Ayurveda brings us golden guidelines for something we thought had no method– drinking water. Just like the rules of healthy eating, here’s a way to drink that helps your physical body thrive. It’s more than just glass to lips and guzzle.

With a little bit more awareness, the way in which you drink water can seriously be a life-changer. For someone, it meant not having to race to urinate all the time. For another person, it meant no more massive and uncomfortable post-meal belching. For another friend, drinking water the right way meant no longer feeling painfully full after eating a normal amount of food. And this all came with such simple, minor changes.

 The Ayurvedic way to drink water:

1. First of all, sit down to drink (like you should sit down to eat).
2. Take sips/mouthfuls, not full-glass guzzles. Small amount –half to full mouthful, swallow, breathe. Repeat this process.
3. Drink water in small mouthfuls throughout the day. If you swallow too much water at once your body doesn’t actually absorb all of it. Most of it will be excreted by your body.
4. Drink at least room temperature water. Warm water is even better. Cold water virtually douses the digestive fire.
5. Drink water only about 40 minutes after a major meal. Remember this rule: fill your stomach 50% with food, 25% with water, and leave 25% empty for the air which will facilitate digestive juices and process.
6. For the same reason, don’t drink loads of water before or after your meals. The 15 % stomach space water should be taken  40 minutes after a meal, as indicated in rule #5.  Take small sips of water to fill 10 % of stomach space during meals to facilitate digestion, especially if the meals are too dry.
7. Drink when you’re thirsty. Thirst is a natural urge that should be heeded. It means your body needs water.
8. As far as how much, we’re all different sizes with varied diets and lifestyles. One set rule of eight glasses a day simply cannot apply to everyone. Naturally, the miraculous human body has its own built-in measuring system: thirst. If you’re thirsty, drink water. When you listen to thirst cues and sip water throughout the day you’ll be drinking the right amount.

The rules are so straightforward, perhaps even obvious or intuitive. But they might make a serious difference in the way you feel on a daily basis.

Whether it is how to eat,  how to drink, how to bathe, or the myriad of other natural behaviours that we’ve never given a second thought to, the beautiful science of Ayurveda teaches us the  way to optimise our health on natural lines and this makes the best preventive healthcare regimen.