The 16 Horrifying Truths About Drinking Water You Don't Know
[Introduction] Nowadays, more and more people are paying attention to drinking water; but very few actually know how to drink it properly. Drinking without regard to time, without caring about the content, and without thinking... all this only proves that you are drinking water, but not necessarily the right kind of water. Drinking water has also become a profound science.
1. Tap Water
Some people are used to turning on the tap in the morning and drinking a glass of tap water, which is incorrect. The tap water that has been stagnant overnight in the pipes undergoes a hydration reaction with the metal pipe walls and faucet chambers, creating metal-contaminated water. Furthermore, residual microorganisms in the tap water will multiply. This water contains a large amount of substances harmful to the human body and may even harbor Legionella, an acute respiratory infectious bacterium that threatens human health.
Therefore, the tap water that first flows out in the morning is undrinkable stagnant water. People with this habit should correct it immediately to avoid harming their health.
2. Boiled Water That Has Been Standing
After boiled water has been standing for a long time, its nitrogen-containing organic compounds are continuously broken down into nitrites. Especially for boiled water that has been stored for a long time, bacterial contamination is inevitable, which accelerates the decomposition of nitrogen-containing organic compounds and leads to more nitrite formation. Drinking this water causes nitrites to combine with hemoglobin, affecting the blood's oxygen transport function.
Therefore, water that has been reboiled multiple times in a thermos for days or water that has been boiling on a stove for a long time has already changed in composition and is undrinkable. You should drink water that has been boiled once and is not older than 24 hours.
In addition, 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 health, so they drink it upon waking. This understanding is mistaken. While it is true that drinking light salt water is beneficial, it is necessary for replenishing fluids after sweating in the summer, but 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 consumes no water, yet breathing, sweating, and urination continue, causing significant water loss. 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 of the night. Drinking salt water, on the other hand, will worsen the hypertonic dehydration, making one feel even more thirsty. Moreover, morning is the first peak of elevated blood pressure in the body, and drinking salt water will push the blood pressure even higher, harming health.
4. Beverages
The first cup of water in the morning should not be commercially available juices, colas, sodas, coffee, or milk. Most carbonated drinks like soda and cola contain citric acid, which accelerates the excretion of calcium during metabolism, reducing the calcium content in the blood. Long-term consumption can lead to calcium deficiency. Other beverages have a diuretic effect; drinking them in the morning not only fails to effectively replenish the body's needed fluids but also increases the body's demand for water,反而 causing 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 system to work in a state of dehydration, which is not good for health.
Therefore, everyone must remember for their own health that these four types of water should not be drunk upon waking in the morning.
5. Hydrating Before Meals is Best for the Stomach
Do you need to hydrate before eating? 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 100 ml), which can be room-temperature fruit juice or yogurt, or warm rock sugar chrysanthemum water, light tea, or a small bowl of rich appetizer soup. All are good ways to care for the stomach.
6. Drink More "Invisible" Water
Some people seem to drink no water all day, because the moisture they get from food is sufficient. Food also contains water. For example, rice contains 60% water, and congee is even richer in water. Looking at a food composition chart, 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, you can get 300-400 ml of water (that's two glasses!). Furthermore, daily diets often consist of a mix of solid and liquid foods, so obtaining 1500-2000 ml of water from three meals is not difficult. You might as well make full use of meal times to rehydrate by choosing more fruits, vegetables, and unsalted soups and congee 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 the formation of urine by 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 irritating components can promote the dilation of capillaries on the body's surface, causing profuse sweating and loss of surface moisture. Whether it's replenishing or excreting, 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 also easily lead to dry stools, even constipation, and skin problems like small pimples. However, while this is true, the effect of simply replenishing water on skin texture and color is limited. Yet, many vitamin-added beverages now market themselves as beauty products. For example, a dairy beverage containing Vitamin B6 claims to "make skin smooth and delicate," and there are quite a few such "beauty vitamin" drinks on the market. Standard nutrition textbooks do not mention its beautifying effect. Fortunately, consuming more of it is not dangerous and may also help prevent coronary heart disease, so it's harmless at best.
9. "Killer" in Water
Boiled tap water may contain high-chlorine compounds that are carcinogenic. If left for a long time (overnight), the water quality can "age."
Nowadays, various home water treatment devices have emerged, similar to the once-popular mineral water pots. Such equipment has subsequent maintenance issues, just like water dispensers, and can become a source of secondary pollution of drinking water.
10. The Science of Drinking Sports Drinks
You should not replenish with plain water or high-concentration juice before or after intense exercise; you should use 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 can dilute the blood, dramatically increase sweat production, and further worsen dehydration. The high sugar concentration in juice slows down its emptying from the stomach, causing discomfort during exercise. The specially designed concentration of minerals and sugar in sports drinks avoids these adverse reactions. The temperature of sports drinks also matters; too high is not good for lowering body temperature and dissipating heat, while too cold can cause gastrointestinal cramps. Generally, it should be cool and refreshing, with a temperature around 10°C.
11. Beware of Acidic Drinks
Many fruit juice drinks use citric acid as a flavoring. Consuming too much citric acid, a large amount of organic acid suddenly entering the body, can disrupt the body's pH balance when the intake exceeds the body's acid-processing capacity, leading to acidemia and making one feel tired and drowsy. This is especially true in midsummer when the hot weather causes more sweating, leading to a significant loss of electrolytes such as potassium, sodium, and chloride—alkaline components. Large amounts of acidic drinks can more easily make body fluids acidic. Therefore, in the summer, one should not drink too many drinks with added organic acids.
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 colas, Sprite, and Fanta is 11%, exceeding that of many fruits like watermelon, apples, and oranges. A 350 ml can of cola contains the same amount of energy as a slice of bread, an ear of corn, or 250 grams of fruit. The sugar content in various juices is comparable or even higher. Vitamin drinks that look like water, such as Pulse, He/She, and Activate, also contain 3% sugar. Drinking a large bottle (600 ml) of it has a considerable impact on body weight. Indeed, there have been unfortunate cases of people developing diabetes from excessive consumption of sweet drinks.
13. The Drawbacks of Light Salt Water
Light salt water refers to a salt solution with a concentration similar to that of physiological saline, containing about 1 gram of salt per 100 ml. 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, to rinse the mouth to remove bacteria and reduce redness and swelling from oral and pharyngeal inflammation. 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, after multiple filtration, removes various microorganisms, impurities, and beneficial minerals, highlighting its safety for drinking. 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, drawn from deep underground, rich in rare minerals, and slightly alkaline, which should be more beneficial to health. However, the possibility of organic contamination cannot be ruled out.
Mineralized water is an artificial mineral water prepared by adding a concentrated mineral solution to purified water in proportion to human body concentrations, marking a new height in drinking water technology.
15. If You Love Exercise, You Must Know How to Hydrate
Hydration during exercise should follow these principles:
a. Don't wait until you're thirsty to hydrate. By the time you feel thirsty, you have already lost 2% of your body weight in fluids.
b. Hydrate before, during, and after exercise. Hydrate 2 hours before exercise with 250-500 ml; hydrate immediately before exercise with 150-250 ml; hydrate every 15-20 minutes during exercise with 120-240 ml; after exercise, replenish based on the weight lost during exercise—for every 1 kg of weight lost, replenish with 1 liter of water.
16. Drinking Too Much Vitamin C Drinks is Not Beneficial
Many newly released drinks contain Vitamin C. The benefits of Vitamin C are well-known. To prevent deficiency, the human body needs to supplement 60-100 mg daily. The Vitamin C content in "Qoo" is 3-30 mg/100 ml, in "Pulse" it is 25-50 mg/100 ml, and in "He" it is 15 mg/100 ml. This means that drinking one bottle of such a beverage can meet the daily requirement. So, if you drink 2, 3, or even more bottles, could you get Vitamin C poisoning? Fortunately, Vitamin C has a wide safety margin, but don't think that the more the better. Excessive intake can lead to urinary system stones, osmotic diarrhea, and high-dose Vitamin C dependency.