The Same Advice Fits Each Body Differently
The short answer
"Drink plenty of water" — you hear it everywhere, so why does it never come with how much, from when, or which cases should skip it? Advice carries conditions at the place where it is first made, but as it passes from person to person, the conditions are the first thing to fall away. All you need to do is reattach three things — who the advice was for, how much it meant, and what it was judged against. If jaundice, severe fatigue, or nausea appears after starting several supplements at once, stopping them and seeing a doctor comes first.
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"Drink plenty of water."
You hear this everywhere. And it usually ends right there, with that one line. How much, from when, and under what circumstances it should be different — none of that comes with it.
Advice Travels Farther When It Is Short
At the place where advice is first formed, conditions are attached to it — who it is meant for, how much, and which cases are excluded.
Conditions are heavy and do not travel well. As advice passes from person to person, the sentence shortens, and what falls away first is the conditions. What remains is a single line that sounds like it is meant for everyone.
This is not the fault of whoever first said it. Advice has to be short to be passed on, and once it is short, there is no room left for the conditions.
What the Conditions Originally Said
This is true of the advice to eat enough protein.
Open an international recommendation on protein for older adults and it reads 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. This is a number tied to body weight. For someone weighing 50 kilograms and someone weighing 80 kilograms, the single word "eat enough" points to two different amounts.
The same recommendation also states an exception alongside it. People whose kidney function has declined substantially but who are not on dialysis are excluded from this recommendation, and in such cases the amount may actually need to be restricted.
There is no room for that exception inside the single line "eat enough protein."
The Same Words, Placed on Different Bodies
The same is true of water.
As people age, the sensation of thirst no longer arrives as promptly as it once did. The kidneys' range for conserving water by concentrating urine also narrows. Data comparing people aged 60 to 79 with younger people found that the maximum concentration the kidneys could achieve was about 20% lower. The advice to drink enough water fits exactly here.
But some people already have their fluid intake set to a specific amount for other reasons. If it was set because of the heart or the kidneys, that set amount takes precedence. In that case, the word "plenty" means something different.
Advice does not arrive tailored to the person. It is the bodies it is placed on that differ.
It Arrives One at a Time, but Piles Up Together
Advice arrives one piece at a time. Today it is water, next it is protein, after that it is walking and sleep schedules. Each piece is correct on its own, and usually comes from genuine concern.
For the person receiving it, it does not arrive one at a time. What was heard yesterday sits right on top of what is heard today.
This is where it splits. For someone with reserve to spare, several pieces of advice are a help. For someone whose reserve is stretched thin, the same advice fills the day to the point of being a burden. As the number of things to attend to grows, so does the effort of attending to them, and that effort also comes out of the body's reserve.
It means there are that many people around you looking out for you. This is not something to cut back. But even while every piece of advice stays correct, in one body they can still collide with each other.
Reattach the Missing Conditions
There is no need to sort through what you have heard and pick some out. All you need is to reattach three things to it.
Who was it said to? How much did it mean? What is it judged against? These three can be asked again of whoever gave the advice, or checked against the source it came from.
And if you take in one piece at a time, you can see how that one piece fits.
Where to Look First
There is one thing I want to set apart here. When your health takes a turn for the worse after starting several health functional foods or supplements at once.
When something new has appeared since around the time you started. When the whites of your eyes or your skin look yellow. When you are unusually fatigued and nauseated. When there is heaviness under your right ribs. Stop whatever you started newly and see a doctor first. Telling them exactly what you have been taking and since when is what the judgment is built on.
This does not mean any particular thing is bad. Taking several things at once means that even if your body reacts, it is hard to tell which one caused it.
The advice to drink water, to eat enough protein, to walk — all of it is good advice. What changes is only what it does, depending on which body it is placed on.
It differs from person to person, and even for the same person, it differs from one time to the next. This difference is what makes my work difficult, and at the same time, what makes it interesting.
So advice that sounds good is not something to sort into believe or disbelieve. It becomes advice spoken to your own body only once the missing conditions are reattached. The moment the conditions are reattached, advice meant for anyone turns into advice meant for you. The idea that aging is a matter of reserve, not disease is the foundation of this.
Written by Dr. Heo Ji-young (PhD in Korean Medicine Pathology, Kyung Hee University · former Research Professor of Herbology, Kyung Hee University)
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