Recently at noon I got into conversation with the waiter in the restaurant – an older gentleman, who helps out in the restaurant of his daughter-in-law (so at least my theory) whenever it is necessary. I have now learned that he used to work in the food industry.
Don’t ask me how, but we came to talk about headaches. More specifically, my chronic headaches.
A brief digression:
A few years ago I had one or two migraines a week, now I have it under control and can count my annual sick headaches on the fingers of one hand. This is due, among other things, to a very disciplined, regular daily rhythm, the right diet and lots of sport.
What’s left are chronic headaches, almost every day. Fortunately only rarely so strong that I have to take a medication, but they are almost always there.
Anyway, the mentioned gentleman heard this and said to me:
“Maybe you’re drinking the wrong water.”
Of course I was all ears, I wanted to know more about it. Any tip that helps me will be gladly accepted!
To begin with:
Almost everyone knows nowadays that our body consists of approx. 70% water. The brain, for example, has a water content of 75%, the blood plasma of 90-95%! It serves to transport oxygen, nutrients and waste substances from the metabolism and to regulate the body temperature. This is why it is so important to always supply our body with sufficient water – this is all the more true for athletes (in addition to the generally recommended 2-3 litres per day, athletes should drink another litre of water per hour of sport). For a long time it was said that one should drink water rich in minerals in order to supply the body with micronutrients.
However, it is now well known that our body cannot use minerals from water as effectively as minerals from food. This is because in water they exist only as inorganic compounds, whereas in our food they occur as organic compounds, for example in combination with proteins or sugar. It is therefore assumed today that minerals from water can only be used by our organism if the water has a high biological and structural quality.
Back to my discussion and the core statement of my conversation partner:
There are approaches according to which the minerals that are not absorbed from the drinking water may get stuck in the cell tissue and clog it. Some experts therefore believe that it is healthier to drink water with few minerals, which can also absorb harmful substances more effectively and clean the body better.* As a result, water should contain as little “total dissolved solids” (TDS) as possible per litre: The TDS shows how many non-volatile substances are contained in the water and is therefore an indication of the purity of the water. According to my conversation partner, water with a low conductance (i.e. with only a few conductive substances contained in it), which is therefore considered to be particularly pure, can help with symptoms such as high blood pressure, pollen allergy or even headaches (as long as these are not congenital). As a concrete example, he cited his daughter, whose pollen allergy was practically “cured” since she had been drinking at least two litres of such a water a day.
My research has shown that there are two camps on this subject and no definite research results yet.
I myself drink a lot (3-5 litres a day) and often tap water, the quality of which is strictly tested in Germany** and whose conductivity, as I have found out, is actually lower than that of many mineral waters. It also tastes good to me and I do something for the environment in my everyday life, because I don’t produce plastic or glass waste, respectively I save the energy necessary for a possible recycling – not to mention the energy and other resources that are consumed when transporting the water from its source to the supermarket.
But if I could get rid of my chronic headaches by drinking a particularly “pure” water with a low evaporation residue… – I really want to try it!
So I looked for a water that meets these requirements and will now be testing it for a few weeks. If this actually has a positive effect on the headaches, there is the possibility in the long run to purify the tap water accordingly by reverse osmosis, so that I can continue to avoid buying glass or plastic bottles for the sake of the environment.
That would be a hell of a FIBER win-win situation. 😀
*There are studies on this topic, among others from the last century by the Paris hydrologist & engineer Prof. Louis-Claude Vincent and currently by Prof. Ingo Froböse, head of the Centre for Health through Sport and Exercise and the Institute for Exercise Therapy and Movement-oriented Prevention and Rehabilitation at the German Sports University in Cologne.
** However, this strict quality control by the municipal utilities only goes as far as the water meter. The responsibility for the so-called “last mile”, i.e. the piping from the water meter to the tap, lies with the owner of the house, so that despite all the controls, one can unfortunately not be sure how good the quality of the tap water that arrives to us really is in the end.
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