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In our ancient medical system Ayurveda, great importance has been given to the timing of drinking water. Chanakya Niti also says – 'Ajirne bheshjan vaari, jirne vaari balapradam. Bhojane Chaamritam Vaari, Bhojanante Vishpradam' i.e. water works like a medicine during indigestion.

When food is properly digested, water gives strength. Drinking a little water while eating food is considered like nectar, because it helps in swallowing and digesting the food. But drinking water immediately after eating food is no less than poison.

According to Ayurvedic scriptures and texts, when we eat food, it goes to a specific place inside the stomach. This is called Jathar i.e. stomach. It is located in the middle of our body, on the left side near the navel. There is a small fire in the stomach, which we can call the fire of digestion. This fire helps in digesting food. When we feel hungry, this fire actually signals to us that the body now needs energy.

You must have realized that when we are very hungry, any food seems delicious to us and is easily digested. Agni in the stomach works to digest food for about an hour. If within this one hour we eat something else or drink a lot of cold water, this fire gets extinguished. Just as water is suddenly poured on a burning fire, similarly the fire in the stomach also cools down. Its effect is that food is not digested properly and many types of diseases start affecting the body, hence do not eat anything or drink water for one hour after eating food. Due to this, Jathragni i.e. the fire in the stomach is able to do its work comfortably and the food gets digested properly and gives strength to the body.

In case of indigestion, food remains in the stomach for a long time and starts rotting. Due to this, gas starts forming and it comes out through belching or in some other way. Also the stomach feels heavy. Therefore drinking water immediately after eating is like poison. Sages and sages had said this long ago and now scientists also believe it.

If we understand it from a scientific point of view, when we eat food, acids and enzymes are produced in the stomach for digestion. If we drink water immediately afterwards, especially in large quantities, it dilutes the digestive juices. Due to this, food is not digested properly and problems like indigestion, gas, acidity can occur.