Even if it is unusual for us: drinking hot water is an effective medicine for many diseases. Since thousands of years, Ayurveda knows that hot water is a cornerstone for long-lasting good health. We recommend boiling the water for ten minutes. You can boil enough water for the day in the morning and keep it in a thermos (or several) so you always have hot water at hand, including while traveling.
Why boil it for 10 minutes?
Boiling changes the water’s structure. Existing molecule clusters are broken into smaller and smaller ones, so that the water is better able to absorb toxins and carry them out of the body, thus purifying the physiology.
How much to drink
As always in Ayurveda, the individual body type should be taken into account. People with Pitta predominance generally feel more thirsty than Kapha-predominant constitutions and should therefore drink more. Factors such as age, season, stress or workload also play a role. It is best to drink sips of hot, boiled water every 30–45 minutes. The temperature should be as hot as is comfortable for you – which may vary from room temperature to really hot, depending on your constitution and also on the weather. Try to avoid drinking cold water, which extinguishes Agni – the digestive fire.
Thirst is a clear indicator that you have already lost too much water. In other words: start drinking not when you feel thirsty, but way before that.
At mealtimes, Ayurveda recommends about one cup of hot water. If the meal is rather liquid anyway, like with a soup, less water is enough; with relatively dry meals (quite common these days) more liquid can be very helpful. Drinking hot water with the meal enhances Agni and thus helps you to digest the meal well – and completely metabolizing your meals is the basis for good health! The last half hour before meals, and the first one to one and a half hours afterwards, it’s better not to drink water in order to keep up your digestive fire.
