If your grass turns brown in August, would you throw pills on it? Chances are, you’d simply water it and the lawn would soon return to a healthy green. Your own body is not so different from your front lawn. Just as water helps seeds sprout and plants grow, water also helps the human body become and remain healthy and strong. When you take a pill with a glass of water, the water may be doing you more good than the pill! Water composes 75% of the human body and 85% of the brain. A body without enough water operates about as effectively as an automobile without enough oil. Like oil, water is a solvent. It also acts as an adhesive to link solids within each cell together. The brain itself couldn’t function without water, since messages travel from the brain to nerve endings via "waterways" along the nerves. Neither could proteins and enzymes do their jobs since, without sufficient water, they are unable function effectively. Water is needed in your cells to process elimination effectively. It’s also used in many biochemical pathways, helping bodily functions and reactions proceed efficiently.

How much water is enough? Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, one of the first physicians to research and publicize the health benefits of water, recommends at least 2 quarts (64 fluid ounces) of water daily. Ideally, you should drink one glass _ hour before each meal, one glass 2_ hours after each meal, and two glasses with dinner or before bed. When increasing water intake, it’s important to also increase your salt intake by _ teaspoon per two quarts, so that all the water doesn’t rinse necessary sodium out of the body. For pregnant women, the recommended dosage is three quarts daily (morning sickness is a thirst signal). Athletes, exercisers, and people who spend time outdoors, especially in hot weather, need to drink at least three quarts to compensate for fluid lost in sweat. Elderly people, many of whom are suffering the effects of lifelong dehydration, require one entire gallon of water daily to achieve optimum health.

Americans of all ages are chronically dehydrated. This is due in part to the national dependence on caffeinated drinks such as cola and coffee. Caffeine, like alcohol, is a diuretic and causes the body to excrete more water than normal. Drinking Coke or beer when you’re thirsty only makes you more thirsty. For every caffeinated beverage you consume, you should drink an equal amount of water to prevent dehydration, even if you don’t feel thirsty. A dangerous misconception is that the body signals when it is thirsty with dry mouth. This is incorrect. Dry mouth is actually the body’s last desperate call for help, signaling extreme dehydration. One way to tell if you’re dehydrated is to look at your urine. Urine should be clear or light yellow. If it’s dark yellow, that could mean your kidneys are dehydrated and are working overtime to eliminate toxins, resulting in highly concentrated urine.

The body has many thirst signals—thirst diseases—which are commonly misdiagnosed. Most forms of chronic pain, including dyspepsia, rheumatoid arthritis, lower back pain, migraines and hangover headaches, and colitis pain, are actually symptoms of thirst. Long-term use of pain medication can mask these signals of thirst, thereby treating the symptom while ignoring the cause. Dr. Batmanghelidj conducted a landmark study of 3000 peptic ulcer patients in severe pain. He treated them with only water. Every patient experienced a significant reduction of their pain, and almost all recovered completely. The doctor recommends that people, when feeling pain anywhere in the body, should drink one full glass of water every hour. More often than not, the pain will go away within a couple of hours, and won’t return as long as the body is kept hydrated.

People with chronic stomach pain and digestive problems must make drinking two to four quarts of water daily part of their routine. When we drink water, it is instantly absorbed into the intestine. Then it’s secreted into the stomach to help break down food. Water is necessary to liquefy food enough to pass into and through the colon. Chronic dehydration has also been linked to many degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s. Decades of dehydration dry out the brain and it shrinks, like a plum becoming a prune. Dehydration is the root cause of illnesses as diverse as depression, arthritis, high blood pressure, obesity, and lower back pain.

We are excited to present so many great water stories in this book. Because pure, simple water—cheap and convenient and omnipresent—is one of the most powerful medicines there is. So what are you waiting for? Pour yourself a clear, refreshing glass of water, and prepare to be amazed by the stories in this chapter.