What is the Role of Water in Recovery?

How Does Drinking Cold Water Benefit Overall Health?

People will be giving advice about drinking enough water, but for different reasons. Some drink plain water, some suggest sugar-containing water and, yet, other studies say you can lose weight by drinking water. The benefits of drinking water are myriad but there is not a direct link to weight loss or anything like that. It is simply a great way to maintain a healthy body and support overall health.

Cold Water

One theory about drinking cold water is that the body must burn calories to bring the cold water up to body temperature. It may help burn more calories than warm water as the body needs to heat up water in the digestive tract. For people who prefer to drink it, it is a great way to cool the body down on a hot day.

How Much to Drink

Regardless of diet, this is a common question to ask. Apart from water in food, medically speaking, women should drink nine cups of water every day. You should replenish water lost in sweating during exercise. Drinking more water is not flushing fat. It is filling up the body with good, healthy fluids rather than toxic ones. If you drink, you dehydrate your body so need to replenish with water.

Tips for Water Drinkers

When you are going to take the big plunge and drink more water everyday, it is a huge commitment. You can start with some of the following tips:

  • Drink a big glass whenever you feel hungry and before a meal or snack
  • Breaking down body fat and muscle during weight loss produces waste to be eliminated in the kidneys so drink enough if you are watching weight
  • High-protein diets produce waste products from digestion so kidneys need support on high-protein diets
  • Drink good calories. The key is to replace junk calories with food high in nutritional value. The dangers of drinking too much water can be dangerous and risky if you overdo it

Don’t start drinking a gallon of water everyday. This will kill you slowly. Especially if you are fasting or eating very little, water must be taken in balance. The body needs to maintain salt balance which results in a heart attack and even death if you go into hyponatremia. Exercise for your heart, your overall health, and to keep weight down, but don’t overdo it and risk further injury to yourself. Everything in balance will help you focus on your long term recovery from addiction.

The Palmetto Center is based on a Therapeutic Community model. We help people learn how to live free of addiction. Our community support provides structure while trained counselors offer life skills training and therapeutic techniques to help you move past addiction. Our program provides special focus for professionals including chiropractors, nurses, doctors, lawyers, and more who need help with addiction recovery. Call us to find out more: 866-848-3001.