What they all have in common, however, is that hardly any of them are travelling without a water bottle or a tin can containing an indefinable chemical concoction and the water bottles often have this nugget attachment. The adolescents and many others are probably also developmentally stuck in the oral phase. In some schools, it is compulsory for pupils to have a bottle of water on their desks and anyone who wants to can get up from their seat and walk to the tap at any time, even during exams.
The prevailing opinion seems to be that it is life-threatening if you don't take a sip of liquid every few minutes. The fact that mankind has survived to date seems to be downright lucky. How did they manage it in the past millennia without permanent irrigation, e.g. when hunting through steppes and deserts?
Giessen, Bäntal bei Kollbrunn, Tösstal (Koordinaten 47°27’50.89’’ N / 8°48’25.50’’ O)
An adult should drink a litre and a half or even two or three a day. That became dogma. I don't know who came up with this opinion. Doctors? Companies that make their money from water? It is a well-known fact that companies that sell water have the best lobby of all time, because they have managed to get us to buy water for expensive money when we could have any amount of it for free at the tap in our homes. There is no comparable product that is available to us free of charge, but we spurn it and turn to one that is no better but costs more.
But what is this unspeakable drinking order all about? How much should a person really drink every day and should everyone have to? At www.compleducat ion.ch there is a chapter on 'Nutrition'. There I found experts in TCM nutrition and asked them for their opinion and they replied promptly and unanimously. Their opinions result in a well-rounded, coherent and consistent TCM position. If you want to find out more, contact them directly.
"In classical nutritional science in the West, it is defined as follows (according to SGE = Swiss Society for Nutrition):
35ml/kg body weight or 1ml/ Kcal per day. The same applies to everyone.
There are no such general recommendations in TCM. The indicator of whether you are drinking enough or too little is the light yellow colour of the urine, i.e. not too dark and concentrated, but also not like water. You should drink enough regularly throughout the day and not force yourself to drink (as long as the urine colour is right). If a person already has a lot of moisture and phlegm in their body from a TCM perspective, they automatically need less fluid and also have less of a need to drink because there is already a lot of "water" in the body. Basically, you can do it wrong, i.e. you can drink too much or too little, neither of which makes sense. From the point of view of conventional medicine, there is no such thing as "too much" as in TCM. If someone with dampness in their body drinks an extra 2-3 litres/day because they have the feeling that drinking a lot is healthy, then this can be negative from the TCM point of view, because the problem of dampness and phlegm is exacerbated or, for example, the kidneys are "too tight in water", which can also increase the patient's symptoms and make a good course of treatment more difficult. On the other hand, if the person constantly drinks too little, this can increase dryness, e.g. constipation, dry skin, dry mucous membranes, etc.
In this day and age, we are often controlled by what we hear and read and some people are caught up in the health craze instead of listening to their body and its needs.
Conclusion: It is important that we drink enough, but what is enough can be very individual."
Part 1 Have you had enough to drink today?
Is it fixed drinking habits that make you reach for a glass of water or does an app on your smartphone remind you that it's time to drink? The general consensus is that drinking a lot is important and the question of the optimum amount to drink is seemingly easy to answer. If the recommendations on various websites are not enough, you can get help from a "water requirement calculator".
But it's not that clear-cut, because the range for a healthy adult is between 1.5 - 3 litres and more. The extent to which coffee and other liquid beverages can be counted towards this is a controversial issue. And the question of whether or not soup or a cucumber smoothie should be included in the daily amount is also answered differently.
It is not uncommon for various health benefits such as weight reduction, cognitive performance or beautiful skin to be promised as a result of a relatively high fluid intake. This media-supported "pressure" is having an effect, as people with a water bottle or stylish thermos cup ready to hand at all times are now part of the public image.
To what extent do scientific recommendations help us to determine our personal fluid requirements? According to the recommendation of the German Nutrition Society (1), a healthy adult should consume 30 - 40 ml of fluid per kg of body weight every day. This results in a calculated 2.2 - 2.8 litres of fluid for a person weighing 70 kg, not taking into account special life situations. If it is assumed that approx. 300 ml per day is provided by metabolic processes, the recommended fluid intake is reduced accordingly, although this value also requires further scientific clarification. There is broad consensus on the recommended drinks. Water, unsweetened fruit and herbal teas are at the top of the list.
Yamada et al. have formulated remarkable results based on an international study using the isotope tracking (²H) method, which make our previous recommendations on fluid intake appear superficial. The total water intake and output (water turnover WT) varied depending on many factors, including body size, physical activity, air temperature, humidity and altitude. In addition, people living in countries with a low Human Development Index (HDI) were found to have a higher water turnover than people living in countries with a high HDI. (2)
Despite the plethora of advice on hydration, evidence-based recommendations are currently difficult to make and further research is needed.
Part 2 Do you drink because you are thirsty?
Did ancient China rely on the gut feeling of healthy people and therefore did not extensively discuss specific quantities for daily fluid intake? Qualitative considerations took precedence over today's quantitative recommendations, which is why ancient sources contain a wealth of information on the energising effect of drinks and their ingredients.
The individualised view of people in TCM is also helpful when it comes to fluid intake. Personal drinking habits say a lot about the respective energetic situation. Questions such as "Do you drink because you are thirsty?", "Which drinks do you prefer?" or "Do you like to drink cold/hot drinks?" provide revealing information. The picture is completed when we include lifestyle (work, sport, ...), climate or the tendency to sweat or the colour/smell of urine, etc.
From the point of view of Chinese medicine, generalised statements about drinking that suggest scientific validation harbour various "traps". Here are a few examples:
A lack of thirst can be associated with an accumulation of wetness/phlegm. If large quantities of (cold) water or cooling teas are consumed as a result of "drink training", this can lead to a worsening of the existing situation.
The recommendation to drink a large glass of water to fill the stomach before every meal in order to lose weight is counterproductive from a TCM perspective. In the long term, this may lead to a further increase in weight and a weakening of the centre.
If there is an existing (spleen) qi weakness or yang emptiness, drinking 2-3 litres of energetically cooling water or physically cold water can further worsen the status quo.
Unsweetened/sweetened fruit teas are often very sour. As the sour flavour has a quantity-dependent influence on the Qi and blood flow and many of the ingredients used are energetically cooling, the general recommendation (see Part 1) should be viewed critically.
Unsweetened herbal teas are also very popular in Western recommendations. However, this does not take into account the fact that they also have energy-relevant effects that come into play depending on the amount consumed. For example, drinking ginger tea regularly is counterproductive if you have a heat problem, whereas it can be helpful if you feel cold in the centre.
The fact that food (solid and liquid) in combination with an intact centre is the elementary basis for the formation of yin is largely ignored in the overall scientific view. Soups, juicy vegetable dishes, compotes etc. are considered helpful preparations for the formation of yin, blood and body fluids and, alongside drinks, make a decisive contribution to the hydration of the body.
Are you looking for a simple approach to hydration that takes your individual needs into account? Chinese medicine nutrition offers uncomplicated concepts for this.
TCM places its trust in the body's signals.
The general recommendation is to drink only on demand and not to burden the organism and therefore the kidneys with excessive fluid intake.
People with a Yang constitution, fire conditions, Qi stasis or Empty Heat will develop a completely natural feeling of thirst to quench the inner heat or inner fire.
With the distinction that people who are prone to Full Heat can usually pour a lot of cold or even iced drinks into themselves at once. People with Empty Heat due to Blood or Yin deficiency will also develop a need for cold drinks, but will only drink in sips.
If a person has red lips, especially dry and red, they will be thirsty.
This is a sure sign of a hot stomach.
On the other hand, people with a yin constitution, in the sense of yang deficiency, cold conditions, moisture accumulation in the body, will not be thirsty.
From a TCM point of view, these people do not need to or should not drink much, as there is no heat to cool or dryness to moisturise. On the contrary, too much fluid could cool or injure the Kidney Qi.
It is interesting to note, however, that many people in the West no longer know whether they are thirsty or not, as they simply stick to prescribed drinking quantities.
Very often the answer to the question about thirst is: "I know I should drink more".
The TCM recommendation is: only drink on demand - your body will signal to you what it needs!
Cave: However, caution is advised with older people. They have often trained themselves to lose their natural feeling of thirst because going to the toilet has become too strenuous for them.
At www.compleducat ion.ch the TCM nutrition experts who commented on the topic of drinking above are represented with further interesting contributions and their courses are well received.
Complemedis would like to thank Pascale Barmet, Vera Splinter and Ina Diolosa for their comments.
Ein Wasserfall in unwegsamem Gelände irgendwo zwischen Monte Brè und Cureggia
Severin Bühlmann and your Complemedis team
*I borrowed the expression Nuggizapfe from Chasperlitheater No. 8 (de Giizgnäpper im Pfluumewäldli / De flüügend Esel) by Ines Torelli, Paul Bühlmann and Jörg Schneider. A lasting memory.
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