Water
What’s summer without a refreshing dip in the pool? Or a nice cold glass of water? Or a cool shower at the end of a sweaty day? Not so fast – there are some nasty chemicals, some added deliberately, that can be in your water. Here are some of the things you should know in order to get the maximum benefit from the water you drink, swim in, or shower in.
Things are going swimmingly
Did you know that swimming is the third most popular exercise activity in the US, after walking and exercising with equipment? According to USA Swimming and the National Swimming Pool Foundation there are 10 million swimming pools in the United States, some of which are public and some private. That cool, shimmering blue water beckons a large percentage of the population this time of year, and swimming is excellent exercise.
But there’s a down side to that pool
Most pools contain chlorine in some form, added to combat bacteria and algae. Public pools use more chlorine than home pools, since public pools are used by more people, and more frequently, than home pools. Public pools use enough chlorine to provide a distinct smell of bleach. It also burns and reddens the eyes, a sign that it irritates the rest of your body, too. Not much can be done about the legally regulated use and amount of chlorine in public pools, but there are still things you can do to protect yourself from the chlorine.
Let’s back up a bit. What’s wrong with chlorine?
Chlorine is often added to public water supplies, and in additional amounts to pool water, for disinfectant purposes, since it’s toxic to potentially infectious microorganisms. Since all cells, whether bacterial or our own, have a lot in common, it’s not surprising that chlorine is toxic to our cells and to us as well. Chlorine has been linked to diseases from arthritis to cancer. Part of its toxicity lies in its ability to combine with other chemicals that find their way into the water supply, making them more poisonous. Ironically, the chlorine ends up making the water more toxic even as it tries to make it safer by killing harmful microbes.
But don’t the chlorine and other chemicals stay harmlessly on the outside of the skin? Actually, no. Many drugs are delivered via skin patches because the skin absorbs them into the body, and the skin also absorbs chlorine and chemicals in the same way. Here’s a way to understand this: after swimming in a public pool, shower and dry yourself thoroughly, and then, a few hours later, smell your arm. It smells like chlorine that has been absorbed into your skin and body and that your body is now trying to get rid of through the same pores and sweat glands by which it absorbed the chlorine in the first place.
So what can you do besides giving up swimming?
If you do swim in a public pool, shower right afterwards. Yes, there’s chlorine in most shower water, but much less than in the pool. Even better, use a water filter on your showerhead that can remove the chlorine and other contaminants. This is good advice whether or not swimming pools are involved before your shower.
If you have your own pool, you have even more options. Bromine is chemically similar to chlorine and can kill microorganisms, but isn’t as toxic to people as chlorine, and is sometimes used in pools and hot tubs for this reason. Other harmless options for pools and hot tubs are enzymes or a saltwater system.
Once you’ve absorbed chlorine from a lifetime of swimming, showering, and bathing, there are still things you can do to reduce the damage. Sauna detoxification, done at the Center for Advanced Medicine, can help your body to eliminate chlorine and other chemicals from your body through sweating. A good sauna detox program should be overseen by professionals; don’t just sit in the sauna at the gym because you can actually make matters worse.
Thirsty?
These hot summer days make most of us thirsty, and we tend to drink more when we’re doing more sweating. But not all liquid is created equal. In fact, not all water is created equal.
There are many people who don’t actually drink water, ever. They drink soda, juice, coffee, sports drinks, beer, and other beverages. But water is the thirst-quencher we recommend. Almost all other beverages contain sugar, corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, colors, artificial flavors, carbonation, caffeine, and alcohol in various combinations, and none of these are good for you. Even pure fresh juices, which have their benefits, are too sweet and concentrated for many people to tolerate. Sports drinks are popular with the health-minded and athletic crowd, but, although they contain some beneficial minerals and sometimes herbs, they also tend to contain sweeteners, colors, flavors, and other not-so-healthy things.
Drinking water
So we’re back to water. Tap water, as mentioned, contains chlorine and harmful chemicals. It also contains fluoride in many areas. But isn’t fluoride one of the good guys? It is, after all, added for the purpose of preventing cavities. More and more evidence is surfacing that not only does fluoride not protect against cavities, it can actually make the teeth softer and more prone to decay. It can be harmful to the entire body as well, making bones more likely to fracture and increasing the risk of cancer. In fact, because of its effects on the bones and skin, making it prone to wrinkling, fluoride has been called the Aging Factor. Does this sound like something you’d want in your body?
So water can contain some pretty nasty stuff. About 60 million plastic water bottles are used each day in the US, which means that a lot of people don’t want to put chemicals into their bodies or they at least want to avoid the unpleasant taste of tap water. But there’s more to healthful water consumption than just buying bottled water. Although it’s better than tap water, even bottled water can contain fluoride, since most filters – home or commercial – don’t remove fluoride even if they can remove chlorine. The only way to get rid of fluoride in the water is by reverse osmosis – a special kind of filter – or distillation.
How much water should you drink?
A good rule is to drink ½ ounce per day per pound of body weight. This means that a 128-pound person should drink 64 ounces, a half gallon or eight 8-ounce glasses, per day. That sounds like a lot, but it helps to get used to having a bottle or glass of filtered water nearby and sipping from it throughout the day.
The good and the bad, in summary
Water, whether drinking, swimming, or showering: good. Most stuff in water: bad. The trick is to identify and eliminate contaminants in water while drinking plenty of it and enjoying your swim.
For more information
More information on fluoride and chlorine is found in Surviving the Toxic Crisis, half of the Toxic Twins book set, written by Dr. Kellas and Dr. Andrea S. Dworkin. Detoxification, including sauna, is discussed in the book Detox or Disease, by the same authors.
