It’s the early hours of the morning and it’s suddenly still and very quiet. The sheep are silent, huddled together, the crickets have stopped their noisy rendition of Mozart; everything is in quiet anticipation. And then I hear it – the patter of the first rain drops on the tin roof. I open the window wide, and smell the scent of rain on fresh lawn, water droplets on eucalyptus leaves, rain sinking deep into the garden beds.
It’s the rain we’ve been waiting for, that we’ve needed for months. It’s finally here. I envisage the patter of rain on the dried up dam beds, the gentle flow of water down a creek bed that has been empty for months.
I know he’s heard it too, “thank you God,” he mutters, the livelihood of a farm at the hands of the weather.
The human body needs water to – and probably more than you think. I read an interesting story about a doctor who found himself in prison in Ukraine. Since it was well known that he was a doctor, people started coming to him for advice for various illnesses. He didn’t have any access to medication and the only resource available to him to prescribe was water. “Drink a cup of water every hour” he’d say to someone, initially as a placebo effect, maybe it would work. With surprise, he started to see that many illnesses, diseases were improved or eradicated, simply by individuals drinking more water. He was so intrigued that when they let him go, he asked to stay imprisoned to study his findings.
I remember it was always my mother’s “go-to” choice of remedy. Sore throat, l
headache, belly ache, achy joints? “Go have a drink of water.” She’d say. I used to think that it was just out of laziness (and now as a parent myself, I resonate deeply with her approach!) but now I’m wondering if she was on to something.
I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t for me. If I drank more water, I’d be rushing to the toilet all day and all night or my bladder would leak! Well, maybe you’re already drinking the correct amount of water. Or maybe, your bladder isn’t used to holding large amounts of water and has gotten lazy or is irritated by the caffeine in your diet (ever wondered why you get the urge to go multiple times after coffee or tea? Caffeine irritates the bladder.) Start with half a glass in the morning, before you put the kettle on or warm the coffee machine up. Have another half a glass when you feel a bit peckish mid-morning, and again when the post-lunch siesta hits and you wish you lived in a country where it was socially acceptable to knock off work for an hour nap in the middle of the day.
Grab another cup before you reach for your usual evening beverage and swap any caffeine out for decaf (yes there is caffeine in green tea – sorry!) and you might notice your bladder behaves a bit better overnight.
Cheers to water drinking, not quite as flashy as champagne, but certainly the quiet achiever.
Did you know we offer help with bladder incontinence? To book in, please give us a call.
Rach x
