PH test strips are essential to maintaining proper pH levels, which are important for your health, the health of the plants in your garden as well as the lifespan of any equipment that’s regularly exposed to water such as pool pumps and filters. Using pH test strips is the easy way to measure pH levels in any liquid. You simply expose the test strip to any fluid to get a reading, which comes in the form of a color code. Matching the color of the test strip to the included color code chart indicates the pH level found.
Understanding pH
To understand why pH test strips are necessary and how they work, you must first know what pH is. pH is short for potential of hydrogen. It measures the acidity of a fluid on a scale on 0 to 14, with 0 being most acidic. A neutral pH will land right in the middle with a pH of 7 while any pH levels above 7 are known as alkaline, or basic.
Water is of course the most common fluid in the human body, making up 70% of more of your entire body mass. The pH levels in your body are measure by the ratio of positively charged ions (acid ions) and negatively charged ions (alkaline ions). Your body is designed to continuously balance pH levels to keep all the systems that run your body functioning properly. When pH levels are allowed to go out of balance, these systems may cease to function.
Using pH Test Strips to Maintain Optimal Health
Many doctors and nutritionists believe that pH imbalance in the body can be the root cause of many of the diseases that are plague society. They believe that maintaining a proper pH level in the body can help keep us healthy and living longer.
Having pH levels in the body that are too high, or too acidic, can weaken your entire body, including your immune system. Normal body functions that are used to stave off deadly diseases can be weakened or eliminate completely when your body pH is out of balance. When excess acids are consumed, they must be neutralized by the body’s natural reserves of alkaline. If these reserves are depleted, your body will easily fall out of pH balance, leaving you vulnerable.
The best way to keep your body performing at an optimal level is to eat a pH balanced diet. This concept may be strange to some people, as we generally don’t have any concern for the pH levels of the foods we eat. Many experts in the field of nutrition and medicine believe that a pH balanced diet is crucial to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and creating longevity.
The concept of a pH balanced diet is not new though. Back in 1933 a man named William Hay published a book describing the ways that a pH imbalance in the body can cause autotoxication, also known as self poisoning. Hay claims that all diseases are actually the same thing, although they may display different symptoms and all of them can be linked to a pH imbalance in the body. Dr. Theodore Baroody tends to agree with this claim in his recent book titled Alkalize or Die. He agrees that all diseases we face are actually caused by acid wastes that build up in the tissues of our body.
Damage Caused by pH Imbalance
Most of the time, if you are suffering from a pH imbalance your pH levels will be too high, as your alkaline reserves have been depleted in your body. When this happens, your body will steal essential nutrients from your bones and other organs to help neutralize the acids you are consuming to remove them from your body. This can easily cause extensive damage over time, and because there aren’t any obvious symptoms can go easily undetected without proper pH testing.
The biggest threat of pH imbalance is cardiovascular damage. This can include the restriction of blood vessels, reducing the amount of oxygen in your body. Your body actually gets most of it’s energy from the air you breathe, so limiting the amount of oxygen in your body can limit the functioning of key systems in the body.
There are a number of other side effects as well such as weight gain, diabetes, kidney stones, free radical damage, hormone problems, premature aging, weak bones and many more. It can also cause low energy levels and slow down your metabolism significantly, leaving you constipated and bloated.
pH Testing Strips
To determine if you have a pH imbalance, you can use pH testing strips to measure the pH levels of your bodily fluids. Using pH testing strips allows you to test your pH from the comfort and privacy of your own home.
Urine Test Strips
Using urine test strips is one of the best ways you can measure how well your body has been eliminating acids and assimilating minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium. These minerals are used as buffers in your body and can help maintain pH balance, even when high levels of acidity are introduced in your body.
Your urinary pH will move around between 6.0-6.5 in the morning to 6.5-7 later in the day. Testing your urine with urine test strips can help you determine if your body is able to balance pH properly of if you are in need of assistance.
It’s recommended that you test your pH one hour before a meal or two hours after. This will give you the most conclusive results as your pH can fluctuate dramatically after eating. Testing your urine only takes a minute and can conclusively determine whether or not you have a pH imbalance in your body.
If the pH levels in your urine are regularly below 6.5 it can be a good indicator that your body is overwhelmed with acid and entering a state of autotoxication. It’s important to seek medical advice if you should find yourself suffering from this condition.
Saliva Test Strips
Testing the pH levels in your saliva can go a long way in determining the activity level of certain enzymes in the body, such as digestive enzymes. These digestive enzymes are created mainly in your stomach, pancreas and liver.
Saliva also utilizes minerals to buffer pH levels, though they are typically used much less than in urine. If your saliva has pH levels below 6.5 it’s likely your body is producing excess acid or is overwhelmed by the amount of acids being consumed.
If your saliva has pH levels above 6.8 regularly, your body may express symptoms such as gas, constipation and even the production of yeast, mold and other fungus. As you may have guessed, this isn’t good for your body. It’s important to monitor your pH levels to ensure that your body functions properly to maintain your health.
Vaginal Test Strips
It’s extremely important to test your vaginal pH levels if you are experiencing any strange symptoms such as itching, burning, foul odor or any unusual discharge from the vagina. A pH test won’t help you diagnose STDs such as HIV or herpes but it can go a long way in determining why you may be experiencing chronic yeast infections or other diseases. Using vaginal test strips can help you rule out other conditions before resorting to OTC medications used to cure yeast infections.
Using a vaginal test strip is extremely easy, and something that your gynecologist probably does every time you visit. To perform the test you simply press the pH test strip against the inside of your vagina for a few seconds. The paper should change color, indicating what your current pH level is. The color may not match the colors on the chart that comes with your test strips exactly, though it should be closer to one of the colors than the others.
It’s important to note that unlike other pH tests performed on saliva or urine, your normal vaginal pH is slightly acidic, ranging from 3.8 to 4.5. Most if the time when your vaginal pH is out of this range, it can indicate the presence of some kind of infection. However, not all vaginal infections will cause any change to your pH levels, so having a vaginal pH in the normal range doesn’t necessarily mean that no infection exists.
Other pH Test Strip Uses
pH test strips aren’t just good for measuring your body’s pH levels. They can also be used for a number of different things like measuring the pH of your soil for gardening, measuring the pH of the water in your pool as well as measuring the pH of the water that you drink from your faucet.
pH Test Strips for Water
The pH level of pure water is a 7, which means it’s completely neutral. Normal levels for water in your home may range from 6 to 8.5. If your water is above 8.5 it could be considered corrosive and could have harmful effects.
pH is also a good indicator of whether or not you have soft water. Soft water, or water with a pH below 6, could contain excessive amounts of iron, copper, lead or zinc that will make your water more acidic. To put it another way, hard water contains an excess amount of toxic metals which can easily cause damage to metal pipes and will tend to have a sour taste. More importantly, there are health risks associated with consuming soft water due to the amount of toxic metals.
Hard water will have a higher pH and although it doesn’t pose any specific health risks, though it can cause the water to taste more bitter, especially in things like coffee that already have a bitter taste. Hard water can also leave deposits in your sink, shower and washing machine.
pH & Chlorine Test Strips
It’s important to keep your pool or spa water levels properly pH balanced for both your comfort and to keep your equipment running longer. Typically you will want to test the Total Alkalinity before testing the water pH, as bringing TA to an acceptable level will typically balance your overall pH.
Test strips to measure pH for pool and spa water have not always been the number one choice. In the past these test strips were not able to provide an accurate enough reading, though new advanced in test strip technology has allowed pH test strips to be the best choice for testing your water. People no longer have to fumble around with cumbersome liquid pH testing kits.
pH Tests for Soil
Different plants enjoy different levels of acidity. It’s important to measure the pH level in your soil, especially for potted plants. Different fertilizers and soil additives can affect the pH level of your soil, which can make your plants unhappy.
Typically you will want to measure the water runoff from a potted plant to get an idea of the pH level of the soil. If you are attempting to measure the pH levels of outdoor soil, you can collect some soil and filter water through it to measure the pH with a test strip.
Buy pH Test Strips
There are a number of places online you can find pH test strips for sale. Buying pH test strips online will typically save you up to 50% off normal retail prices. It’s also more convenient as the pH test strips will be shipped directly to your home. Not only that, but it’s also a lot more private. You can get the pH strips you need to test your bodily fluids without the whole neighborhood wondering what you’re up to.
If you’re serious about staying healthy and avoiding major medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and more you will want to test your body’s pH regularly. It’s important to purchase multiple types of test strips to get a better idea of your body’s overall pH, as it can vary significantly across different parts of the body.
Buying pH test strips online will also allow you to buy test strips in bulk. Most stores don’t carry bulk pH test strips. Buying in bulk can ensure that you’ve got enough test strips to check your pH regularly. This can help keep you happy, healthy and extend your life by avoiding unnecessary disease and illness associated with pH imbalances in the body.