We are composed of about 60% water. If we were completely dehydrated, we would be nothing but a few founds of elements like calcium, copper, iron etc. We can live for weeks without food, but only days without water. The brain is composed of 70 percent water, blood is 82 percent water, and the lungs are nearly 90 percent water.

Water is a lubricant, a messenger boy, a catalyst, a viaduct, a cushion, a thermostat and an air conditioner. It takes on many different tasks in the body of living organisms, plant and animal. In the human body, the blood, in which is the life, is mostly water. It carries the cells that carry the food and oxygen the body needs to survive. It carries the cells that form our immune system and fight disease. It carries out the toxins, impurities, and waste products made by the body to the large intestine and the kidneys where they are eliminated from the body.

We need at lease 2.5 liters of water per day. Some of that we get from out food, some from metabolism, but most must come from drinking it. And we don't drink nearly enough. What our bodies need is water, not soda pop, not caffeinated beverages, not juice, not milk nor alcoholic drinks. What's wrong with these beverages? After all they are mostly water. It's the other ingredients that make them less than ideal.

Caffeine is a diuretic. It flushes water out of the body through the kidneys. In the process, it also flushes out some necessary minerals such as calcium and potassium. The water is pulled from inside the cells. If we loose too much water, we become dehydrated. When the body becomes dehydrated, metabolism slows down, and electrolyte imbalances can occur, leading to a substantial decrease in energy levels. Alcohol works in much the same manner.

Juices, milk, and sweetened beverages all have ingredients that must be digested, mostly sugars. This causes the digestive track to work overtime to metabolize or break down the beverage into its components and the water can be used. It increases the amount of time it takes for the water to get where it needs to be. Plain water is absorbed quickly by the body. The sugars also raise you blood sugar level quickly to a peak, then drops quickly. Sugar also helps dehydrate the body and can contribute to cramps and bloating while working out in the heat.

Thirst is not a good indicator of whether we need to drink. We often don't get thirsty until we have begun to dehydrate. By the time you are feeling thirsty, you have already lost 16 ounces of fluid from your body. That's two glasses. You need eight to ten glasses a day. If you are exercising or working in the heat and perspiring heavy, you need even more.

If you weigh 150 pounds and you lose as little as 1% or 1.5 pounds of water, your body temperature will rise. The more water you lose, the greater your chances of having heat stroke or heat exhaustion. Losing just 10% you your body water is life threatening. As your body temperature rises, the muscles fatigue sooner and exercise performance declines by 20% to 50%. Dehydration will make you feel stressed out, unduly fatigued, and lethargic after a workout. You may also develop headache, dizziness, and nausea which may linger into the following day. Getting acclimated to the heat means you need more water because your body sweats more efficiently.

Drink water generously throughout the day. It is better if you don't drink water withing about 20 minutes before or after a meal or with a meal. Water, and other liquids, dilute the digestive juices in the stomach, and they must be absorbed first before the work of digestion can begin. If the beverages are very hot the stomach must cool them down. If they are ice cold, the stomach must warm them up, all of which increases absorption time.

The best liquid to put in your body is water. Pure, plain, clear water, and plenty of it. Drink up! It's the best beverage on the planet.

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Even so come, Lord Jesus
Linda

• rub finger tips on head, especially around the temples and the nape of the neck, after dipping them in ice water.
  
• soak feet in a hot foot bath with apple cider vinegar and peppermint, to draw blood down to the feet, cleanse the blood and cool it down (with the mint).
  
• for a severe headache, alternate applications of hot and cold wet, wrung out towels to the head and face. Always end with cold.
  
• hot hip bath, to draw the blood down from the head.
  
• alternating hot and cold hip baths
  
• ice pack to head
  
• some folks get instant relief by taking a cool enema, because often migraines are created by toxic wate build-up in the digestive tract.
  

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Now in regard to that which we can do for ourselves. There is a point that requires careful, thoughtful consideration. I must become acquainted with myself, I must be a learner always as to how to take care of this building, the body God has given me, that I may preserve it in the very best condition of health. I must eat those things which will be for my very best good physically, and I must take special care to have my clothing such as will conduce to a healthful circulation of the blood. I must not deprive myself of exercise and air. I must get all the sunlight that it is possible for me to obtain. I must have wisdom to be a faithful guardian of my body. I should do a very unwise thing to enter a cool room when in a perspiration; I should show myself an unwise steward to allow myself to sit in a draught, and thus expose myself so as to take cold. I should be unwise to sit with cold feet and limbs and thus drive back the blood from the extremities to the brain or internal organs. I should always protect my feet in damp weather. I should eat regularly of the most healthful food which will make the best quality of blood, and I should not work intemperately if it is in my power to avoid doing so. And when I violate the laws God has established in my being, I am to repent and reform, and place myself in the most favorable condition under the doctors God has provided,--pure air, pure water, and the healing, precious sunlight. Water can be used in many ways to relieve suffering. Draughts of clear, hot water, taken before eating (half a quart, more or less), will never do any harm, but will rather be productive of good. A cup of tea made from catnip herb will quiet the nerves. Hop tea will induce sleep. Hop poultices over the stomach will relieve pain. If the eyes are weak, if there is pain in the eyes, or inflammation, soft flannel clothes wet in hot water and salt, will bring relief quickly. When the head is congested, if the feet and limbs are put in a bath with a little mustard, relief will be obtained. There are many more simple remedies which will do much to restore healthful action to the body. All these simple preparations the Lord expects us to use for ourselves, but man's extremities are God's opportunities. If we neglect to do that which is within the reach of nearly every family, and ask the Lord to relieve pain, when we are too indolent to make use of these remedies within our power, it is simply presumption. The Lord expects us to work in order that we obtain food. He does not propose that we shall gather the harvest unless we break the sod, till the soil, and cultivate the produce. Then God sends the rain and the sunshine and the clouds to cause vegetation to flourish. God works and man cooperates with God. Then there is seed time and harvest. God has caused to grow out of the ground, herbs for the use of man, and if we understand the nature of those roots and herbs, and make a right use of them, there would not be a necessity of running for the doctor, so frequently, and people would be in much better health than they are today. I believe in calling upon the Great Physician when we have used the remedies I have mentioned. In regard to manner of labor, we certainly need to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. We might be very zealous, but it might be an unwise zeal, and serve to hedge up our way. Then there is danger of being so circumscribed in our work as to do very little good. Extract from Ms. 115 '07, dated-- October 22, 1907 (Paulsen Collection page 28)

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