What are the benefits of warm water?

By Dr Harold Gunatillake

“If you kick-start your day by drinking a glass of pure warm water, fat deposits and toxins circulating in the blood are eliminated from the body. It can help you assist with nasal/throat congestion, ease constipation, and boost digestion. It is an easy tactic to crank up your metabolism, aid weight loss goals, and reduce cholesterol quickly. Water is truly the elixir of life! Up to sixty percent of your body is water, which plays a role in everything from digestion and absorption of nutrients to excretion.But research shows that warm water can take these benefits up several notches”.CureJoy

I have heard many a times from people who believe that a glass of warm water has more health benefits than tap or cool water. Is there any truth in this belief? Any water cold or warm is warmed up in the stomach to the body temperature of 37deg.C. Cold water drinkers have the added advantage of burning a few calories to convert the cold into warm body temperature, and drinking warm water hasn’t that minor benefit. If you want to lose weight drink plenty of cold water and not warm water.

Water you drink enters through the blood stream to all tissues and organs of the body. Excess gets into your extra cellular tissues and that’s how you get swelling of legs due to retention of fluid, mainly due to heart failure, liver or kidney disease and other electrolyte imbalance issues. Doctors prescribe diuretics to get rid of retained water through your kidneys. Water does nothing to the fat deposits elimination from the body and do not participate in the metabolism directly. Toxins are detoxified and eliminated through the enzyme and metabolic processes in the liver and excreted through the kidneys.

Yes, when you have cold -warm water gargles do comfort your throat and it’s a home remedy to ease the congestion.

Yes, those who suffer from constipation should drink lot of water to soften the stools.

Water does not boost digestion but water is required for the normal enzymatic processes of digestion. If you wish to suppress your appetite you should drink plenty of any water before meals to dilute the gastric acid and for satiety.

Water does nothing to the cholesterol levels in your blood.

How much water to drink per day

The body excretes approximately 1,500 cc of water daily. About 300 to 500mls are derived from your food. So, one should drink a minimum of 1.5 litres of water. In the tropics and after exercise you lose more water and you drink more to replenishment

Good advice from Dr Harold