1. Tap Water
Some people are used to turning on the tap in the morning to get a glass of tap water to drink, which is incorrect. The tap water and pipes have been stagnant overnight. A hydration reaction occurs between this water, the metal pipe walls, and the metal chamber of the faucet, leading to metal-contaminated water. Furthermore, residual microorganisms in the tap water can multiply. This water contains a large number of substances harmful to the human body and may harbor *Legionella pneumophila*, a bacterium that poses a threat to human health as an acute respiratory infectious disease.
Therefore, the first water that flows out in the morning when you turn on the tap is undrinkable stagnant water. People with this habit should correct it immediately to avoid harming their health.
2. Boiled Water that Has Been Left for a Long Time
After boiled water has been left for a long time, its nitrogen-containing organic compounds will continuously decompose into nitrites. Especially for boiled water that has been stored for too long, it is inevitably contaminated with bacteria, which accelerates the decomposition of nitrogen-containing organic compounds and thus produces more nitrites. After drinking such water, nitrites combine with hemoglobin, affecting the oxygen-carrying function of the blood.
Therefore, the water that has been repeatedly boiled in a thermos for days, or water that has been boiling on a stove for a long time, has already changed its composition and is undrinkable. You should drink water that has been boiled once and does not exceed 24 hours.
In addition, various bottled and桶装 (barreled) purified water and mineral water should not be stored for too long. Large bottles or barrels of purified water and mineral water should not be consumed after 3 days.
3. Salt Water
Some people believe that drinking light salt water is beneficial to their health, so they drink it in the morning. This understanding is mistaken. While it is true that drinking light salt water is beneficial for health, it is necessary for replenishing fluids after sweating in the summer. However, for replenishing fluids in the morning, it is not only useless but also a harmful practice.
Physiological research suggests that during a full night's sleep, a person drinks no water, but breathing, sweating, and urination continue, consuming a significant amount of water. Upon waking in the morning, the blood is in a concentrated state. Drinking a certain amount of plain water can quickly dilute the blood, correcting the hypertonic dehydration that occurred during the night. Drinking salt water, on the other hand, will worsen the hypertonic dehydration, making you feel even more thirsty. Moreover, blood pressure peaks in the morning, and drinking salt water will raise it even higher, endangering your health.
4. Beverages
The first glass of water in the morning should preferably not be commercially available beverages like juice, cola, soda, coffee, or milk. Most carbonated drinks like soda and cola contain citric acid, which accelerates calcium excretion during metabolism, reducing calcium levels in the blood. Long-term consumption can lead to calcium deficiency. Other beverages have a diuretic effect; drinking them in the morning cannot effectively replenish the body's needed fluids but will instead increase the body's demand for water, leading to dehydration.
Juice, milk, and coffee are also not suitable as the first drink in the morning because these substances cannot provide the water the body needs most at that time. They also force the digestive and absorption systems to work in a state of dehydration, which is not good for your health.
So, for your own health, remember that these four types of water should not be consumed upon waking in the morning.
Today, more and more people are paying attention to drinking water, but few truly know how to drink it properly. Drinking without regard to time, content, or thought... only proves that you are drinking water, but not necessarily the right water. In an era where caring for one's body has become a trend, something as simple as drinking water has had to become a profound subject of study.
5. Hydrating Before Meals is Best for the Stomach
Do you need to hydrate before a meal? Won't that dilute stomach acid and affect digestion? Western meals have an appetizer course, the principle of which is to use soup and dishes to stimulate the appetite, lubricate the esophagus, and prepare for the meal. Hydrating before a meal has the same significance. Before eating solid food, first drink a small glass (about 100ml). This can be room-temperature juice or yogurt, warm rock sugar chrysanthemum water or light tea, or a small bowl of rich appetizer soup. All are excellent ways to nourish the stomach.
6. Drink More "Invisible" Water
Some people appear not to drink water all day, because the moisture they get from food is sufficient to meet their needs. Food also contains water. For example, rice is 60% water, and congee (rice porridge) is even richer in water. Looking at a food composition table, it's not hard to see that vegetables and fruits generally contain over 70% water. Even if you only eat 500 grams of fruits and vegetables a day, you can get 300-400ml of water (that's two glasses!). Furthermore, daily diets often include a balance of solid and liquid foods, so obtaining 1500-2000ml of water from three meals is not difficult. Take full advantage of meal times to hydrate; choose more fruits, vegetables, and unsalty soups and porridges for good hydration effects.
7. Remember Diuretic Foods
So-called diuretic foods are those that increase the body's water excretion. For example, watermelon, coffee, and tea contain diuretic components that promote urine formation in the kidneys. Whole grains, vegetables, and fruits contain dietary fiber, which can bind a large amount of water in the intestines, increasing stool weight. Spicy and stimulating ingredients can promote the dilation of superficial capillaries, causing profuse sweating and loss of surface moisture. Whether it's for replenishing or expelling water, both are means to achieve the body's water balance.
8. Chugging Water Has Nothing to Do with Beauty
When the body lacks water, the skin can appear dry and dull. Drinking too little water can easily lead to constipation, and even cause small pimples to appear on the skin. However, while this is true, the effect of simply replenishing water on skin quality and complexion is limited. Yet, many vitamin-fortified beverages now market themselves as beauty products. For instance, a dairy-based beverage containing Vitamin B6 claims to "make skin smooth and delicate," and there are many such "beauty vitamin" drinks on the market. Standard nutrition textbooks do not mention its beautifying effects. Fortunately, consuming more of it is not dangerous and may even help prevent coronary heart disease, so it can be considered harmless.
9. "Hidden Dangers" in Water
Boiled tap water may contain carcinogenic chlorinated compounds. If left for a long time (e.g., overnight), the water quality can "age."
Nowadays, various types of home water treatment devices have emerged, similar to the once-popular mineral water pots. Such equipment has issues with subsequent maintenance, and like water dispensers, can become a source of secondary contamination of drinking water.
10. The Science of Sports Drinks
You should not drink plain water or high-concentration fruit juice before or after intense exercise; you should drink sports drinks instead. Sports drinks should contain a small amount of sugar, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and various water-soluble vitamins to replenish what the body loses and needs during exercise. Drinking plain water dilutes the blood and dramatically increases sweating, further worsening dehydration. The high sugar concentration in juice slows down the time it takes for the stomach to empty it, causing discomfort during exercise. The specially designed concentration of minerals and sugar in sports drinks prevents these adverse reactions. The temperature of sports drinks is also important; too high is not good for lowering body temperature and dissipating heat, while too cold can cause gastrointestinal cramps. Generally, it should be cool, with a temperature around 10°C.
11. Beware of Acidic Drinks
Many fruit juices use citric acid as a flavoring agent. Consuming too much citric acid means a large amount of organic acid suddenly enters the body. When the intake exceeds the body's ability to process acid, it can disrupt the body's pH balance, leading to acidosis, which causes fatigue and drowsiness. This is especially true in summer when the weather is hot and people sweat a lot, losing large amounts of electrolytes such as potassium, sodium, and chloride. Large amounts of acidic drinks can more easily make body fluids acidic. Therefore, it is not advisable to consume too many acid-flavored drinks with added organic acids in the summer.
12. The Trap of Sweet Drinks
If the first thing you think of when thirsty is a beverage, that is quite dangerous. The sugar content in Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Fanta is 11%, exceeding that of many fruits like watermelon, apples, and oranges. A 350ml can of cola contains the same energy as one slice of bread, one ear of corn, or 250 grams of fruit. The sugar content in various fruit juices is comparable, or even higher. Vitamin drinks that look like water, such as Pulse, Ta/She, and Activate, also contain 3% sugar. Drinking a large bottle (600ml) of this can have a considerable impact on your weight. There have indeed been unfortunate cases of people developing diabetes from consuming excessive amounts of sweet drinks.
13. The Drawbacks of Light Salt Water
Light salt water refers to a solution with a salt concentration similar to that of the human body, containing about 1 gram of salt per 100ml. It has several uses in daily life: one, to replenish water and sodium lost after heavy sweating; two, to replenish water and salt lost from the intestines after diarrhea, maintaining electrolyte balance; three, using it as a mouthwash can clear bacteria in the mouth and reduce redness and swelling caused by inflammation of the pharynx. However, light salt water is not suitable for people with poor heart function or high blood pressure, especially in the morning when blood viscosity is highest. Drinking it can worsen thirst and promote an increase in blood pressure.
14. Seeing Through "Fancy" Waters
Purified water has undergone multiple filtration to remove various microorganisms, impurities, and beneficial minerals. Its main feature is drinking safety. It is a soft water, and many believe it lacks nutrition and that long-term consumption is unhealthy, but this view has not been proven.
Mineral water is a natural resource, extracted from deep underground strata, rich in rare minerals and slightly alkaline. It should be more beneficial to health, but the possibility of organic contamination cannot be ruled out.
Mineralized water is an artificial mineral water prepared by adding mineral concentrate to purified water in proportions similar to the human body's concentration. It represents a new height in drinking water technology.
15. If You Love Sports, You Must Know How to Hydrate
Hydration during exercise should follow these principles:
a. Do not wait until you are thirsty to hydrate. By the time you feel thirsty, you have already lost 2% of your body weight in water.
b. Hydrate before, during, and after exercise. Hydrate 2 hours before exercise with 250-500ml; hydrate immediately before exercise with 150-250ml; during exercise, hydrate every 15-20 minutes with 120-240ml; after exercise, replenish based on the weight lost during exercise—for every 1kg of weight lost, replenish with 1 liter of water.
16. Frequent Hydration is Unwise
When the body is in a stable state, it needs a normal daily intake of 1000-2000ml of water to keep urine clear and abundant. However, if you consciously or unconsciously drink large amounts of water, there may be a problem. First, it may indicate that your body is dehydrated, which can be caused by being in a high-temperature environment, excessive sweating, or consuming a lot of salt. In that case, rehydration is necessary. Second, if you have hyperglycemia, pituitary or kidney dysfunction, or are suffering from an infectious disease like a cold or fever, or have a urinary system inflammation, or are even a patient with hyperuricemia, you may also need to drink large amounts of water. However, for a healthy person, there is no need to drink more than 2000ml a day if you are not thirsty. It only puts a strain on your kidney function.
17. Excessive Vitamin C Drinks are Not Beneficial
Many newly launched drinks contain Vitamin C. The benefits of Vitamin C are well-known, and to prevent deficiency, the human body needs to supplement 60-100mg daily. The Vitamin C content in "Qoo" is 3-30mg/100ml, in "Pulse" it is 25-50mg/100ml, and in "Ta" it is 15mg/100ml. This means that drinking one bottle of such a drink can meet your daily Vitamin C requirement. So, if you drink two, three, or more bottles, could you get Vitamin C poisoning? Fortunately, Vitamin C has a wide safety margin, but do not think that "more is better." Excessive intake can lead to urinary system stones, osmotic diarrhea, and a dependency on large doses of Vitamin C.
Tip: Drinking Water Schedule
1. After waking up: Drinking more water in the morning can compensate for the water lost during the night and also has a certain effect on preventing high blood pressure, cerebral hemorrhage, and cerebral thrombosis.
2. About 1 hour before each meal: Drinking water on an empty stomach about an hour before a meal can replenish water to all body tissues, meet the body's needs for water, ensure the secretion of sufficient digestive fluids to promote appetite and help digestion and absorption. It also avoids affecting the physiological water content in tissues and prevents thirst before bed, which can lead to nocturnal urination and puffy eyes the next day.
3. During work breaks in the morning and afternoon: Drinking water during work can replenish fluids lost from sweating and urination, and help the body expel accumulated waste.
4. When leaving work: Drinking a glass of water before leaving the office can increase the feeling of fullness.
5. 2-3 hours before bedtime: Drinking water at this time can dilute the blood and accelerate blood circulation.
Of course, the timing can vary from person to person. As long as you follow the general principle of replenishing water promptly and not letting your body become dehydrated, you'll be fine.