What Is The pH Scale and Its Importance To A Healthy Body?

What does pH stand for?
It stands for 'Potential of Hydrogen' and the pH scale is a way to measure that in any given solution. In the case of this site we are interested in the [pH scale with water], the [pH level in our bodies] and [our blood pH].

The pH scale is set from numbers 0 to 14 with 0 considered very acidic and 14 considered very alkaline (or base). The number 7 than is considered as neutral (right in the middle...balanced). The difference between one unit...for example 5 to 4...is actually a tenfold difference. In other words the number 4 would be ten times more acidic than the number 5. [High pH water] would be anything 8 and above on the pH scale.

It is possible for a solution to go below 0 or above 14 but the standard pH scale has been set from 0 to 14 which covers most solutions. It should also be noted that temperature plays an important role in this measurement. The most accurate measurements for a solution would be taken around the temperature of 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit). A good quality pH meter will be self adjusting for temperature.

So why 'Hydrogen'?
First to get a better understanding of that lets first talk about the 'ion'. An ion is any molecule that has an unequal number of protons to electrons giving that molecule either a positive charge (more protons) or a negative charge (more electrons). A 'charge' is simply saying that the 'ionic' molecule now has the 'potential' to steal or grab electrons from other molecules that have equal numbers of protons to electrons and thus turning those into ionic molecules and so creating motion or 'action'. A chain reaction if you will.

For example the chain reaction in a battery might be seen as an extreme case of ionized water and felt as electricity.

Now, according to Wikipedia, hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element in the universe making up about 75% of the mass out there. Here on earth it is the third most abundant element in the form of compounds either liquid or solid. There is very little in its natural gaseous form as it is much lighter than air and in that form simply escapes earths atmosphere back into space.

Everything living and even inanimate objects gives off an electrical charge or at least has that potential, no matter how tiny...its there. So it only stands to reason that the element to base this 'potential' charge against is the one that is most abundant in the universe, hydrogen.

And so someone out there devised the pH scale or 'potential of Hydrogen' to measure how strong/weak a solution will be towards an acidic reaction or an alkaline (base) reaction.

The importance of Your pH level
Our bodies are highly engineered to keep the pH [acid base balance] at an optimum [blood ph level] of 7.37 to 7.43.

Our bodies are most quickly affected by an acidic environment when we breath and this is because with each breath we take the hemoglobin that is responsible for carrying oxygen from the lungs via red blood cells to where it is needed in the body is signaled to release the oxygen by the amount of acidity surrounding it in the form of carbon dioxide.

Now we don't have much control over the air we breath, other than not smoking etc; but what are the other two ways our bodies try to stay alive? By taking in water and food. These two things we can control much easier.

There is a rule that I heard a while ago and it has to do with the 'order' of importance of these three essentials to life...air, water and food. It is called the 'Rule of 3'. As a general rule we can live only 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food.

Of course we need all three things to stay alive but this rule just serves to emphasize the importance that good clean, healthy and ph balanced water with plenty of minerals is to our health. In fact its even been called the ['miracle mineral supplement'].
We tend to take the air we breath for granted because there's not much we can immediately do about it and focus on food as our main source of health to the neglect of water. Yet water we can do something about.

Given the fact that most of us in this modern world are over 'acidified' and only a very few are over 'alkalized' then it makes sense to turn to water as a source to 'help' our bodies once again return to a balanced pH level.

We hear more and more from the health gurus out there to eat ['alkaline' foods] to help offset our acidic bodies but why not take a look at ['alkalized' water] as well?

Before you actually take any steps though with either food or water it would be a wise idea to first test your ph level to see whether you are actually in need of alkalizing with either one. This can be easily done by testing with a [pH test strip] or a [pH test kit].

These will test either the pH of urine or the pH of saliva. If done correctly these are excellent indicators of how hard your body is working to keep your blood pH at its optimum level. If its working too hard than you really should do something about it. There are also [pH test meters] that can show the pH level of the water your drinking and even some of the food you eat.