What Is Japanese Water Therapy, What Are the Health Benefits, and Are There Any Risks?

Japanese water therapy involves drinking up to seven cups of warm water upon waking and waiting about 45 minutes before eating. The health benefits of Japanese water therapy include adequate hydration and weight loss and risks may include frequent urination and electrolyte imbalance.

If you’re into natural wellness, you might have blended a detox smoothie, eaten a vegan burger, or used a supplement or two in an effort to tame symptoms of a health condition. Have you ever tried Japanese water therapy, though? It involves drinking several cups of warm water every morning for health benefits.

Read on to learn more about this practice, understand the risks and benefits, and decide whether you’d like to try it for yourself.

Japanese water therapy (or, the Japanese water method) doesn’t have too many hard-and-fast rules except for the timing of the water drinking. It is touted across the internet as a cure (or at least a treatment) for many health issues including obesity, diabetes, tiredness, and more. Proponents advise drinking up to seven cups of warm water upon waking and waiting about 45 minutes before eating.

Generally, it’s difficult to know how much water to drink every day, and because of this, many people are chronically dehydrated. The benefits of “water therapy,” then, could have more to do with drinking adequate amounts of water than with the actual timing of the hydration.

If water therapy sounds too good to be true, keep in mind that it might be. Japanese water therapy is simple to follow, though, and it might provide you with a few benefits like the ones listed here. However, watch out for the potential risks involved in water therapy as well.

Benefits of water therapy

• You’ll get adequate hydration: Experts recommend drinking at least four to six cups of water a day. You should aim for more if you’re dehydrated, spend a lot of time in the heat, have certain medical conditions, or take certain medications that dehydrate you. If you need to increase your intake, water therapy can provide you with a boost at the beginning of the day.
• Your overall health will improve: Drinking sufficient water can help your digestive system function well, keep your bladder healthy, and aid your body in distributing life-sustaining vitamins and minerals to your tissues.
• You might lose weight: Some studies suggest that increasing water intake helps increase your metabolism, which in turn can lead to more weight loss. People also lose weight when they substitute calorie-less water for food. There’s a chance that you will lose weight on the Japanese water therapy program because it’s revving up your body’s ability to burn calories. It's also possible that you will see a difference on the scale because you’re delaying breakfast — not because of the water therapy itself. Of course, you should remain mindful and avoid overeating following your wait.

Risks of water therapy

• It might be unsustainable: Water therapy takes commitment and time that many people don't have in the mornings. If you find yourself running late most mornings, you might grab a quick breakfast and skip the water (and the 45-minute wait) altogether.
• It could force you to skip breakfast: Perhaps you chose to rush to work after your water therapy instead of waiting 45 minutes to eat. In some situations, you might have to choose to skip breakfast to continue with your water therapy, which could lead to low blood sugar levels later in the day.
• It will make you urinate a lot: Water sustains your life and helps your body flush out toxins. Drinking this amount in the morning, all at once, will have you running to the bathroom a few times before noon. Whether you want to deal with this aspect of Japanese water therapy is up to you.
• It might harm your kidneys: We’re often told to drink a lot of water to avoid dehydration and all the health problems that come with it, but there’s a limit to hydration. Drinking too much water is bad for you because it affects the balance of important electrolytes in your blood like sodium and potassium. Overhydration is rare, thankfully, but it’s important to keep in mind that more is not always better when it comes to water.

Weight loss is an understandably hot topic. Losing weight quickly is often the goal, but many people choose to follow unhealthy diets or simply stop eating in order to do so. Fortunately, there are healthier ways to lose weight that you could easily combine with Japanese water therapy.

Cut calories in a controlled, healthy way

Your doctor might recommend starting with a gentle exercise plan if you’re out of shape, in addition to cutting around 500 calories from your diet every day. It’s not a good idea to skip meals or make yourself miserable when dieting because then you won’t stick with it. Focus instead on choosing healthier versions of the foods you’ve been eating, steering clear of sodas and high-calorie snacks, and avoiding fast food and alcohol when you can, as they contain a lot of calories.

Avoid crash dieting

Japanese water therapy isn’t exactly a crash diet — it’s more of a routine. It might still interfere with the normal timing of your meals, though. Continue to make healthy food choices by fitting lean proteins, lots of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats like avocados and olive oil, and a source of calcium into your breakfast after you complete your water therapy.

By focusing on health (including your water intake) instead of simply cutting out all food consumption, you probably won’t experience the nutritional deficits associated with crash dieting. Be careful with water therapy, though, if you experience any strange symptoms from not eating first thing in the morning, and talk to your doctor if you begin to feel shaky, dizzy, or nauseous in the morning before breakfast. This could be a sign of low blood sugar in the nighttime or early morning hours.

Avoid fad diets

According to dieticians, fad diets actually do a good job of helping people lose weight — temporarily. Unfortunately, most fad diets cut out important nutrients, can’t be followed long-term due to their lists of rules and requirements for eating, and are expensive when they require you to purchase specialty foods. 

Unless you have a medical condition that requires you to cut out specific foods, extreme diets usually aren’t worth it and can actually make you less healthy than when you began the diet. Water therapy could qualify as a fad diet, and it could also be quite tedious to follow — but, ultimately, drinking extra water in the morning isn’t a particularly extreme diet, and it probably won’t harm your health as long as you make sure to avoid overhydration that will place excessive strain on your kidneys.

Japanese water therapy most likely won’t hurt you if you try it — but it might not trigger the weight loss you want to see, either. Still, at the very least, it will help fill you up, give you a productive goal to focus on, and give you a bit more time to think about what you want (or don't want) to eat for breakfast.