Water, Is It a Mirage or a Miracle?
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Water, Is It a Mirage or a Miracle?
  • Koo Kim Gyohyun
  • 승인 2013.12.08 20:13
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“Look at me! I can see!” were the words spoken by a man after drinking water steadily.  He claims to have recovered his eyesight.  Recently, on the SBS program, Miracle of a Cup of Water, incredible stories caught the eyes of audiences.  On the show, people insist that their atopic dermatitis has improved and that they are now cancer free.  In this way, lots of people from all over the world are detailing the marvels of a cup of water.  Also, in the USA, the organization Water Cure Center was founded.  Then, is water really a cure-all?  Koo Gyohyun, a reporter of the Sookmyung Times, researched the efficacy of water by steadily drinking it for an entire week.

 

 

 

PHOTOS BY KGH

 

 

 

Being a Smart Drinker
Before starting my week of water, I first investigated how much water a person should drink per day, and how much I drank in my daily life.  It is well known that ordinary persons should drink eight cups of water a day.  However, as a mug and teacup hold a considerably different capacity, I didn’t merely count the numbers of cups in this research.  Rather, I decided to drink 1.5 liters of water a day, which is the recommended amount by the World Health Organization.  Reflection on my daily life revealed I did not drink water.  I drank a cup of coffee or a glass of juice, and only slipped some water during meals.  I didn’t drink any quantifiable amount of pure water.  Thus, I found I suffered from chronic dehydration.  According to Oh Hanjin, Professor at the College of Medicine at Kwandong University, coffee or juice can function like water, but coffee reduces the amount of water in our bodies.  Therefore, after drinking a cup of coffee, people should drink twice as much in equivalent water.1  Therefore, during my investigation, I excluded coffee drinking for a week.  When I started to drink water, it was backbreaking.  In spite of carrying a bottle of water and incessantly drinking it, the task of drinking water was quite backbreaking.  Before it became habitual, I easily forgot to drink it.  On the first day of the experiment, realizing I had forgotten to drink enough water, I had to drink the entire bottle all at once at night, so I keep waking up from my sleep to use the bathroom.  Accordingly, to drink water more regularly and systemically, I downloaded a smart phone application named, Water Your Body.  The application shows the time to drink and recorded how much water I drank on a graph.

 

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Refresh In and Out
Although it was hard to form a habitual water drinking habit, as time went by, I felt like a bottle of water and started drinking water during class or as I walked along the street.  After a week, I could felt some positive changes.  Relieving my feeling of fatigue was the first noticeable change.  Assignments, presentation preparation, and taking part in group work resulted in heavy pressure with a huge amount of stress.  Even I got stress herpes zoster, a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters.  However, after drinking water, I entered a more regular living routine, not only by habitually drinking water but also by living a more structured lifestyle.  For instance, while working on an assignment on the computer, I would stop to rest for a while to drink water and drank water at predetermined times, so I ceased my typical habit of oversleeping, which happened before this experiment.  By drinking water regularly, diurnal rhythms of life were possible.  Besides, improvement to my skin condition was another efficacy.  Due to thin and sensitive skin, I had always had some skin troubles; however, during this experience, I felt my skin problem improved.  In this regard, Atlanta dermatologist Kenneth Ellner MD claims, "Dehydration makes your skin look drier and wrinkled, which can be improved with proper hydration."2

 

PHOTOS BY KGH

 

Getting Fat Just By Drinking Water?
It is easy to see lots of women avoiding water, saying “All I have to do to gain weight is drink water.” Then, is it really possible to gain weight by simply drinking water?  On the contrary, some people claim one loses weight by drinking water regularly.  Which argument is more valid? Deductively, through this research, I found it more reasonable to lose weight by drinking water.  Right after drinking water, my weight temporarily increased, but it wasn’t weight gain because it was excreted a short time later.  Rather, instead of eating sweets or snacks between meals when I felt hungry, drinking water alleviated the hunger.  Also, rather than drinking coffee or juice, which contain a great amount of sugar, water helped cut down my intake of sugar.  Therefore, drinking water didn’t directly bring about weight loss, but I think it is a really helpful aide for people on a diet.

 

PHOTO BY KGH

 

Wholesome and Natural Gift
The idea that water cures cancer, atopic skin or sightlessness is doubtful.  There is a saying that that a simple placebo can effect or duplicate factors around a recovery3.  Thus, during the research, I consulted Dr.  Kim, a pediatrician.  She warned that to go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.  “Drinking too much water can result in water-intoxication, which brings about harmful side-effects such as brain edema and heart failure by hemodilution or decreased osmotic pressure*.”  However, my investigation shows that habitually drinking water can make one’s life more regular, improve one’s skin and resolve hunger pains.  Harvard’s School of Public Health explained, “There are many options for what to drink, but for most people who have access to safe drinking water, water is the best choice: It’s calorie-free, and it’s easy to find at the nearest tap.”4  In this sense, water is natural, wholesome food.  Why not try drinking water to experience its miraculous effects!

 


1 YTN News, “Our Invigorant, Water, Drinking with Proper Knowledge [Oh Hanjin, Professor of the Department of Family Science],” YTN, August 28, 2013
2 Kathleen M. Zelman, Master of Public Health, “It's No Magic Bullet, But the Benefits of Water are Many,” WebMD
3 SBS Special, “The Miracle of a Cup of Water,” SBS, October 27, 2013
4 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, “Health Drinks,” Harvard School of Public Health, 2013
* Osmotic pressure is pressure needed to prevent osmosis in a solution when the solution is separated from its pure solvent by a semipermeable membrane.

 


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