Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

6 reasons to drink more water

Scientifically speaking, water is the basis of life, but beyond being essential to your very existence, water serves all sorts of purposes that help you feel your absolute best. No, it can't cure cancer (though it may help prevent it), pay your rent (though it does save you money), or take out the trash, here are six reasons H2O can help solve many annoying day-to-day health issues-and possibly prevent a few big ones-from headaches to those last few pounds.


1. Water boosts metabolism:
Trying to lose weight? Drinking water can boost your body's ability to burn fat. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that drinking water (about 17oz) increases metabolic rate by 30 percent in healthy men and women. The boost occurred within 10 minutes but reached a maximum 30-40 minutes after drinking.


2. Studies also suggest that drinking one or two glasses of water before a meal can fill you up so you naturally eat less, says Andrea N. Giancoli, MPH, RD spokesperson for The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Plus, even mild dehydration will slow down metabolism by as much as 3 percent. 2. It safeguards your heart: Speaking of essential for life…drinking a good amount of water could lower your risk of a heart attack. A six-year study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that people who drank more than five glasses of water a day were 41 percent less likely to die from a heart attack during the study period than those who drank less than two glasses. Bonus: Drinking all that water may reduce cancer risk as well. Research shows that staying hydrated can reduce risk of colon cancer by 45 percent, bladder cancer by 50 percent, and possibly reduce breast cancer risk too.

3. Water prevents headaches: The most debilitating kind as well: Migraines. In one study published in the journal Neurology, scientists recruited migraine sufferers and divided them into two groups: one took a placebo, the others were told to drink 1.5 liters of water (about six cups) in addition to their usual daily intake. At the end of two weeks, the water group had experienced 21 fewer hours of pain than those in the placebo group, as well as a decrease in pain intensity.

4. Water boosts your brainpower: Your brain needs a lot of oxygen to function at optimum levels, so drinking plenty of water ensures that it's getting all it needs. In fact, drinking eight to 10 cups of water per day can improve your levels of cognitive performance by as much as 30 percent.
The door swings both ways: Research shows that a dehydration level of just 1 percent of your body weight reduces thinking functions, so staying well-hydrated is super important for your mental performance .

5. It makes you rich: Making water your go-to drink saves a lot of money in the long run. Even though 60 percent of the U.S. population buys bottled water , it's still cheaper, on average, than juices, sodas, and Starbucks- especially when you buy it by the case. What's even cheaper: buying a filter and drinking water out of the tap. To put it in perspective, replacing your daily can of soda at lunch with a free-from-the-tap glass of water (or water cooler if you have access to one) can save you about $180 a year.

6. It keeps you alert: Dehydration is the single most common cause of daytime fatigue , so if your afternoon slump is more like a desperate need for an afternoon nap, guzzle a glass of water. It can also make you better at your job, or at least prevent you from being bad at a it-just a two percent dehydration level can trigger short-term memory problems and difficulty focusing on a computer screen or printed page. 
source obtained from the link below:
https://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/6-reasons-to-drink-more-water.html

Easy ways to keep water clean and cold for this summer

Whenever we came rushing back home in the sweltering heat, my grandmother always insisted on us drinking water from a matka, kept wrapped in a wet bright red cloth, rather than grabbing a refrigerated chilled water bottle. Traditionally, the matkas and other earthen pots have been used to store and keep water cold. Water stored in a matka or a surahi (another earthen pot with a narrow and long neck) gets cooled within a few hours, because they are porous. Thanks to that quality, the air moves in and out of the pot, bringing down the temperature of the water stored inside it.
Water from a matka is comparatively gentler on the throat; hence people who are prone to cough and colds are advised to consume it from such earthen pots than straight from a refrigerator.
Nowadays, you’ll also see jug-shaped earthen pots to store water, they are handy and will also look nice on your dining table. So this summer, bring on those cute looking matkas, delicate surahis, and jugs for refreshingly fresh and cool water. But make sure you scrub and clean them regularly.

Store water in a copper vessel

Ayurveda recommends storing and drinking water from copper vessels. It is assumed that water stored overnight in a copper vessel,
  • accumulates traces of copper, which are beneficial in strengthening the muscular system
  • purifies the blood and remove toxins
  • ,
To attain the above said benefits, the copper vessel should be made of at least 95 % copper and 5 % zinc. Anything less than 95 per cent will not kill the damaging pathogens.
However, storing water in a copper vessel can even prove to be detrimental if the vessel is not cleaned and washed regularly. Make sure that the container is scrubbed and rinsed well and ensure that there are no deposits left in it.
Sometimes the stored water looks and becomes cloudy (turbid) and unclear. Sedimentation is a physical process used to remove such turbidity of water by settling down the suspended particles.
The process of sedimentation can be quickened by adding certain chemicals such as alum or fitkari. To treat and purify the contaminated water at home, a piece of alum can be added and left unstirred for a couple of hours. After some time, the impurities get collected at the bottom of the vessel. After which, transfer the clear water into another container.

Bring it to a boil

Simply boiling the water is the easiest and most effective method of disinfecting the water. It effectively destroys most of the microorganisms such as bacteria, ,viruses, protozoan and other pathogens.
A “rolling boil” for a minimum of one minute is enough to kill most of these disease-causing organisms.
source obtained from the link below: