WATER

Water is one of the five most essential principal elements of life. No survival can be without water whether plants or animals .You can not think of germination of a seedling to a full grown plant without water .See the fruits and vegetables losing their freshness after being devoid of water. And it’s the water content of each cell of your body,  which gives you the glow of youth.

Quenching the thirst is a routine for everyone but how many of us take heed of drinking water to keep ourselves fit? The Hydrotherapy branch of Naturopathy tells us about its different uses in different ways which help us treat so many minor to major ailments apart from the maintenance of good health, & also a guard against diseases.

        Watch for the properties of this element of life & use them in the way the Nature hints. From chewing to swallowing, digestion to absorption, assimilation to excretion, water is vital. . It decides the acidity or alkalinity of different body fluids. It is the Nature’s thermostat to regulate the heat produced during various activities. Sponging the whole body with cold water in high fever is very common practice.

The stream of blood distributes nutrients and oxygen to every cell of the body and carries back their waste end products to excretory organs. Nature’s cue here is to drink plenty of water for the free flow of the blood. The viscosity of the blood is a major factor which governs your health. The thicker the blood, the difficult becomes its flow in arteries & veins, putting extra load on heart to pump it. Kidneys find it difficult to filter . The result is high blood pressure, problems with kidneys, hampered transportation of nutrients & toxins & so on. A clogging can stop the blood supply to a particular organ or a part of it to precipitate a heart attack or paralysis. Any muscle can lose its power or may even die. See the fatal effects of cholera & gastroenteritis after a major water loss. And lots of more complications.

So always keep the blood thin. A thin blood is a better solvent. A patient of joint pains with inflammation can feel better after drinking plenty of water, which dissolves out the accumulated toxins in the joints. The good lubrication of joints is also due to the water content of the lubricating fluids.

Researchers have recently found that water also acts as a lipolytic agent. It breaks down the extra fat deposits of the body. So ,keeping a belly full of water, can be a boon for the persons on weight loss schedule.

Drinking hot water in the morning relieves you not only of constipation but also helps better filtration of blood & washing of kidneys. Drinking 5-6 glasses of water in the morning can refresh & relieve a person from hangover of previous night’s alcohol, simply by raising the urinating frequency. A glass of hot water half an hour before a principal meal acts as a good appetizer. The chilled water though disturbs the digestive system of a normal person yet it can help stop a bleeding in the alimentary canal. Sucking ice helps control vomiting & frequent motions. A chilled water compress can stop a bleeding nose. Applying a cube of ice on anus can relieve you of pain & bleeding of protruding piles. Local application of ice at the site of a blunt injury will not allow that part to swell & also relieve the pain,if applied immediately.

A steam inhalation can decongest you of phlegm from nose, throat & chest. A facial steam helps you in treating pimples, blackheads & blemishes. A steam bath of the whole body has it’s own role in the treatment of diseases.

A bath with hot water makes you feel weak, sleepy, depressed & reduces the appetite but a bath with cold water is a stimulant, mood elevator, re-juvenator  & makes you feel hungry. Whereas a hot water bath dilates the skin & produces wrinkles, the cold water makes your skin tight & gloomy. The unwanted side reactions of the hot water bath in winters can be neutralized by quickly rubbing the whole body with a cold wet towel after the bath.  

Dipping your feet in hot water for 15 minutes before sleeping in winters will absorb the whole chill & a cold water will neutralize the whole day’s heat in summers.

These are some of the very simple applications of water but Naturopathy avails of it’s different properties in treating different ailing organs & systems. Practically it successfully works on every system of our body.

The water content of the fruits & vegetables is referred to as “Sajeev Jal’ by Naturopathy which has it’s multiple benefits.

So, to conclude with, stay fit by sipping 10-15 glasses of water of soothing temperature a day & by amply using it externally.                    

                                                        Dr. SATISH  BAJAJ

Bajaj’s Nature Cure & Yoga Clinic

7 A. G. C. R. Enclave New Delhi- 110092.

Ph: O1122374713,  Mob:9868569986