Picture a stagnant swamp…
Lifeless, slow, stiff, dull, lethargic, struggling… and many more words besides…
Now picture a beautiful flowing waterfall…
Full of life, vigor, vitality, energy, flow, force…
Which are you?
What is the key that links the swamp to the waterfall?
WATER!
Unfortunately the world has become more of a Swampy kind of place. Many of the
wonderful people I see in clinic every week have become Swampy kinds of people. In
the nicest possible way, of course!
The hardest part of my work, particularly with Bowen, is not the treatment itself. It
is encouraging rehydration amongst many chronically dehydrated people. These
people have back pain, joint pain, stiffness, soreness, arthritis, digestive problems,
sleep difficulties, depression, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, excess
body weight, asthma and eczema. The list goes on.
This worries me. A lot. Many of these things could be prevented, simply by drinking
water. Not fancy, fizzy, flavoured water. Just ordinary tap water.
We are so lucky in the UK to have water available whenever we need it. It is clean
and fresh (usually) and although there are chemicals added to it to keep it that way,
it is still better than water in other countries. Most importantly, water is FREE! This
is why I really don’t understand how as a nation we have become chronically
dehydrated.
The modern culture is all about drinking tea and coffee, fizzy drinks, juices and
alcohol. Don’t get me wrong, these things can be fine in moderation, but there needs
to be a balance.
Turn yourself from a stagnant swamp in to a beautiful flowing waterfall… drink
water!
8 glasses a day is the recommended minimum. If you are a 10 cups of tea or coffee
kind of person, start introducing water slowly and gradually build up your water
intake over a few days whilst at the same time reducing the other drinks you have.
The most frequent reason for not drinking water is that people believe they will be
rushing to the loo all the time. Firstly, this really is not something that should be
considered a problem. But secondly, as long as you sip the water gradually
throughout the course of the day, you should not notice too much of a difference.
What tends to make people need to pee more is the irritation of the concentrated
urine in the bladder. If you are a water minimalist, you may notice that your urine is
dark in colour, possibly cloudy and may have a strong odour. Water will dilute the
urine, making it less irritant and it should be pale and clear.
If you can do all this then you really WILL notice the benefits in such a short space of
time. Let’s become a nation of waterfalls!
If you would like to read more about how water can help with pain and illness, please
do have a look at this website by an amazing man!