Water follows salt into and out of the body. Salt is the cup water must fill to be on boarded. Drinking water all day can cause dehydration or lower salt (same same). If there is no salt to receive water, it must pass on through as urine and this causes a loss of salt, loss of blood volume/pressure, a WILTing. I provide a WILT list of signs and symptoms, inside the How does salt restriction lead to heart dis-ease and fear based reactionary thinking? article.
The hospital’s no 1 remedy is the saline IV bag. Hydration is required to initiate healing. Women are particularly vulnerable to dehydration because they carry more fluid than men and while fertile, they cycle to increase fluid and lose fluid.
Fertility, pregnancy and breastfeeding all require excellent hydration or salt management. Morning sickness is caused by dehydration. Alcohol poisoning causes dehydration. This is why alcohol is contra-indicated for pregnancy.
Hydration not oxygenation underpins our physiology. Every physiological process requires moisture. Lack of moisture starts dis-ease. Chronic deficits cause chronic dis-ease.
Respiratory dis-stress begins with an insult of dehydration. No germs are required. The sequence: dehydration, mucosal dysfunction, debris/dust settles, inflammation begins, swelling, lymphatic drainage blocks, fluid increases, pneumonia.
A 10% drop of humidity effects respiratory mucosa: Comparison of Mucus Clearance At 100% and 90% Humidity
Oxygen is an extremely dry gas. It’s measured by its DRYNESS in parts per million of water. For example: medical oxygen has 67ppm of water.
By contrast air is measured by its water content in grams per cubic meter.
The respiratory system requires air to become humidified, 100% by the time it reaches the alveoli sacs. That’s dew point or drop point.
Oxygen toxicity is due to its power to dehydrate the respiratory system.
Oxygen toxicity is modified with the addition of moisture, this is why CPAP machines have humidifiers.
We breathe air not oxygen
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April 21, 2023
We have been schooled to retain the RIGHT answers and programmed to dismiss the contrary or WRONG answers. I present my article to you with the hope you will entertain my assertions without prejudice for a time.
Start with a pinch in your drinking water. Allow your taste buds to acclimatise to the saltiness. Then staying with ease, increase to 1/4 teaspoon in 300ml/10 ounces. I take 1/2 teaspoon in 300ml with ease and so do my daughters but my husband detests this level of saltiness, he stays at 1/4 teaspoon. It was his objections that alerted me to the possibility of women and men having different salt requirements. At 1/2 teaspoon of salt in 300ml/10 ounces its very close to blood salinity. This means my glass of salt water can be on boarded or off boarded without causing a deficit to my salt stores.
My Aunt sent me this Brisbane newspaper clipping, validating my assertion women need more salt than men.
An 18 year old survived catching fish and drinking sea water strained through his t-shirt for 49 days a drift on the seas, after his fishing hut was severed from its mooring.
Kidneys love salt, they are in drive mode excreting salt. The adrenals put the kidneys into reverse mode, to scavenge for salt. This is fine in short bursts but it causes kidney dis-ease if reverse mode becomes a chronic condition. Before refrigeration food was salted to preserve it. Sauerkraut is a remnant of this era.
Give your adrenals time to adapt, if you have been living in a drought, don’t cause a flood. The adrenals have two choices, become fatigued or grow larger. You’ll know already if your adrenals are larger, you will be a salt sensitive, and possibly have unexplained high blood pressure. Adrenal enlargement/augmentation is more common in females. See this article for a more detailed explanation.
NaCl is the workhorse. Any salt is better than no salt but look for one without nasty free flow agents. I use a sea salt to add to my drinking water, it’s moist and dissolves easily, it’s enriched with magnesium. Ancient Lakes, from Lake Deborah in Western Australia. I use dry salts to sprinkle on my food and add to cooking.
Sodium is needed in vastly greater quantities than potassium, calcium and magnesium.
But if you look at the recommended daily intake it promotes potassium as the one required in greatest quantity. Note: if sodium is low, potassium is wasted.
Comparison between sodium and the other electrolytes in a blood test range.
Sodium requirements are ~ 3,000 times greater than potassium.
Sodium requirements are ~ 6,000 times greater than calcium.
Sodium requirements are ~ 17,000 times greater than magnesium.
Digestion requires salt, this is why salt and pepper shakers were a thing prior to salt demonisation in the 1970s, it’s very important to salt your food. For example: stomach acid uses chloride to make HCl, the bile salts are precious and recycled, water follow salt to form the best stools, easy to pass and properly formed.
Starches need salt + water to rehydrate. This is why rice, oats, pasta and polenta are cooked in salty water. They will withdraw moisture from the gut and cause sluggishness.
Carbs become glucose, glucose displaces salt. Hospitals will use IV glucose to lower hypernatremia (high salt), in kidney disease. Low carbs or no carbs reverses Type 2 Diabetes. This is a permanent life style change to remain big pHARMa free.
STRESS requires a robust response.
Salt brings the able in response able.
Salt restriction/low salt/dehydration causes stress dis-ability leading to dis-ease.
Unrelenting stress causes adrenal fatigue or adrenal enlargement.
This was intentionally set up with salt demonisation, low salt or salt restriction medical directives. The adrenals are little booster rockets and they switch on with stress and burn through salt. Salt is required to maintain blood volume and pressure, if necessary it will be robbed from a salt store, eg muscle. Even the heart muscle maybe robbed and thinking is locked into FIGHT/FLIGHT/ FREEZE reactivity programs from past conditioning. They may play out repeatedly because learning is jammed, perspective is limited. Stress intolerance and stress avoidance results.
With salt, stress can strengthen us, we can think creatively and respond to the situation in multiple ways, we are resilient. With salt we can replace the adrenals rocket fuel (SALT) and allow them to rest and recoup.
I liken it to labouring in child birth. The pain comes in cascading peaks, retreats and we rest. We prepare to weather the pain as it periodically arrives.
The space between the pain is necessary. The space between stress is necessary. Hence salt plays a vital role in readying everyone’s ability to respond, allowing time to pick oneself up and move on wiser because a lesson has been learnt from the experience. The space allows time for reflection, consolidation and room to zoom out to see the wider perspective.
Salt restriction has been used to subdue a people. Gandhi marched against the Salt Tax that was imposed upon India’s population under colonial rule. Suffering and death resulted from the poor people unable to afford salt to mitigate stress and hydration in a hot climate. Salt restriction brought the Colonialists compliance.
Meet the salt people, salt miners of Danakil Depression in Ethiopia, the AFAR people
Warrior Reputation
“Historically, the Afar were known as formidable warriors, fiercely protective of their land and people.
They practiced ritualized conflict and honor-based combat, often settling disputes through clan-based negotiations or traditional duels.
Their reputation for fierceness was not just about aggression—it was about defending autonomy and cultural pride.”
(Source: Copilot, Amplify Globe)
Excerpt:
“Work in salt transport is very hard and exhaustive. Each camel is able to do only 3 routes during one season, which lasts from November to the beginning of March. Working in other months is not possible because of the heat. The value of salt is very high in this climate – it keeps water in an organism – surviving without it is very difficult. That is why salt is called “the white gold of the desert” here. In the past centuries lumps of salt (amoles) were country-wide legal tender in Ethiopia, in some areas they still are, for example in Afars’ lands (Popiel, 2007; Preisner, 2010).
The “white gold” excavations becomes an extremely hard and exhausting place to work which causes health problems. The sun reflecting from omnipresent white crust of salt severely damages eyesight (Fig. 16) (Harris, 2008; Podsiadła, 2011).
The salt is one of the reasons why Afars guard their territory and are distrustful of visitors…
The other basic foodstuff for Afars are milk and the meat of goats and camels (Popiel, 2007). Milk is also the symbol of hospitality, which is one of the most important features of the Afar’s culture, despite the bloody customs mentioned earlier. If anybody is treated with warm milk, it means that he is treated as a family member. If anything wrong happens to him, he is treated by law of revenge like any other clan member. The customary law sanctions bloody revenge but harshly punishes murder or adultery. Every clan leader is personally responsible for everything that happens on his territory, for the safety of family members and travelers. It is very important to respect the Afars’ culture and traditional law. The person who does not care about the traditional rules of this society, can expect serious trouble (Popiel, 2007).”
Geotouristic attractions of the Danakil Depression
Is it time you got SALTY?
Do you have a salty story to tell?
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