I played basketball for many years at a top level and was constantly suffering from headaches and sometimes severe migraines (which were debilitating). I am going back 25 years now – and back then drinking water was not a part of a daily regime for many people including many athletes! Today of course with better access to information online etc. this is changing but not fast enough!

Imagine how dehydrated we must have been and the additional stress this placed on our bodies! Other than a constant headache other symptoms included constipation and stiff muscles, slow recovery and soreness – much of the lactic acid build up from the strenuous exercise did not get flushed though our systems as quickly as it could have due in part to dehydration!

Recently the New York Times reported a study, also published in Neurology, where scientist’s recruited migraine suffers and divided them into two groups. Group one were given placebo medication to take regularly and group two were told to drink 1.5 litres a day in addition to their normal intake (this is about 6 cups).

At the end of two weeks the researchers found that those in group two (increased their water intake on average by 4 cups a day) – but they experienced on average 21 fewer hours of pain and also experienced a decrease in intensity - than those in the placebo group, during the study period.

I recommend, as do many health officials, that we drink approx. 4 cups of water for every 25kg of body weight; and more if you are ill or exercising. I have found this to work for me and those I love.

Sounds like a lot doesn’t it! So I did some more extensive research on water and health. Two key things I thought would happen and be a potential problem when I started this routine, was I was going to feel really bloated (because this was a feeling I had experienced in the past trying to drink a lot of tap water and bottled water) – and I would be going to the toilet all day long .

I started drinking a high quality alkaline mineral water and what I experienced was that I didn’t have that bloated feeling ever! And as I built up my water intake over 6 weeks, I immediately started to feel better and better – my stiff, achy and creaky joints stopped, I stopped crawling out of bed slowly needing to warm into the day and I no longer experienced any headaches. In fact I no longer suffer from headaches or migraines at all! If I feel a little light headed I simply reach for a glass of quality water.

I also found out that health professionals will tell us we should actually urinate at least 6 times a day - it is good for us and this is the body flushing toxins etc and helps to flush the kidneys! And our urine (other than first thing in the morning) should be a light colour without strong smell.

In a great book – Your Body’s Many Cries for Water by Dr Batmanghelidj - the key thing I learned and have applied every day now - was that the body actually loses its “thirst mechanism” and we over time mistake the thirst craving for a craving for food! So we end up thinking we are hungry when in fact we are thirsty! And what do we do is we eat more and drink less water! My body now tells me it is thirsty and I now recognise that and act on it by giving my body what it is asking for – because our bodies instinctively know what is good for them (we just need to learn to listen to it again).