Drinking more water is more terrible than drinking less. Drinking more water will be ＂poisoned＂
Editor’s note:Water is the source of life and is vital to human health. Drinking water can promote the body’s metabolism and absorption of nutrients, but drinking it wrong may be harmful to health. Therefore, how to drink water is very particular. Let’s take a look.
The misunderstanding of drinking water is constant
Last summer, the northern hemisphere continued to suffer from high temperature, and the number of patients with "water poisoning" in hospitals in many regions of Europe doubled. According to the Danish Local Times, some Danes drank a lot of tap water to cool off the heat, which caused them to get sick. Take Hawkbell Hospital as an example, the number of patients with "water poisoning" this summer is 10 times that of previous years. According to local doctors, drinking too much water will increase the water content of blood and reduce the sodium content, which will lead to the imbalance between salt and water. Severe imbalance may cause "hyponatremia", and patients may have brain swelling, headache and other phenomena, and even lead to epilepsy, shock and death.
Zhao Feihong, director of the Health Drinking Water Professional Committee of Beijing Health Protection Association, said that when people sweat a lot, in addition to water loss, many electrolytes mainly sodium salts will also be discharged with sweat, and people often drink a lot of water to replenish water. This is a misunderstanding. Drinking pure water alone can’t replenish the missing electrolyte, and even further dilute the electrolyte concentration, which leads to the imbalance of the ratio of water and electrolyte in human body and triggers the body to produce different degrees of stress response. "However, in general, drinking more water will not cause serious problems ‘ Poisoning ’ Only people with poor kidney and cardiopulmonary function need special attention. "
Zhao Feihong said that there are still many misunderstandings about people drinking water. First, drinking water too fast and replenishing a large amount of liquid in a short time will increase the burden on organs such as the heart and kidneys, which may easily lead to headache, edema and elevated blood pressure. Second, drinking water is too "ice". When the body temperature is high, it is best not to drink drinks below 5℃. Drinking cold water will stimulate the stomach and lead to stomach cramps and diarrhea.
Water accounts for 60%~70% of human body weight, and plays an important role in forming whole body tissues, regulating body temperature, promoting metabolism of various systems of the body, and assisting absorption, transportation and excretion of various substances. Batman, an American doctor of medicine, recorded many studies in the book "Water is the Best Medicine", which proved that healthy drinking water can relieve hypertension, diabetes, allergies, asthma, cancer and other diseases. He once cured more than 3,000 patients with water.
How to drink water correctly
When you feel thirsty, the water loss of adults is about 2% of your body weight, and that of children is about 2%~5%. At this time, your body functions begin to be affected. Lack of water can also lead to loss of appetite, depression, dry skin, hoarseness and general weakness, which can be life-threatening in severe cases. Zhao Feihong suggested that you should develop the habit of taking the initiative to drink water, and don’t wait until you are thirsty. Drinking water should follow the principle of "small amount and multiple times": 100~150 ml is suitable for each time, and the interval is about half an hour; Drinking water with a small mouth is more thirst-quenching than pouring water with a large mouth, which is beneficial to human absorption.
There are four best times to drink water. After getting up in the morning, around 10 am, 3-4 pm and before going to bed at night, it is currently recognized as the four "best drinking periods" in a day.
Zhao Feihong explained that people do not drop water during sleep, and the formation of nocturia and the loss of water through breathing and skin make the body in a physiological state of water shortage, which leads to the increase of blood viscosity and the accumulation of metabolites in the body. Therefore, drinking a glass of water half an hour before going to bed can alleviate the above phenomenon and reduce the risk of cerebral thrombosis. Drinking a glass of water after getting up in the morning takes only 20 seconds, and water can enter the blood, which makes the blood dilute rapidly and improves the water shortage at night.
At least 1.5 liters per day. According to Dietary Guidelines for China Residents (2016), the recommended daily drinking water for adults is 1.5~1.7 liters. Gu Chuanling, deputy secretary-general of the Capital Health Food Nutrition Society, said that people’s daily drinking water can be appropriately increased according to the following factors:
1. Living environment. In hot weather, people sweat more and lose water faster, so it is necessary to increase water supply. It is easy to dry in autumn and winter, and in the heating room in northern winter, the water evaporates quickly, so it is necessary to increase the amount of drinking water.
2. Dietary factors. The diet is salty, and when the human body discharges excess salt, it needs to consume more water; If you eat food containing more protein, your blood osmotic pressure will increase slightly, and you need extra water to excrete the urea produced by protein. At these times, you need to pay attention to drinking more water.
3. Physical condition. When a cold has a fever, the human body will lose a lot of water in the form of sweating, so it is necessary to increase the amount of water.
Boiled water is best.
China Nutrition Society recommended that boiled water is the most suitable drinking water for human body. American scientists have found that when the boiled tap water is cooled to 25~30℃, the chlorine content is the lowest, and the biological activity of the water is also increased. It can easily penetrate the cell membrane, which can promote the body’s metabolism, enhance immune function and improve the body’s disease resistance.
Sweet drinks, functional drinks, fruit juice, strong tea and coffee can’t completely replace drinking water. Zhao Feihong said that all kinds of sweet drinks and fruit juices are high-sugar and high-calorie drinks. The human body needs to consume more water to complete metabolism and cannot replenish water well. Functional drinks, strong tea and coffee all contain caffeine, which has diuretic effect in itself and is not conducive to human hydration.
Special people pay attention to drinking water
Children. Dietary Guidelines for China Residents, Balanced Dietary Pagoda for Preschool Children in China and Dietary Guidelines for School-age Children in China suggest that the water demand for children under 10 years old varies with age: 6 months to 1 year old, and the total daily water intake is 900 ml (milk/food+drinking water); 1~2 years old, the total water intake is 1300 ml (milk/food+drinking water); 2~3 years old, drinking 600~700 ml; 4~5 years old, 700~800 ml; 5~7 years old, 800 ml; 7~10 years old, 1000 ml. Gu Chuanling reminded that children’s initiative to drink water in time is generally poor, and they like to drink sweet drinks. Parents should do a good job of monitoring and remind their children to drink water in time.
Lactating women. About 90% of milk is water, and milk secretion is closely related to the daily intake of water. Drinking more water under the condition of ensuring balanced nutrition is beneficial to milk secretion. Gu Chuanling said that they are generally recommended to drink more water than ordinary women, about 2.1 liters per day.
Old man. Old people tend to urinate frequently, and if they don’t drink water regularly, they are prone to thick blood and high blood fat, which will eventually cause a series of metabolic diseases. Therefore, the elderly should drink water frequently, and the amount of drinking water should be increased accordingly, which can be judged according to the color of urine: if the urine is light yellow, 250 ml of water should be replenished in time; If it is brown, it means that the body is seriously short of water, and you should drink 500 ml of water.
Office workers. Office workers can replenish 200 ml of water in time after arriving at the company every day, which is conducive to promoting brain activity and working concentration. In addition, office workers who sit indoors for a long time are prone to get fat. Drinking 200 ml of water half an hour before meals is conducive to increasing satiety and reducing food intake to some extent.
Manual workers. Athletes and outdoor workers need to replenish water in time after a lot of physical activities. Zhao Feihong suggested that these people can properly replenish water about half an hour before physical activity. During the activity, they can replenish water with a small amount of water. After the activity, they are not in a hurry to replenish water. After a while, they can replenish water and drink some light salt water appropriately.
Poor spleen and stomach, drink less water.
It is recorded in the medical book "Four Sages Heart Source" in Qing Dynasty: "Shui Gu enters the stomach, the spleen and yang are grinded, and the dregs are passed down, but for feces drowning, the essence is served, and it becomes qi and blood." If the spleen yang is insufficient (spleen yang is the function of spleen and stomach), the digestion and absorption of water is weak and it cannot be turned into qi and blood. People with poor spleen and stomach, such as loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, frequent hiccups, abdominal distension and diarrhea, epigastric discomfort and other symptoms, had better drink less water in the morning to avoid further affecting the function of spleen and stomach.
Be careful when drinking water because of lung dysfunction.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that besides breathing, another important function of the lung is "attending festival", including "dredging water channels". "Waterway" refers to the way that water and liquid move, that is to say, the lung can regulate the metabolism of water and liquid, mainly through the spreading and descending of the lung, and transport body fluid to all parts of the body by using lung qi, which can also promote the water and liquid to be lost to the bladder, so as to keep urine flowing smoothly. If lung function is impaired, such as frequent chest tightness, shortness of breath, wheezing and palpitation, cough with excessive phlegm, nasal congestion and runny nose, etc., water metabolism will also be poor, and drinking water indiscriminately will aggravate symptoms.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the kidney controls water and the bladder controls the gasification of water. Kidney plays a key role in regulating and maintaining water-liquid balance in the body. If there is a problem with kidney function, pay more attention to drinking water, otherwise there will be edema and unfavorable urination. When there is no need for drinking water, don’t force yourself to drink water, but keep your body in a state of peace of qi and blood.
Drinking too much water increases the burden.
Many chronic patients have thick blood and hope to dilute it by drinking more water. In fact, water can’t enter blood vessels immediately. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the human body is a circular whole, and the metabolism of water should be completed under the coordination of various organs and tissues. If there are problems in the gasification of triple energizer, the transfer of viscera and the operation of qi and blood, water will not achieve the purpose of diluting blood, but will increase the burden on the heart, lungs, spleen and kidney. Dietary Guidelines for China Residents (2016) suggests that the daily drinking water should be kept at 1500~1700 ml.
Huang Yuanyu, a famous doctor in the Qing Dynasty, said: "If qi does not turn into water, it will stagnate on the upper side and become phlegm; if water does not turn into qi, it will stop accumulating on the lower side and become drinking. Generally speaking, yang deficiency leads to soil failure, and the golden water is swollen, all of which have the disease of retention of phlegm and retention of drink. Covering the phlegm and drinking, corruption and stagnation hinder the road of qi and blood around the week, and the spirit of the spirit is close to the aid. All diseases start and the changes are constant. " It means that if there is no yang, such as yang deficiency and spleen deficiency, and lung and kidney are not transported, water will stagnate into phlegm and form phlegm-drinking disease. Phlegm can block the circulation of qi and blood, leading to many diseases. People who often drink too much water have a heavy burden on the spleen and kidneys, and tend to age faster than others, and some chronic diseases will come faster and more than others.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the accumulation of water and fluid in the body will also form phlegm, and further accumulation of phlegm can become phlegm nuclei, such as scrofula, gall tumor and other diseases; Or form nodules and lumps with blood stasis. In clinical practice, some patients with cyst have reduced curative effect due to improper drinking water, and the curative effect will be obviously improved after changing improper drinking habits.
Phlegm drinking and phlegm turbidity are unique concepts of traditional Chinese medicine, which can be divided into tangible and intangible categories. Tangible, sticky is called phlegm, and thin is called drinking. Invisible phlegm and drink can cause many symptoms, such as dizziness, nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, chest tightness, palpitation or madness, coma, etc., but no substantial phlegm and drink can be seen. Modern medical research has found that phlegm is related to many diseases such as body immunity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, cancer, asthma and mental illness.
Four Special Reminders of Drinking Water
1. Don’t drink a lot in a short time. Drinking a lot of water in a short time will increase the amount of urination and perspiration. The former will increase the burden on the kidneys, while the latter will cause excessive loss of salt in the body, leading to electrolyte disorder.
2. Clear and colorless urine means enough drinking. How to judge whether you have drunk enough water, it is recommended to observe your urine color every day: if it is light lemon color, it means that the water in your body is in the best state; If the urine is clear and colorless, the water intake should be slightly reduced; If the urine is yellow, you need to replenish water in time.
3. Don’t drink before and after eating a big meal. People’s stomach space is limited. If you drink a lot of water before or after meals, it will occupy the space, causing abdominal distension and abdominal pain, which is not conducive to gastrointestinal peristalsis and leads to indigestion. Under normal circumstances, it is recommended to drink water half an hour after meals.
4. Avoid drinking immediately after long-term exercise. Drinking water immediately after exercise will lead to a sudden increase in blood volume in the body and increase the burden on the heart. A large amount of water stored in the stomach will also affect the rise and fall of diaphragm, causing discomfort such as chest tightness and asthma. It is suggested to sit down and rest for 10 minutes after exercise before drinking water to give the body a buffer time; At the same time, just drink 150 ~ 200ml each time, and don’t drink too much at a time.