health | Water Therapy
Water Therapy | health
water
Water is the best hydrator. The
late Iranian “water doctor” Fereydoon
Batmanghelidj, MD, devised many
healing protocols based on drinking
water at appropriate times. Briefly,
his suggestion was to drink water one
hour before and one and a half to
two hours after eating. This standard
naturopathic recommendation is based
on the premise that drinking with meals
dilutes the digestive enzymes, rendering
them less effective.
therapy
Water’s affinity with
the human body has
given rise to an ocean of
therapeutic applications.
WATER TREATMENTS
External water-based treatments, which
include balneotherapy, thalassotherapy,
hydrotherapy and spa therapy, can
stimulate various physiological actions
within the body and support vitality.
Balneotherapy uses therapeutic
agents, such as mineral and thermal
water, mud, peat and natural
gases, to stimulate a healing effect.
Thalassotherapy is the use of sea water
in, for example, heated sea bathhouses
and cold ocean swims.
Hydrotherapy uses water at various
temperatures, in various forms and
through different methods to stimulate
healing in the body. It can be applied to
particular parts of the body or used to
immerse the entire body. Because water
can change its state through temperature
variation – ice, water or steam – many
different therapeutic effects can be
obtained with hydrotherapy.
A well-known staple of hydrotherapy
treatments is the use of contrasting
temperatures (think of the Swedish
running from their hot saunas into
the snow). Contrasting the relaxing,
expanding effects of heat with short
bursts of cold that contract stimulation
helps to enhance vital energy and boost
immune function.
Words by Sally Mathrick
G
072 | mindfood.com
The therapeutic use of water and the
overall desire for bathing lapsed during
the Middle Ages but was later revived
in Poland, Czechoslovakia and, finally,
Germany, where health practitioners
developed water cure methods, seeding
modern-day treatments.
Here are some approaches to using
water to help optimise health.
HYDRATION
Water is the river of life within the
human body. Most of the body is
composed of water, with the only
waterless places in the body being fat
cells, bone crystals and the interior
recesses of some enzymes. Virtually all
biochemical reactions in the body occur
within a fluid environment. Water is also
the primary player in heat regulation and
the transportation of materials within
the body. Water maintains the volume of
blood, affecting blood pressure and flow.
It also regulates gene expression.
The body constantly loses fluid.
A non-exercising adult loses more than
two litres a day: about half a litre is lost
through urine; about a litre through
sweat and breath condensation; and
the remainder through the faeces.
This loss is generally replaced by drinking
the recommended eight glasses of water
a day, however, people often admit to
not drinking enough.
Inadequate fluid intake leads to
dehydration. Other contributors include
physical exercise, environmental
exposure to heat or humidity, age, level
of health and metabolism, dietary intake
and overuse of diuretics, such as caffeine
and alcohol.
Dehydration is loss of water and
important blood salts, such as potassium
and sodium, which challenges the
body’s ability to maintain homeostasis,
or its natural balance of functions and
chemicals. By the time you feel thirsty
you’re already dehydrated.
TWIST OF LEMON
If you don’t like the taste of water
add some freshly squeezed
lemon juice to it. In addition to
being a great hydrator, water with
a squeeze of lemon juice is said
to improve digestion and help
cleanse the liver.
period of time, generally to convalesce
from serious illness. In addition to water
therapies, treatment involved dietary
counselling, drinking cures and exercise.
Contemporary spa therapies draw
upon traditional water therapies, often
incorporating aromatherapy, herbal
medicine, flower essences, massage and
beauty therapies. Spa therapies provide
a whole-person approach that considers
physical, spiritual and emotional
elements simultaneously.
“Water can help you to relax,”
says Helena Keenan, spa operations
manager at Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa,
Victoria. “There is a connection with
water for all of us from an energetic,
mind-body perspective.”
The thousands of spas around the
world offer a diversity of treatments
and experiences. Though derived from
different cultural lineages and therapies,
they all essentially rely on water to
promote healing and rejuvenation.
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getty
rab a glass of water to
drink while you read this.
Consider for a moment
that it is the same water
the dinosaurs drank, the
same water frozen in the last Ice Age and
the same water that has existed on Earth
since it began, recycled over and over.
The molecular geometry of water is
remarkable. Water’s magnetic polarity
(a water molecule has negative and
positive ends) produces a minute
electrical charge that causes individual
water molecules to line up in a way that
creates surface tension that is strong
enough for a leaf to float on, or an insect
to walk over.
This electrical charge also enables
water molecules to shimmy between
certain atoms in different salts,
manifesting their ionic potential and the
ability to conduct an electrical charge.
Water’s ability to move in this way
essentially means it enables life to exist.
Water has an affinity with the human
body unlike any other substance. It is one
of the oldest therapeutic agents, with
the physician priests of ancient Egypt to
the curative bathhouses of Persia tapping
into its healing effects. All the while,
Chinese sages were contemplating the
nature of water, health and happiness.
Water is one of the
oldest therapeutic agents,
with the physician priests
of ancient Egypt to the
curative bathhouses
of Persia tapping into
its healing effects.
HEALING SPAS
Mineral springs have long been revered
as healing waters. The Bible, for example,
makes reference to the healing waters of
Bethesda, where it was believed that an
angel moved the waters at certain times
and healed the sick.
Historically, clients of spas and
sanatoriums were in residence for a
visit
MiNDFOOD.com
Read about how an ice bath can
lower core body temperature in the case of
exercise-induced heat exhaustion.
LISTEN
MiNDFOOD PODCAST
Listen to naturopath Leanne Pratt
discuss the debate about the health benefits
(or not) of vitamin water drinks.
natural mineral baths
Japan is home to thousands
of bathhouses, or onsens, that
use natural hot springs. There
are many types of onsens, as
distinguished by the minerals
dissolved in the water.
watsu water therapy
Watsu water therapy was
developed in 1980 by Harold
Dull. The treatment involves a
trained therapist gently floating,
massaging and stretching the
patient in warm water. Watsu
is not only useful in assisting
recovery from certain illness and
injuries, it is also very relaxing.
For more information go to
watsu.org.nz.
mindfood.com | 073