Because the body is 70% water, keeping well hydrated and knowing what and when to drink are essential to health. Hydrotherapy (water applied externally to the body), followed by massage, enhances the circulation and immune system in wonderful ways. 

I. Importance:

Man is normally 70% water by weight, So in a 90 kg man, there is 63 kg water in the body. Water is essential for every part of the body. Almost every cell and tissues not only contain water but each is continually bathed in fluid. Every cell in the body requires water to perform its function. No substituting of another beverage will give the same effect as a glass of cool, clean water.

What are some popular substitutes that we drink instead of a tall glass of water?

- Syrups or soft drinks which have high sugar contents.

- Drinks that have caffeine as a stimulant.

Coca Cola (40 mg caffeine)

Pepsi Cola (36 mg caffeine)

Tea (100 mg caffeine)

Coffee (120 mg caffeine)

Decaffeinated coffee (18 mg caffeine)

- Alcohol with it’s short term effect of a “good” feeling. In reality there is a “blocking” effect of the frontal lobe, which controls the inhibitions, reasoning powers, memory, and judgment. The long term effects are irreversible brain damage, liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, etc. The social effects are the inability to maintain intimate relationships, social isolation, change in friends & lifestyle, loss of ambitions. Fetal alcohol syndrome results in physical & mental birth defects during the development of the fetus due to the mother drinking during pregnancy.

For all life, a continuous supply of water is required. Man can live about six weeks without food, but only a few days without water. Water bathes the cells of all tissues – the blood, brain, lungs, liver and kidneys.

Water constitutes about 85% of the brain, 75% of muscles, and 70% of the total body weight: - (about 50 liters of water in the body of an average man; 40 L. in a woman.)

II. Physiology:

A. Fluid-Transport:  In the body, water is the great vehicle of transport. In the blood, which is largely water, oxygen is carried from the lungs; and nutrients, vitamins, and minerals from the intestines to all cells of the body. Thus, too, waste products are carried in the blood from the various tissues to the lungs, kidneys, and skin, for disposal.

The blood must be kept thin enough to allow free and rapid circulation. If, by water loss, the blood should thicken, blood-flow would be hindered, causing early death.

B. For All Chemical Reactions: Life within the cells of all tissues requires a continuous series of hundreds of chemical reactions, every one of which requires water. The formation of all the various enzymes and their secretions requires water.

In the digestive tract along, 2 or 3 gallons of digestive juices are secreted each day.

C. Respiration:  Without water, respiration would be impossible. Each one of the billion air sacs in the lungs, has a thin membrane-wall containing capillaries. Through this membrane, oxygen is transferred from the air we breathe to the tiny blood vessels in the wall. Similarly, carbon dioxide is transferred from the blood vessels to the air passage. For this purpose, oxygen and carbon dioxide must be dissolved in water; and each air sac is lined with a thin film of water. What a marvelous mechanism the Creator devised.

Ciliary Cleansing: Lining the air passages of the lungs, there are tall, columnar cells, with hair-like projections called “cilia”. Other cells in the lining secrete mucus, a thin layer of which rests on top of the cilia. Small dust particles and smoke particles which enter the air passages, light on this layer of mucus. The cilia wave continuously, several times a second, rapidly in one direction, then more slowly in the opposite direction, thus moving this layer of mucus with its dust articles, upward, like an endless belt, always outward.

D. The Eye: The surface of the eye must be constantly moistened with tears. If it were not for this efficient method of lubrication and cleansing, the surface of the eyeball would soon become dry and inflamed. Opening and closing the eyelids would be painful, and eventually sight would be lost. Water is the protective lubricant.

E. Temperature-regulation: To maintain body temperature at the optimal level, whether exposed to the extremes of winter cold, or the sweltering heat of a tropical summer, the body has a delicately balanced control center in the brain, - the “temperature-regulating center,” which acts something like the automatic temperature-control of a room.

F. The Skin: The skin, the largest organ of the body 9about twice the size of the liver) is of vital importance to our well-being. In thickness it varies from about a half millimeter on the eyelids, to over 6 mm. on the soles. If its surface were laid out in a square, it would measure about 1.4 M.  on a side. In just one square cm. of skin, (about the size of a fingernail) there will be found, - among other important structures, -

1 m. of blood vessels 19 hairs

4 m. of nerves 100 sweat glands

15 oil glands 200 nerve endings to record pain

In examining the skin structure under a microscope, we see that it is composed mainly of two layers, - an outer layer (epidermis) and a deeper layer, the dermis, or true skin. The outer layer consists of many layers (perhaps 20) of flattened cells which have been gradually pushed outward by the continual growth of new cells below. As each cell approaches the surface, it is pushed farther and farther away from its source of nourishment: finally dies, shrinks to a flat scale, eventually reaches the surface where it is shed or washed off. In this continual process of new growth, pushing outward and drying to flat scales, the skin is constantly renewing itself.

Far from being merely a bag to hold and to protect the deeper lying tissues, the skin is a marvel of organization, with a delicate network of blood vessels, nerves, and glands which are constantly active to maintain proper balance of the body with its environment. Most of these functions proceed almost without our being aware of them.

III. Water-Balance:

Fluid-intake, each day, should approximate the net amount lost.

Fluid lost: by kidneys 5 glasses 1200 cc

By skin         5 glasses 1200 cc

In exhaled air         1 glass 240 cc

In digestive juices 1 glass___ 240 cc_

Total Loss 12 glasses 2880 cc

Fluid intake: With food 5 glasses 1220 cc

As beverages, with meals 1 glass 240 cc

Total Intake:         6 glasses 1440 cc

Loss (2880 cc.) Less intake with meals (1440 cc.) 1440 cc. Hence, of the water lost each day from the body, half is replaced in the food  and beverages taken with meals. Therefore, about 6 glasses of water (1440 cc) will suffice to avoid fatigue.

In hiking tests, those hikers given water freely get along much better than do those on a limited intake. Likewise, the fatigue and exhaustion resulting from heavy work can be prevented or alleviated to some extent by drinking adequate amounts of water.

Water Conservation: Notice how carefully the body conserves its water supply, purifying it for re-use over and over again. If this were not the case, and the body discarded its water supply after having used it but one, (like an automatic clothes-washer) a person would require 2000-3000 gallons of water each day. The five quarts of blood in the body flows swiftly, making a complete circuit of the body in less than a minute; - thousands of times over the entire course each day. But even after the last circuit of the day, the blood is just as pure and clean as when it left the heart the first time; --because with each circuit it is purified, with loss of very little water.

The small glands along the digestive tract take up water from the blood stream in order to make the two or three gallons of digestive juices needed each day. Then, after having served its purpose of digesting food, the water from the digestive fluid is again absorbed into the blood to be used again, - probably even before the meal is finished.

The kidneys, too, share this ability to conserve water. Over 400 gallons of blood, more than 1/5 of all that is pumped by the heart) passes through the kidneys for cleansing. From this there is filtered out certain waste products, dissolved in about 20 gallons of fluid. Yet, 98% of this filtered fluid is reabsorbed into the blood to be used again, and only about three pints lost. Symptoms of Hypo-Hydration: Thirst, headache, constipation, and, if long continued, - kidney disease.

IV. External Uses of Water:

1. For Cleanliness: To help eliminate wastes

To keep the skin, and the entire body in the best health, absolute cleanliness is essential, (including clean skin and clean clothing).

Without careful cleansing of the skin, the openings, or pores of the glands, tend to become clogged with impurities. Regular bathing, at least twice a week, whether in health or illness, will help to keep the pores opens for the elimination of waste products, and promote health of the entire body.

Sweating-treatments to a long-term smoker, illustrate the value of the skin, in eliminating poisons. Following a “Hot-pack” to the entire body, the covering sheet which is removed from around the body, is sometimes reeking with the odor of tobacco tar and the poison which the patient had been accumulating in his body for years. For the ex-smoker who has recently stopped his use of tobacco, 5 to 6 glasses of water daily, plus daily “contrast baths” of hot and cold water, will be a great benefit.

2. To increase body defenses:

Sir Alexander Fleming, (Discoverer of penicillin) reported also the discovery of a natural antiseptic, “Lysozyme” in the secretions of the nose and throat. This substance is active against invading germs (and thus helps to prevent colds) when the secretions of the throat are slightly acid in reaction. The surest way to keep secretions slightly acid and thus to maintain an effective lysozyme  defense against colds, is the daily morning use of a quick shower. Patients who had been plagued with recurrent colds for months, had by this method been free from colds as long as the program was continued.

If the person objects to the cold dash he can accustom himself to it by vigorously rubbing one arm with a dripping, cold washcloth (after a hot bath) until a definite reaction is produced. The next day (again, after a hot bath) the cold rub is given to both arms. On the third day, to, both arms and one leg; -- thus gradually increasing the area treatment with cold, until after several days, he is able to take the quick cold dash to the entire body.

Lysozyme is inhibited by worry, by fatigue, and by excess sweets.

3. Body Temperature

4. Hydrotherapy: (Water-treatment)

Burns: One of the best methods for the treatment of a burn is the immediate application of ice-water, or ice-pack to the burn lesion. Pain is quickly alleviated, and healing is rapid.

Upper Respiratory Infections: Fomentations, to chest and neck. Steam inhalation: (For bronchitis, cough, or sinusitis)  --Inhalation of moisture-laden air (or steam) is very soothing to an inflamed upper respiratory membrane. This maybe continued for 20-30 minutes, and repeated two or three times daily.

Arthritis: of wrists, hands, ankles: Alternate Hot and Cold: This method is easy to use; requires only two buckets, one with cold water; and in the other, - water as hot as can be comfortably borne by the elbow. Both hands (or feet and ankles) are placed in the hot water for 3 minutes; then in the cold for 1 minute. Continue thus with 3 or 4 Hot-and-cold changes, for 15 or 20 minutes. Repeat treatment twice or three times daily.