But First Hot Water, But Why Hot Water?
As you all know I stress upon this unique Ayurvedic concept of Hot Water all the time. And it is a suggestion that forms a part of everyone’s therapy plan when they come to me for consultation. Everyone who has followed it has seen tremendous results and improvement in physical, mental and emotional health.
Everyone seems to be posting But First Hot Water! But does anyone know Why Hot Water? If not read on:
Why Water:
We all say water is the elixir of life. And that is true but do you know why? Did you know more than approximately 65 % of our whole body is water?
- Brain and heart: approximately 70% water
- Lungs: more than 80% water
- Skin: approximately 70% water
- Muscles: 75% water
- Kidneys: almost 80% water
- Bones: approximately 30% water
So it’s literally water everywhere. Look at our Earth, water is everywhere and land is “floating” in this water.
So yes water is truly the elixir of life. So much so that in Yoga and Vedic sciences, there is a saying: when you get a guest at home always offer them a glass of water first. For us guests are God and they should never leave without being nourished with food and water. If not food at least water should be offered. So much so that it is believed that if one refuses to offer water, when asked, they will accumulate bad karma.
Why Hot Water?
Did you know that our internal body temperature is approximately an average of 36.4°C? That means on the inside we are quite “hot”. Heat up water to 36°C and dip your finger in it. That’s how hot our internal body temperature is. Whatever you put into the body should match that temperature. Hence there is a saying in Ayurveda: There is no Ayurveda without heat, and there is no Ayurveda without oil (over here water) Hence warm or hot water is essential to match that internal environment.
Best way I can explain this is:
Imagine, you live in a very cold country and outside temperature is 4°C. You are inside your house where the heating is 20°C. But the moment you go outside, you start shivering. This is because the muscles start contracting/relaxing to produce heat to keep itself warm so that the body temperature doesn’t drop. This is to protect the body. This shows sudden change of temperature isn’t beneficial to the body.
It’s the same thing the other way round. When you drink cold water of let’s say 4°C, the insides starts working excessively hard to first up all heat up that water or fluid to bring the temperature up to 36°C and then only the body can digest it.
This means that the body is unnecessarily spending all that energy in heating it up rather than directly digesting it. This leads to the body becoming tired and exhausted.
NOTE: Therefore you may notice that people who drink cold water or cold fluids do get easily exhausted or their stamina or strength is lower than others.
And now why Plain Hot Water?
Once again did you know that the body is on the alkaline side? Our PH is approximately 7.4. We are alkaline and the aim is to keep that alkalinity. And water is naturally alkaline. This helps to keep the body alkaline too. The more alkaline your body is the longer you will live. The more the acidity in the body, life span shortens.
NOTE: Therefore plain warm/hot water is best for anti aging too. Have you noticed people who drink plain warm/hot water first thing in the morning or throughout the day, their body hardly ever suffers from wrinkles, fine lines, or any other signs of aging?
But First Hot Water:
One could drink warm/hot water throughout the day. But the best time to have it is first thing in the morning. Why?
When we go to sleep at night, the gut is empty for almost 8-10 hours with no foods etc in it until you wake up in the morning. Therefore when you drink warm/hot water first thing in the morning, two things happen:
- Firstly,this warm/hot water flushes out all the toxins from the body. Imagine those water pipes, or drainage pipes, when they are empty and water gushes through, everything gets cleaned out.
- Secondly,because the gut was empty for all those hours, some of this warm/hot water easily gets absorbed into the mucus lining or walls of the gut and gets transported to all those tissues that would have needed that water nourishment.
So warm/hot water first thing is morning does both things:
- It cleanses
- It nourishes
How do you drink this hot water?
It is classically first thing in the morning. It is after having brushed your teeth etc, on empty stomach. If you want see really good results, then drink 200 ml of warm to hot water in one go. Don’t sip. Just drink it down. Then wait for 10 minutes and continue with any other drinks.
But did you know it’s not just a part of the morning routine? Depending on what changes you are looking to see, you can drink hot water anytime of the day. Here are a few examples:
Looking to lose weight?
- Start your day with 500ml hot water on empty stomach to drink down.
- After every meal or snack, have a mug of hot water. This helps to digest to food faster, strengthens your agni back quickly and makes you feel light.
Suffering from Hay Fever, Sinusitis or Rhinitis?
- Start your day with 200 ml hot water on empty stomach, to drink down.
- Follow this with a Ginger and Lemon Zest Herbal Tea after 15 minutes.
Migraines:
- Start your day with 500 ml warm water (not hot water) on empty stomach, to drink down.
- Follow this with Saffron and Cardamom Delight Herbal Tea.
Constipation:
- Start your day with 500 to 700 ml warm/hot water to drink down.
- Wait for 10 minutes then have a Ginger and Lemon Zest Herbal Tea.
- Wait for 30 minutes and have Chyawanprash1 teaspoon on hot water.
Anxiety or Nervousness:
- Start your day with 200 ml of warm to hot water to sip over 10 minutes.
- Continue sipping warm/hot water during the day.
- Finish the day with some warm water towards evening.
Dysmenorrhoea or painful periods:
- Start your day with 400ml of hot water to drink down.
- During the day have Chyawanprash in hot water. Keep sipping on this all day.
These are just some examples, there are many such suggestions that can be followed to help correct imbalances. It’s not that you can’t have herbal teas or other similar warm drinks. But water is the elixir of life so start your daily life with this elixir and you will be amazed at the results.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Do drop in a comment or share it with people who would benefit from it. Enjoy and be well!