Alkaline Water Benefits | Alkaline Water Side Effects
Drinking alkaline water has many health benefits including improving digestion, balancing hormonal levels, and strengthening bones. It also helps reduce anxiety, delay premature aging, and give a boost to the immune system and metabolism.
What is Alkaline Water?
Alkaline water is a water with a higher pH and larger concentration of minerals. While regular water has a neutral pH of 7.0, alkaline water’s pH is usually around 8 or 9. It is also known as ionized water. It comes from mountain streams after it has run over rocks and picked up excess minerals, such as calcium, potassium, bicarbonate, and silica.
Is Alkaline Water Good For You?
Alkaline water is believed to counter the general leaning towards acidosis that many of us suffer from. An acidic condition within the body is a prime condition for a disease to develop. Even if a regular test of pH in the body doesn’t show acidosis, it is possible that the body is leaching important minerals from the bones and other storehouses in the body to maintain a healthy pH. The effects of this can be quite dangerous. By adding alkaline water to your diet, you are giving a constant boost of pH to balance out the acid-heavy diet that may be threatening your health.
A number of people who follow a North American diet or many other diets, suffer from chronic low-grade acidosis, meaning that their body is slightly more acidic. Although the organs are able to fluctuate their pH depending on conditions within, the overall pH of the body should be approximately at 7.4 to ensure good health.
Health Benefits of Alkaline Water
Health benefits of alkaline water include the following:
Increases Energy Levels
Alkaline water helps maintain balanced pH level in the body which can further optimize your metabolic functions. Acidosis in the body impairs your cells’ ability to produce energy, which is necessary for everything in life. Alkaline water can help improve the energy levels in the body but the changes may not be immediately noticeable.
Improves Bone Health
Alkaline water helps in strengthening your bones. A small occurrence of chronic low-grade acidosis is majorly due to the body naturally compensating for the lack of alkaline minerals by pulling them from the bones in order to maintain a stable pH. This can worsen conditions like osteoporosis and bone mineral loss, which can be a major problem as you get older.
Reduces Anxiety
Drinking alkaline water helps in giving relief from anxiety. Research has shown that increased acid levels in the body can make you more prone to anxiety and can stimulate the release of stress hormones in the body. Not only does this increase the strain on your body, but also saps your energy and negatively affects your hormone levels that then affect other key functions of your body.
Boosts Immunity
If you want to keep your immune system in a good shape, balancing acidity with alkaline water is a wise choice. It has been found that an acid setting is an ideal place for disease to spread, versus an alkaline condition in the body. For example, tumors and other symptoms of oxidative stress and free radicals survive better in acidic conditions than in neutral or alkaline settings.
Reduces Inflammation
Alkaline water can help lubricate muscles and joints and relieve the pain and inflammation caused by arthritis and asthma. This inflammation is actually caused by an elevated level of acidity.
Boosts Metabolism
Drinking alkaline water regularly can help in boosting metabolism. By eliminating an acid-leaning pH balance in the body, every organ is able to function efficiently, including the hormones and enzymes. This can lead to better fat-burning, more efficient digestion, increased energy and a boosted immune system.
Detoxify the Body
The minerals present in alkaline water can have antioxidant effects on the body. They help in eliminating oxidative stress and the potential mutations of healthy cells caused by free radicals. Drinking alkaline water can also help your skin look younger, and reduce other age-related symptoms such as blemishes on the skin, osteoporosis, and even cognitive decline.
Improves Hearthow to make alkaline water Health
Studies have found that acidosis can be indicative of heart problems, including high cholesterol and blood pressure, as well as an increased risk of diabetes. Drinking alkaline water regularly to counter this acidity in the body can help protect your heart.
Relieves Acid Reflux
The stomach is the most acidic place in the body, with a pH level of approximately 1.5-3. This is important, as acid is required to properly break down food and digest it. However, excess acidity in the stomach that isn’t countered by alkalizing agents can lead to acid reflux disease, which damages the esophagus and leads to inflammation of the gut.
