PURE WATER OUR BEST DRINK.

Cromwell Argus, Volume LXVIII, Issue 3483, 23 August 1937, Page 2

PURE WATER OUR BEST DRINK.

“How much fluid should one take every day?” is a question which is often asked. Most people have their own ideas on the subject, and the answers given vary from one pint to many quarts. A prominent hygienist recently asserted that there are probably millions of civilised men and women who do not drink a pint of plain water in twenty-four hours. Every one knows that fluid is essential to health, but fluid for most of us means tea, coffee, and alcoholic beverages. We are apt to overlook the value of plain water. It cannot be too frequently repeated that constipation —the disease that makes disease —is due to comparative abstinence from plain water. Every day our bodies give off about three pints of liquid in various forms. This loss must be replaced, and the minimum of fluid required every day varies according to age and occupation.

Workers who perspire freely need at least five pints of fluid per day, and they will preserve health if two of the pints are of pure water. The absolute minimum for sedentary people is three pints of fluid. There is among women a general tendency to neglect daily water drinking. Tea in moderation is a healthy drink, but it lacks the therapeutic value of plain water. The drinking of water on rising in the morning should be a daily hygienic ritual.