Everyone drinks water every day, and it's always recommended to drink more, but is more water always better? Is your way of drinking water harming your health? Let me tell you about 5 things not to do when drinking water. Master the scientific way of drinking water to protect your health.
1. Don't drink water while eating—it harms the stomach
Many people like to have a glass of water next to them while eating, as it makes it easier to swallow food. This is especially true for mothers, who often give their children rice soaked in soup. In fact, these ways of drinking water are incorrect. They can harm the stomach and cause indigestion, and over time, can lead to stomach diseases.
First, food is thoroughly chewed in the mouth, turning it from coarse to fine before entering the stomach for digestion. This减轻 (lightens) the burden on the stomach. Furthermore, chewing stimulates the secretion of amylase in the mouth, which helps convert the starch in food into maltose.
If you drink water while eating, the food doesn't get chewed thoroughly,加重 (increasing) the burden on the gastrointestinal tract. Also, the secretion of saliva in the mouth decreases, which is not conducive to the conversion of starch into maltose.
Second, drinking water while eating affects the stimulation of food on the stomach, reducing the secretion of gastric digestive juices. At the same time, it dilutes these juices, preventing the food from being fully digested and causing a burden on the stomach. Over the long term, this leads to stomach diseases, which is also why children often develop them.
2. Don't drink too much water at once—it harms the kidneys
In the summer, it's important to drink more water to cool down through sweating and to detoxify. For this reason, many people drink large amounts of water at once, trying to meet their daily quota in one go. This is undoubtedly self-destructive to the kidneys, harming the body's foundation.
First, water needs to enter the gastrointestinal tract, be absorbed by the intestines, enter the bloodstream, and then be filtered by the kidneys to form urine. It's not as simple as "drink and pee" as we might imagine. Drinking too much water at once undoubtedly increases the filtering burden on the kidneys.
Second, consuming a large amount of water at once can cause a rapid decrease in the body's sodium content, leading to "water intoxication," also known as hyponatremia. This results in an imbalance of electrolytes in the body, causing cell swelling. This can lead to symptoms like vomiting, dizziness, and coma, and in some cases, it can cause acute renal failure, which is life-threatening.
3. Don't use beverages as a substitute for water—it harms the liver
There are too many modern beverages like carbonated drinks, milk tea, and juice, and they are popular because they taste good. However, these drinks often contain too many additives and are packaged in plastic bottles, which harms liver health.
First, these drinks contain too many additives, such as the preservative benzoic acid and flavor enhancers. Although these additives are within regulatory limits, drinking them frequently means the liver must metabolize them. This increases the liver's burden, and incomplete metabolism can lead to a buildup of additives, harming human health.
Second, the plastic bottles for canned drinks, such as PETE plastic bottles for mineral water and carbonated drinks, release carcinogenic substances like DEHP after 10 months of use, which harms the male testicles.
Some packaged beverages also have toxic substances in their packaging that can be easily dissolved by the organic matter in the drink, accumulating in the liver and causing a burden. Furthermore, bisphenol A (BPA) in modern plastic bottles can trigger early puberty, obesity, and endocrine disorders in children.
4. Don't drink water while lying down—it harms the lungs
The posture for drinking water matters, a detail we often overlook. Drinking water while lying down can easily cause water to enter the lungs. Adults might just cough a few times, but it has different effects on infants and young children.
First, drinking water while lying down can cause water to flow back or be directly inhaled into the trachea, leading to coughing. If the child is very young, it can also cause suffocation, which is life-threatening.
Second, when water enters the lungs, it can easily cause lung infections and lead to lung diseases. This phenomenon often occurs in infants and young children.
5. Don't only drink purified water—it damages the immune system
80% of human diseases are related to water, and 50% of cancers are caused by unclean water. Therefore, many people pursue drinking clean and hygienic water, which is a good thing. However, some people go to extremes and only drink purified water. The advantage of purified water is that it has no bacteria, viruses, and very few minerals. But this also becomes its disadvantage because the body can only absorb 1% of the trace elements from it.
Although the human immune system is invisible and intangible, it is a crucial barrier against disease. Trace elements are essential for the body and are key to improving the immune system. For example, a lack of zinc weakens the immune system, a lack of selenium causes inflammation, and a lack of iron leads to weakness and a tendency to catch colds.
Therefore, only drinking purified water can damage the human immune system. Because of this, many people start drinking more mineral water or other single-source waters. However, this can also harm the body. Long-term consumption of only mineral water can lead to an excessive buildup of minerals in the body, especially for people with conditions like kidney stones, as it can worsen the condition. Drinking water should be as diverse as Chinese culture, but the premise is that it must be clean and hygienic.