Is Drinking Bottled Water Enough To Keep You Safe From Toxins? Check Your Shower
Brace yourself a little bit…
Because this might give you the “heebie-jeebies” every time you turn on your faucet to take a shower or bath from now on.
LET’S START WITH WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY…
A study by Dr. Julian Andelman, of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health states that:
“…volatile chemicals present in many municipal drinking water supplies are especially toxic to people when they are exposed to them when bathing or showering.”
The major health threat posed by these water pollutants is far more likely to be from their inhalation as air pollutants in the home.
The report goes on to say:
“In the past…inhalation exposure to water pollutants has largely been ignored.”
And this…
“Taking showers is a health risk, according to research presented last week in a meeting of the American Chemical Society. Showers – and to a lesser extent baths – lead to a greater exposure to toxic chemicals contained in water supplies than does drinking water. The chemicals evaporate out of the water and are inhaled. They can also spread through the house and be inhaled by others.” New Scientist -18 September 1986, Ian Anderson
TAKING SHOWERS IS A HEALTH RISK?
Yes, it definitely can be!
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
In other words, you can end up breathing and absorbing more of these contaminants in the shower than if you drank the same amount of water! But there’s more…
*Diagram adapted from the Weekly Newsmagazine of Science, SCIENCE NEWS.
…Because it seems that hot showers can send between 50 to 80 percent of the dissolved chemicals into the air where – yep, you guessed it – it can be breathed in.
(The silver lining is that emissions from baths seem to be about half as high…)
Now, here are three big, fancy words you should probably know:
- Monochloramine,
- Dichloramine,
- And trichloramine – a nasty, smelly unstable toxin found in your shower.
These are chemicals that vaporize easily out of the water that is heated and “sprayed.”
(Another issue? Warm showers also open up pores, which allows for faster absorption through the skin…making it easier for these chemicals to get inside you!)
All three forms of Chlorine are respiratory irritants, with trichloramine being the most toxic and in the shower these are inhaled and absorbed through your skin.
I’m sure you can see how drinking clean water is just ONE part of the equation – and how absorption through skin and inhalation through lungs are just as important. See how it all comes together?
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
Good news: here are a few simple steps you can take to limit exposure to these dangerous chemicals:
- Take more baths than showers. (See above.)
- Take shorter showers. Short showers help, since each doubling in shower time quadruples the dose from accumulating gases.
- The colder the shower, the better. That’s because cold showers can reduce the vaporization of dissolved volatile chemicals by 50%.
- You can limit the spread of released gases into the rest of the home by simply making sure the bathroom door is closed.
- Find the right water filter for your home
- Lastly, you can learn what’s in the water in your area. Click below to use the free zip-code tool and check what toxins are in your water…
Resources:
Resources:
Our Water is Dirty, But Where Can We Turn?
Whether you’re looking for effective water filters or you’re simply concerned about what’s in your water, you NEED a trusted source of information.
We’ve been in your shoes and the more we learn about the state of US water today, the more we realize the importance of helping people make informed choices for their health.
THINK A WATER CRISIS IS SOMETHING JUST FOR THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES?
Unfortunately, not quite. Watch the video to see what we mean…
A MUST Watch if You’re at all concerned about your water, and frankly, you should be!
Need some help? Start by learning the truth about what’s in your water.
We realize there’s a LOT of information out there but there are also several solutions. That’s why we’ve compiled all the research into an easy-to-read and super informative Water Report. It’s yours free here.
Time to Get Rid of Lead Pipes – Here’s Why…
Unfortunately, the bad news out of Flint, Michigan just keeps coming…
Flint is one of many American cities that installed lead water pipes in the 20th century, despite dangers including child brain damage and a range of health problems.
We’ve just learned this week that the Flint Water Crisis was the likely cause of increased fetal deaths.
Ever since a study in 2015 revealed lead levels in children had doubled, Flint has become the emblem of poor water quality in America.
But, we just found out last year that over 5,300 water systems were also in violation of lead rules.
Major metro areas like Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, Baltimore, and Boston are also struggling with the effects of outdated infrastructure and high lead levels in water.
Ideally there’s ZERO lead in your water, but it’s information like this that is going to raise awareness of just how large the water crisis in this country really is.
Contact us at info@wellnesswatercompany.com to learn what’s in your water.
(Much gratitude to Dr Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who conducted the study that pulled back the curtain on Flint’s lead crisis!)
94% of U.S. Water Now Contains PLASTIC
A recent shocking study just revealed that over 94% of US water contains plastic microparticles.
(Sadly, we came in behind even India and Lebanon…)
Even several of the bottled water brands that were tested were shown to contain the same plastic. The report goes on to say:
Almost 300m tonnes of plastic is produced each year and, with just 20% recycled or incinerated, much of it ends up littering the air, land and sea. A report in July found 8.3bn tonnes of plastic has been produced since the 1950s, with the researchers warning that plastic waste has become ubiquitous in the environment.
“We are increasingly smothering ecosystems in plastic and I am very worried that there may be all kinds of unintended, adverse consequences that we will only find out about once it is too late,” said Prof Roland Geyer, from the University of California at Santa Barbara, who led the study.”
While we work on a solution to the larger problem, let’s at least make sure this stuff isn’t going into our bodies.