Can You Drink Too Much Water?

I think the question of “Can you drink too much water?” is great because I have always wondered how much Im actually supposed to be drinking so why not share my findings with all my fam here!?

 

Can You Drink Too Much Water?

It might surprise you, but yes! Drinking too much water can lead to something called water intoxication (gives an all new image to getting drunk, huh) and drinking too much water can also result in the dilution of sodium in the body, which is known as hyponatremia. Water intoxication is not too common, but its mostly found in infants and sometimes in athletes. If you are doing a Beachbody workout program like P90X, T25, Insanity, X2, or X3…you are basically performing at an athletic level. Basically what happens is that you sweat a ton, losing both water and electrolytes. Water intoxication and the accompanying hyponatremia happens when a dehydrated person drinks too much water without the accompanying electrolytes.

 

So You’re Saying You Can Get Drunk Off Water?

Really??? LOL, Thats what you got out of that?

Kidding

Here is what happens with water intoxication: When too much water enters the body’s cells, the tissues swell with the excess fluid. Your cells like to maintain a specific concentration of fluid/sodium – so excess water outside the cells (this is called the serum) draws sodium from within the cells out into the serum in an attempt to re-balance that concentration of fluid/sodium. As you take in more and more water, the amount of sodium in the outside of the cell (the serum) drops. This is where the condition, hyponatremia takes place and your cells electrolyte balance goes out of wack! Electrolytes are what give your cells the ability to conduct electricity… Energy!

 

What Are the Symptoms of Drinking Too Much Water?

Lets pretend YOU are a cell to understand this better… water intoxication of the cell is basically the same thing as you drowning in fresh water.

Electrolyte imbalance and the swelling of the cells can cause an irregular heartbeat, allow fluid to actually enter your lungs, and some cases show that it may cause fluttering eyelids. The swelling of the cells puts pressure on the brain and nerves, which can cause behaviors similar to actually being drunk on alcohol.

Please dont try it though, lol.

If your brain tissues swell, it can cause seizures, coma and and even death unless water intake is controled and a hypertonic saline (salt) solution is given to the water logged drunk 🙂 If you can manage to get treatment before tissue swelling causes too much cellular damage, then you can expect a full recovery within a few days.

 

Can You Drink Water Too Fast Though?

A healthy adult’s kidneys can filter fifteen liters of water a day! The odds of you suffering from water intoxication is pretty slim, even if you drink a lot of water – so long as you are spreading out that intake over a larger amount of time. As a general guideline, most adults need 70% of their weight in ounces of water per day. A lot of the water we take in comes from food, so 8-12 eight ounce glasses a day is a pretty common guideline for intake. Obviously you may need more water if you are the new star of some survival reality show in the desert… or if you are exercising like a boss (so RIPPEDCLUB…This is you!), or if you’re taking certain meds.

Here is the brass tacks: it IS possible to drink too much water, but unless you are beer bonging water or you’re a six month old kickin back too many bottles (and if thats true, congrats on learning to read at such an early age! I’m impressed, please leave a comment!)… water intoxication is a very unlikely event for you.

I hope this info was helpful! If so, be sure you Like & Share with the social media buttons to the left. It will help get this info into the hands of the people looking for it! Thanks for being a part of our mission of helping to “End the Trend of Obesity”…I really appreciate it!

Now its time to BRING IT & inspire others to do the same!

Coach Todd