Here at Acquamara Towers, we are not afraid of hangovers.
That’s not to say we embrace them or run out to hunt them down.
Our fearlessness came from a very interesting experiment on an overcast Monday last summer.
Hydrotherapy at Forte Village Sardinia
Acquamara’s plucky assistant Clementine, arrived at work with a bit of a heavy head, rusty throat and a gnawing badger sitting on her tongue.
Having heard all the wonder cures surrounding salt water and rehydrating fluid, we plied Clemmie with a dilution of our very own Hebridean eau de vie – Acquamara seawater diluted 30% with water.
We already knew, anecdotally, that hospital porters regularly mix rehydrating fluid with orange juice to self-medicate of a morning-after.
In fact, we didn’t have to rely only on this flimsy reference. 
Herodotus (484BC) said:
“Sun cure and sea cure are sovereign remedies for most diseases and particularly for women’s ailments”
Euripides (420BC) claimed:
“The sea cures men’s diseases”
Hippocrates encouraged his fellow healers to make use of salt water to heal various ailments by immersing their patients in seawater
And in 1753, Dr Charles Russell published his seminal book “The Uses of Sea Water” stating:
“One should drink sea water, bathe in it and eat every product of the sea in which its virtue is concentrated”
How Can Salt Water Hold Healing Properties?
Healing Salts
The sea is rich in vital minerals. In fact, it contains 83 elements of the periodic table.
French physiologist Rene Quinton discovered that seawater has an uncanny chemical similarity to our body’s inter- and extra-cellular fluid.
It could be said that we are the human sea and the amniotic fluid of our birth was pure seawater.
Quinton discovered that seawater is the only other naturally occurring fluid that contains all vital elements in our blood plasma.
“The living organism is a sea aquarium in which a few billion cells are bathing,” Quinton said, showing the parallels between a marine environment and our internal sea.
According to Quinton, taking a seawater cure will improve conditions like stress, fatigue, psoriasis, circulatory problems, cellulite and weight reduction, rheumatism and arthritis as well as acne and post-partum programmes.
Salt water also cures mouth ulcers, sore throats, skin ailments, cuts, stings, scrapes and removing splinters.
However, the Seawater Drinking Cure achieves its fullest effect by keeping to a healthy balanced diet in which, most importantly, no ordinary table salt must be taken! You won’t be surprised that we say fair enough to that, and that you should only flavour food with seawater!
And The Hangover?
As for Clementine’s hangover cure?
Well, I’m glad to say it was an instant success. She was right as rain within 30 minutes and quite stunned that the remedy had been so simple. Seawater is, after all, a natural alka-selzer.
Needless to say, table salt is not an effective replacement. And all seawater doses should be diluted with ordinary filtered water to maximise benefits.
As we say in The Hebrides, here’s to your very good health …
PS. What is your view? Where do you stand on salt politics? Do you think more restaurants / food outlets / retail environments should change to seawater? I’d love to know what you think.
Cracking post. I never knew seawater was so good for you. Makes me want to plunge into the refreshing, healing waters of portobello beach for a cure.