of water will extinguish the fire and what is insulin? It is a fire which helps in the digestion and proper utilisation of sugar, carbohydrates. Naturally as insulin gets diluted the blood sugar will go up causing Diabetes. What a dangerous side effect of drinking excess liquids!
On the other hand, the cooling quality of the water will make the body cold, reducing the body temperature. The person will feel colder than others. The fingers and toes, the abdomen and back, and in general the body will become cold. Anyone can experience it. This excess of coldness can affect us in many ways. First, the blood will lose its fluidity. The blood is warm; that is why it is fluid. This will make it more viscous and such blood can clot easily. And you know how dangerous this clotting may be. Second, as the body becomes cold, it constricts. Remember the law of Physics. And this constricted body will hold the gases inside. This will lead to many problems related with gases, those kind of problems we will go through when discussing the air element.
Last but not least, those who drink too much liquid have to run for urination very often, a very distracting effect.This also disturbs their sleep often.
As we will see repeatedly, our body becomes what we take, what we eat or drink. It is a law of nature. In this case, if you drink excess of liquids your body will become very soft and flaccid. A person whose muscle mass is very flaccid, so when you touch his muscles you get a feeling of looseness, more liquidity than solidity, this person has excess of water element in the body. Quite possible, while taking his history at the consultation you will realize he or she has the habit of drinking excess of water or watery things. I have seen some patients who have gone through this extreme of drinking excess water for many years and their body muscles tone has become so flaccid that it seems difficult to make it normal again. Do you see how dangerous drinking excess of water may be?
( A case history – A young boy came with compliant that he was doing a daily gym but his body is not showing the results. I was checking him and all his muscles were flaccid. I asked him about his hunger and he said he is not getting a strong hunger. He was surprised with not getting hunger after so much of exercise and also was depressed. I asked him about his thirst and he replied positively that he is doing it correctly. His trainer has asked him to drink ample of water as he is sweating during exercising. I asked him how he is feeling while drinking water. He exclaimed that it’s horrible to pour that much water inside without getting thirst. I got the answer. This excess water was killing his hunger and the solids are not getting in he is not building his muscles. Rather this excess water making his muscles flaccid. As per my advice he stopped putting that extra water inside, from that same day he stated getting good hunger and soon he achieved his target of muscular body)
See what we do, again something mechanical. During exercising we sweat so drink lot of water. Please respect what this poor body is saying. We exercise to lose weight. During exercise body becomes warm, the body temperature increases. This heat, this high metabolism burns the excess fats and we reduce, we lose weight. But today we have become so smart that in fear of dehydration we drink tons of water after exercising. This will cool down the body. You have put water on all your efforts. As your heated body will cool down how you will reduce your weight. In olden days people used to sit a while, give time to body to cool down then used to drink water as per the thirst. Wise people!
I have also seen some patients whose health was very good. They did not have any health issue. And then they read somewhere or someone gave them a free advice about water therapy. They started it blindly and came to me with complaints of indigestion, cough and cold, skin allergies, muscular weakness, diabetes and so many issues, inviting trouble themselves!
One patient once told me he had made a habit to drink water whenever he saw it, as drinking water is very important. Other patient had ordered his assistant to bring a full glass of water to his desk every hour. Some mothers run after their children with a bottle of water. We do not know when and how all this started! But it is dangerous. We all should be wise enough to know our own water need.
On the other side, naturally, decreased water in the body will cause skin dryness, peeling off the skin, excess thirst, burning in the urination, hardness in the stools, stiff muscles and joints, etc. As we will proceed, you will realize that these are signs of increased fire and air elements. If you notice these signs, just increase your water intake.
However, if a person who feels constantly thirsty increases his water intake and continues feeling thirsty again and again, or if due to this increased water signs and symptoms related to excess of water develop in his, her body, then we have to think differently. Perhaps it is necessary to find a better lubricant than water. And that is oils, ghee (clarified butter), butter or cream.
Let us see the following example: Apply water on the surface of a glass. Wind will come, sun rays will come and it will evaporate. You have to apply water again. If instead you apply oil, ghee or butter, they will stay much longer. The same happens with the body. If the water is not reducing your dryness or it gives you side effects, then lubricants like oils and fats will be a better option, and you will feel fine.
Instead, today we see a very interesting situation. People have dramatically reduced their consumption of oily stuff, becoming very dry. To combat this dryness they keep on drinking water, and often end up suffering the effects of drinking excess liquids.
The same happens with the children. Parents do not allow them to have oils and butter. They play a lot, become too thirsty, drink a lot of water or other drinks, and suffer from cold and cough, suffer from reduced appetite. So we have to consider increasing the intake of such lubricants. We will see later on how much.
Up to now we were talking about the water element, its qualities, how much water one should drink, how one should know its need, how to be flexible as per the need, what will happen if one drinks more or less water than required. Now let’s see what should be the quality of drinking water. Ayurveda says that in appearance it should look clean. It should not have dirt into it, mud into it. It should not show some discolouration, a tinge of green, blue colour which indicates detoxification with some fungal, bacterial growth or some poisoning.
As in rains it becomes muddy. Then clean it, filter it, boil it to make it clean. We use alum to clear it. Moving alum into such water helps sediments to settle down. Another ways is to use drumstick seeds powder.
It has been also researched in UK that keeping the water in Copper vessels for 24 hrs, cleans it totally from all the organisms.
Also the taste of it says so many things. Actually the real organic water tastes very nice. It has its own flavour. If it is tasting sour, salty then it is not to drink. It is contaminated or it is too hard with lots of salts into it. And the extra purified water, totally taste less. All the organic nature of it is purified. Like other refined things it has got refined, a bislery water, a bottled water. Using lot of treatments such using lots of chlorine, using home appliances, auqa guard etc. makes it extra purified. Just compare the taste of tap water, river water, and well water to such ultra-purified water. In fact in our cities we are getting a water which is already treated so much by Municipal Corporation. And on top of it we are treating it at home.
Today mother boils the water and give it to her son. How will he develop a good immunity in the future. We are making him so delicate that it will become difficult for him to live in this world. Doctors advice that give pure water to him. How much Pure? These few statements like drink a lot of water, drink pure water are so common. I think sometimes they just want to divert you from your question, as they just don't know the answers.
If we get a loose motions the finger goes towards toxic food and impure water. Ayurveda explains even drinking too much of water or having too much of food, having food when hunger is not there leads to indigestion. And then the body wants to throw away this undigested material outside the body, and that is loose motions. (Of course this is only one reason of loose motions). So maybe not impure water but too much water is the reason of loose motions in some cases especially in rains.
It is very interesting tradition we see in rains. Here in Maharashtra we practise fasting in rains, of course in the name of god, name of religion. But the actual reason is the high humidity around which supresses the digestive fire and the digestion become poor. So the fasting. Again it should not be mechanical, it should be experiential. If the hunger is not there one should fast and until one gets hunger, not beyond that. In the same season another fast comes which suggests even not to drink water, Nirjali Ekadashi. Isn’t it interesting to know this wisdom? Of course again not to do it mechanically.
Yes if it is really impure we should treat it otherwise not recommended. People are sitting there to show us big bacteria and organisms in the water so they can sell their appliances. So take reasonable care and don’t go to extremes. We have to use common sense. Its appearance & taste help us to now its quality.
If it is a hard water boil it and use it to reduce its hardness.
We should also talk about the temperature of the drinking water. In a way again it will depend upon so many factors. How can we make some rule that one should always drink warm water. A person with Pitta constitution, lot of heat in the body will always prefer cold water means normal temperature water or water from earthen pot. And a person with Vata constitution, a person with cold body will always prefer warm water. A person staying in a hot climate will prefer the cold water and vice versa. Or the same person will demand different temperature water in different conditions. So let him decide, let his wisdom decide and be flexible. Actually not to make any issue of it. Of course if he needs fridge cold water then he should go to the root and try to reduce his heat by other means so his requirement of such a cold water will change. Fridge cold water will affect our digestion naturally due to its extreme cold nature.
Ayurveda recommends about drinking water early in the morning, Ushapan. Here as mornings are cold one can have warm water. But again let one decide according to one’s demand. But usually people prefers warm water. But again careful about the quantity, naturally not in litres, just a glass or two. Litres of water again drag you towards its side effects.
Lastly we should discuss about drinking water during the meals. One should not drink water before having meals. Naturally it will kill the hunger. If someone is mad with thirst can drink minimal water before meals. During the meal one can sip water as and when required. Sometimes the food is very dry (and this is happening commonly now as we have reduced oil & ghee from our food drastically) or sometimes it is too spicy, so one requires water while having food.
And one should quench his thirst after the meals. Here again we are thinking mechanically. Some drink it after half an hour, some after an hour and some after two hours, so as not to disturb the digestion. Again listen to the body. If body asks for it immediately after the meal so give it. Rather this water will help to make a paste of the food which can be further acted on by digestive acids easily. Remember what our forefathers were doing.
Actually if you drink water after an hour or two, this is the time when actual digestion has begun. The food needs time to reach small intestine, the real place of digestion. The fire is on now and if one drinks water now it will easily come down and will create hindrance in the process of digestion. So drinking it immediately after the meals is logical. Of course again let your body ask for it and then drink it, not otherwise.
Dr Nikhil Mehta
Pune
Before understanding water let us know about five element theory.
THE FIVE BASIC ELEMENTS THEORY
To understand Ayurveda we must know its basic principles. The most important principle of Ayurveda is the Theory of the Five Basic Elements (Panchmahabhoot). Ayurveda explains that the basic physical structure of every being, everything, animate or inanimate, in the universe is made out of different permutations and combinations of these five basic elements; also our body.
The five elements are: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space (Prithvi, Aap, Tej, Vayu and Akash in Sanskrit). Every single matter has all of them in a different and particular proportion. We can say they are the basic units from which everything is made up. Actually, they are the tiniest forms of matter. We cannot break them into further smaller elements. That is how they are the five basic elements.
These five basic elements have their own particular qualities. When they get together, in different permutations and combinations, they come out as different forms of matter, having the qualities of the dominant element. For example: wood, iron, cotton, glass, mercury and such a vast variety. In some the earth element may be dominant showing its qualities; in others the air element may be dominant, and they will have its qualities. The same will happen with the each one of them.
The permutation and combination change within each thing, each object, each matter, so each one has a different quality or nature. For example, a potato and an eggplant may have the same volume but they will have different weight; and that difference is showing their particular combination, their different nature.
Our body is nothing but the combination of the different organs and substances made out of these five elements. Some of these organs and substances may have more earth; others may have more water, more fire or air, different permutations and combinations of the five basic elements. These combinations will give their qualities to a particular organ or substance. For example, the muscles contain more earth and water, the bones are a combination of earth and air, the urine contains more water and fire, and so on. Any alteration from their natural combination turns into an imbalance or disease. The bones getting softer, the urine getting thicker, the muscles becoming harder, these are all indicators of an imbalance.
Now let us have a look at water element in detail.
The second element is water. Imagine water and think about the qualities of the water element. Yes, it is liquid, cold, heavy, and always flows downwards, towards the gravity. It is also soft and smooth. When you look around, anything that is liquid, soft, smooth, has the dominance of the water element. And cohesiveness is the most important quality of the water element.
When you think about food items it is very simple to identify products with the dominance of the water element. For example, milk, butter milk, yogurt, ghee (clarified butter) and most of the fruits. However, these watery things also vary in their proportion of water. Ghee and oils, for instance, are denser than other liquid things. Naturally they are heavier, containing more earth as compared to other watery items.
What do the qualities of the water element offer to the body? The liquidity of water is responsible for the various fluids in the body such as blood, sweat, urine, lymphatic fluid and the fluids inside the cells. So keeping the optimum liquidity of these fluids is a task of the water element.
As it is cold in nature, the water element plays the role of maintaining the body temperature. Experience the coldness of room temperature water. It is a cooling. You can feel its cooling effect. Naturally, whenever its temperature goes up, due to any reason, the body demands water or anything watery in nature to balance the temperature.
Water is heavy. Lift a bucket full of water and you can experience its heaviness. Of course, it is lighter than the earth element. Compare the bucket full of water with one full of mud or stones and you will feel the difference. But still, compared to the other elements, it is heavy in nature. So whatever weight the body has is due to both earth and water elements. This weight offers stability to the body. So whenever it reduces the body loses its stability.Experience what happens when you get loose motions. As lot of water goes out of the body you will feel giddiness.
On the other hand, drinking excess of water or watery things can also lead to heaviness in the body. It makes you feel heavy. If a person is drinking water in large quantities, even when thirst is not there, this will lead to accumulation of water and he may increase his weight and develop swellings, oedema in the body.
And the most important quality of the water in the body is that of cohesiveness. Cohesiveness means holding the things together. If water goes away, if it evaporates from the soil, every particle of the soil gets separated. They are together because of the water element. Similarly, all the particles, all the other basic elements of the body are together because of the water element. If the water reduces in the body, dryness increases and the skin starts getting peeled off. The separation starts, different particles get separated. For example, the soles start cracking in the feet, which is another form of separation. Do you remember what happens to the soil in a drought? It cracks.
As the earth element plays the role of building blocks, the bricks, the water element plays the role of the mortar, which holds the bricks together. In Sanskrit this quality of holding is known as Sneh. Another meaning for Sneh is a bond of love, a bond of friendship between two persons. As Sneh between them reduces they separate. Sneh also means providing lubrication. There are certain areas of the body that need good amounts of lubrication such as the brain, the nervous tissue, the joints, the muscles, the intestinal track, the eyes, the heart and the skin. Proper lubrication will allow these components of our body to work efficiently.
The water element is related to the sense of taste. Very clear, isn’t it? You can feel your mouth watering in front of some tasty food, can’t you? When water is balanced in our body, our capacity to perceive the tastes of the food is at its optimum. When the water decreases, the mouth becomes dry and it is difficult to perceive any taste.
Now let us see how much the ideal water quantity one should have per day is. As you know now a days wherever you go you get a guidance that you should drink plenty of water. The reasoning is that we forget to drink water. And this lack of water causes kidney stones. So if you suffer from kidney stones Doctor asks you to drink buckets of water and it is forever. It seems logical that to create pressure for some days you are drinking excess water which will help you to push the stone down. But just for that many days not always. As we go ahead you will get an explanation about better lubricants than water and we should lubricate our body with them rather than water.
Another reason comes ahead is this excess water will wash out the toxins. Rather now a days the research has come out that if you drink water in excess the essential minerals such as sodium, potassium gets washes out with urine creating imbalance inside.
One can understand the psychology behind drinking it in excess. If someone claims that drinking water in such & such quantity gets rid of 100 of diseases, why one should not get attracted to it. And on top of it we get good quality water at our home. Just open the tap and water is available, not to spend money for it. Just think if you have to spend some money for the water, you would have thought 100 times before going for this experiment.
Now just think about the signal of thirst. Why body has this signal inbuilt in it? What is the need of this signal? It is very much clear that this highly sensitive body, this intelligent machine gives signal of thirst whenever the water content inside the body goes down. So body is requesting for water. And see how body behaves. If you give enough of water immediately body says to you, oh dear thank you very much. I am feeling so nice. This highly sensitive body knows its need and always speaks with you. Our duty is just to listen to it.
And that’s what our elders was doing for years together. Just listening to the body signals. And this is about every signal of the body, thirst, hunger, tiredness etc. They were using their experience and we use our intellect. We have become like machines, we have gone far away from the nature! Our own nature!
Someone says drink three litres, someone says drink five and some may say drink seven litres per day. Whom to listen to? You ask different Doctors you will get different answer. Whom to listen to? At least all these experts should sit together and come to some consensus. It is not possible. In reality everybody is different and therefore the need of water is different for every one of us. Someone has a cold body and will need less water and someone has a very warm body, gets lot of sweat, will need more water.
And for the same person the need of water will change with so many factors. It’s summer and need will go up, in rains it will go down. We can easily experience this. Rain starts and thirst goes down. Who did this? You did this deliberately? No, it happened. Our wise body did it.
Someday you are doing the office work, sitting in an AC office and other day you are walking under the sun. What happens to your thirst? Does it remain same? Then how someone else can decide our thirst. We must think on this very seriously. The rule of Ayurveda is very simple. Drink when you are thirsty and drink as per your thirst, not less not more. And today the mother runs after the child thinking that he has not drunk water for many hours. He doesn’t want to drink but mother forces him.
Please try to recollect. Was our mother was running after us like that? What did we do? When we were thirsty we used to run inside the home, grab water and quench our thirst. So simple! What to talk about children, a small baby drinking milk of mother knows when to stop. People say we forget to drink water so one should keep on drinking it. Actually if you forgot, body brings the next thirst so strong that you run to quench it.
The purpose of explaining about the signal of thirst in so much detail is that no one will believe that drinking excess of water can lead to so many imbalances, so many diseases. And water or any liquid such as coconut water, fruit juices, soups, lemon water, soft drinks, butter milk, tea & coffee etc,in excess is unnecessary.Today some article says, butter milk is Amrit, nectar. And now we want nectar and start drinking bottles full of butter milk. The consequences are dangerous. The wisdom of Ayurveda speaks about optimisation, for whom and how much? And no one else can decide this. You are your own Master!
For instance, the person may start getting cold and cough again and again. Nose and chest will be full of mucus. After all, what is this mucus? It is a substance having water element dominance. Besides, if one drinks deliberately, the kidneys try to take out as much water as they can. The body does not want this excess of water. But the kidneys have their own capacity. It does not happen that you pour any quantity of water inside the body and it will take out the totality of the unnecessary amount. So some water starts accumulating in the body, taking the form of mucus. And this will cause cold and cough again and again.
(A case history.—a patient came with a complaint of cold & cough. He was surprised with this cold as he was saying again and again I never had this before in my life. I don’t know what is happening to me from last six months. We know nothing happens without a cause. When asked about it he said nothing has changed in my lifestyle, in my food. Yes, I read an article on water and since then I am drinking 1-2 litres of excess water, that’s all. Now it seems that it was not something important change to him, a very casual thing. The reason was very obvious to us. We asked him to stop this excess water and to reports to us. He was expecting a bunch of medicines but we didn't give him any. He was very disappointed as today everyone wants medicines. He called us after 8-10 days saying that his cold has vanished. He was surprised about the cause & effect relationship of water and cold. Then we explained to him why we didn't gave him medicines. If we would have given him the medicines he would have thought that the he got cured due to medicine and not because of reducing the water.)
This excess of water is a very good medium for the proliferation of bacteria and viruses. Remember during the rainy seasons the way water accumulates forming puddles. They become a good medium for the proliferation of bacteria, viruses, insects, and others. It does not happen that the bacteria comes first and develops a puddle. In Ayurveda, the way of treating this type of infections is cleaning the puddle, taking out the excess of water, the mucus, kapha & drying it up. Automatically, the infection will subside. So excess of water can be a very important reason for the growth of these organisms in the body. In the same way, many fungal infections can happen due to excess of water. A person follows an antifungal treatment, gets relief and in few days it appears again. Remember we have to work on the root-cause.
Another very dangerous effect of increased water on the body is the suppression of the fire. Just as in the outside world water can extinguish a bonfire; similarly excess water reduces the digestive fire, the digestive juices in the body. And if hunger reduces, indigestion starts. As the digestive acids get diluted by water, the digestion will not happen properly. The food will remain raw and become sticky. One part will come out in the form of sticky stools that will stick to the pot. Another part will be absorbed in the blood as sticky unripe food and will make the blood sticky. This can lead to a blockage in the arteries, various skin diseases and allergies such as eczema, or bronchial asthma. So excess water is one of the most important causes of indigestion and many diseases related to it. Actually, many patients have shared their experience of reduced hunger and indigestion after they started drinking excess water.
Ayurveda also mentions that a very important reason of diabetes is drinking too much water, excess of liquids. Naturally this surplus of water will extinguish the fire and what is insulin? It is a fire which helps in the digestion and proper utilisation of sugar, carbohydrates. Naturally as insulin gets diluted the blood sugar will go up causing Diabetes. What a dangerous side effect of drinking excess liquids!
On the other hand, the cooling quality of the water will make the body cold, reducing the body temperature. The person will feel colder than others. The fingers and toes, the abdomen and back, and in general the body will become cold. Anyone can experience it. This excess of coldness can affect us in many ways. First, the blood will lose its fluidity. The blood is warm; that is why it is fluid. This will make it more viscous and such blood can clot easily. And you know how dangerous this clotting may be. Second, as the body becomes cold, it constricts. Remember the law of Physics. And this constricted body will hold the gases inside. This will lead to many problems related with gases, those kind of problems we will go through when discussing the air element.
Last but not least, those who drink too much liquid have to run for urination very often, a very distracting effect.This also disturbs their sleep often.
As we will see repeatedly, our body becomes what we take, what we eat or drink. It is a law of nature. In this case, if you drink excess of liquids your body will become very soft and flaccid. A person whose muscle mass is very flaccid, so when you touch his muscles you get a feeling of looseness, more liquidity than solidity, this person has excess of water element in the body. Quite possible, while taking his history at the consultation you will realize he or she has the habit of drinking excess of water or watery things. I have seen some patients who have gone through this extreme of drinking excess water for many years and their body muscles tone has become so flaccid that it seems difficult to make it normal again. Do you see how dangerous drinking excess of water may be?
( A case history – A young boy came with compliant that he was doing a daily gym but his body is not showing the results. I was checking him and all his muscles were flaccid. I asked him about his hunger and he said he is not getting a strong hunger. He was surprised with not getting hunger after so much of exercise and also was depressed. I asked him about his thirst and he replied positively that he is doing it correctly. His trainer has asked him to drink ample of water as he is sweating during exercising. I asked him how he is feeling while drinking water. He exclaimed that it’s horrible to pour that much water inside without getting thirst. I got the answer. This excess water was killing his hunger and the solids are not getting in he is not building his muscles. Rather this excess water making his muscles flaccid. As per my advice he stopped putting that extra water inside, from that same day he stated getting good hunger and soon he achieved his target of muscular body)
See what we do, again something mechanical. During exercising we sweat so drink lot of water. Please respect what this poor body is saying. We exercise to lose weight. During exercise body becomes warm, the body temperature increases. This heat, this high metabolism burns the excess fats and we reduce, we lose weight. But today we have become so smart that in fear of dehydration we drink tons of water after exercising. This will cool down the body. You have put water on all your efforts. As your heated body will cool down how you will reduce your weight. In olden days people used to sit a while, give time to body to cool down then used to drink water as per the thirst. Wise people!
I have also seen some patients whose health was very good. They did not have any health issue. And then they read somewhere or someone gave them a free advice about water therapy. They started it blindly and came to me with complaints of indigestion, cough and cold, skin allergies, muscular weakness, diabetes and so many issues, inviting trouble themselves!
One patient once told me he had made a habit to drink water whenever he saw it, as drinking water is very important. Other patient had ordered his assistant to bring a full glass of water to his desk every hour. Some mothers run after their children with a bottle of water. We do not know when and how all this started! But it is dangerous. We all should be wise enough to know our own water need.
On the other side, naturally, decreased water in the body will cause skin dryness, peeling off the skin, excess thirst, burning in the urination, hardness in the stools, stiff muscles and joints, etc. As we will proceed, you will realize that these are signs of increased fire and air elements. If you notice these signs, just increase your water intake.
However, if a person who feels constantly thirsty increases his water intake and continues feeling thirsty again and again, or if due to this increased water signs and symptoms related to excess of water develop in his, her body, then we have to think differently. Perhaps it is necessary to find a better lubricant than water. And that is oils, ghee (clarified butter), butter or cream.
Let us see the following example: Apply water on the surface of a glass. Wind will come, sun rays will come and it will evaporate. You have to apply water again. If instead you apply oil, ghee or butter, they will stay much longer. The same happens with the body. If the water is not reducing your dryness or it gives you side effects, then lubricants like oils and fats will be a better option, and you will feel fine.
Instead, today we see a very interesting situation. People have dramatically reduced their consumption of oily stuff, becoming very dry. To combat this dryness they keep on drinking water, and often end up suffering the effects of drinking excess liquids.
The same happens with the children. Parents do not allow them to have oils and butter. They play a lot, become too thirsty, drink a lot of water or other drinks, and suffer from cold and cough, suffer from reduced appetite. So we have to consider increasing the intake of such lubricants. We will see later on how much.
Up to now we were talking about the water element, its qualities, how much water one should drink, how one should know its need, how to be flexible as per the need, what will happen if one drinks more or less water than required. Now let’s see what should be the quality of drinking water. Ayurveda says that in appearance it should look clean. It should not have dirt into it, mud into it. It should not show some discolouration, a tinge of green, blue colour which indicates detoxification with some fungal, bacterial growth or some poisoning.
As in rains it becomes muddy. Then clean it, filter it, boil it to make it clean. We use alum to clear it. Moving alum into such water helps sediments to settle down. Another ways is to use drumstick seeds powder.
It has been also researched in UK that keeping the water in Copper vessels for 24 hrs, cleans it totally from all the organisms.
Also the taste of it says so many things. Actually the real organic water tastes very nice. It has its own flavour. If it is tasting sour, salty then it is not to drink. It is contaminated or it is too hard with lots of salts into it. And the extra purified water, totally taste less. All the organic nature of it is purified. Like other refined things it has got refined, a bislery water, a bottled water. Using lot of treatments such using lots of chlorine, using home appliances, auqa guard etc. makes it extra purified. Just compare the taste of tap water, river water, and well water to such ultra-purified water. In fact in our cities we are getting a water which is already treated so much by Municipal Corporation. And on top of it we are treating it at home.
Today mother boils the water and give it to her son. How will he develop a good immunity in the future. We are making him so delicate that it will become difficult for him to live in this world. Doctors advice that give pure water to him. How much Pure? These few statements like drink a lot of water, drink pure water are so common. I think sometimes they just want to divert you from your question, as they just don't know the answers.
If we get a loose motions the finger goes towards toxic food and impure water. Ayurveda explains even drinking too much of water or having too much of food, having food when hunger is not there leads to indigestion. And then the body wants to throw away this undigested material outside the body, and that is loose motions. (Of course this is only one reason of loose motions). So maybe not impure water but too much water is the reason of loose motions in some cases especially in rains.
It is very interesting tradition we see in rains. Here in Maharashtra we practise fasting in rains, of course in the name of god, name of religion. But the actual reason is the high humidity around which supresses the digestive fire and the digestion become poor. So the fasting. Again it should not be mechanical, it should be experiential. If the hunger is not there one should fast and until one gets hunger, not beyond that. In the same season another fast comes which suggests even not to drink water, Nirjali Ekadashi. Isn’t it interesting to know this wisdom? Of course again not to do it mechanically.
Yes if it is really impure we should treat it otherwise not recommended. People are sitting there to show us big bacteria and organisms in the water so they can sell their appliances. So take reasonable care and don’t go to extremes. We have to use common sense. Its appearance & taste help us to now its quality.
If it is a hard water boil it and use it to reduce its hardness.
We should also talk about the temperature of the drinking water. In a way again it will depend upon so many factors. How can we make some rule that one should always drink warm water. A person with Pitta constitution, lot of heat in the body will always prefer cold water means normal temperature water or water from earthen pot. And a person with Vata constitution, a person with cold body will always prefer warm water. A person staying in a hot climate will prefer the cold water and vice versa. Or the same person will demand different temperature water in different conditions. So let him decide, let his wisdom decide and be flexible. Actually not to make any issue of it. Of course if he needs fridge cold water then he should go to the root and try to reduce his heat by other means so his requirement of such a cold water will change. Fridge cold water will affect our digestion naturally due to its extreme cold nature.
Ayurveda recommends about drinking water early in the morning, Ushapan. Here as mornings are cold one can have warm water. But again let one decide according to one’s demand. But usually people prefers warm water. But again careful about the quantity, naturally not in litres, just a glass or two. Litres of water again drag you towards its side effects.
Lastly we should discuss about drinking water during the meals. One should not drink water before having meals. Naturally it will kill the hunger. If someone is mad with thirst can drink minimal water before meals. During the meal one can sip water as and when required. Sometimes the food is very dry (and this is happening commonly now as we have reduced oil & ghee from our food drastically) or sometimes it is too spicy, so one requires water while having food.
And one should quench his thirst after the meals. Here again we are thinking mechanically. Some drink it after half an hour, some after an hour and some after two hours, so as not to disturb the digestion. Again listen to the body. If body asks for it immediately after the meal so give it. Rather this water will help to make a paste of the food which can be further acted on by digestive acids easily. Remember what our forefathers were doing.
Actually if you drink water after an hour or two, this is the time when actual digestion has begun. The food needs time to reach small intestine, the real place of digestion. The fire is on now and if one drinks water now it will easily come down and will create hindrance in the process of digestion. So drinking it immediately after the meals is logical. Of course again let your body ask for it and then drink it, not otherwise.
Dr Nikhil Mehta
Pune
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