Is Too Much Water Dangerous – O is an essential condition of life. Making up about 66% of the human body, water flows through the blood, residing in cells and hiding in the spaces in between. At all times, water exits the body through perspiration, urination, defecation, or exhalation, among other routes. Replacing these lost stores is essential but rehydration can be abused. There is such a thing as a fatal water overdose.
Earlier this year, a 28-year-old California woman died after participating in a radio drinking contest. After drinking about six liters of water in three hours during the “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” (Nintendo console) competition, Jennifer Strange vomited, went home with a headache, and died of so-called water intoxication.
Is Too Much Water Dangerous
There are many other tragic examples of underwater deaths. In 2005, a fraternal murder at California State University, Chico, left a 21-year-old man dead after he was forced to drink too much water between push-ups in a cold basement. . Clubgoers taking MDMA (“ecstasy”) have died after drinking too much water trying to rehydrate after long nights of dancing and sweating. Going overboard in rehydration efforts is also common among endurance athletes. A 2005 study in
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Hyponatremia, a compound word of Latin and Greek roots, translates as “not enough salt in the blood”. Quantitatively speaking, that means having a blood sodium level of less than 135 millimoles per liter, or about 0.4 ounces per gallon, a normal concentration somewhere between 135 and 145 millimoles per liter. Severe cases of hyponatremia can lead to water intoxication, an illness whose symptoms include headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, frequent urination, and mental disorientation.
In humans, the kidneys control how much water, salt, and other solutes leave the body by filtering blood through their millions of spiral tubules. When a person drinks too much water in a short time, the kidneys can’t get rid of it fast enough and the blood becomes waterlogged. Dragged to areas with higher concentrations of salt and other solutes, excess water leaves the blood and eventually enters cells, which inflate like balloons to contain it. .
Most cells have room to stretch because they are located in flexible tissues such as fat and muscle, but not in nerve cells. Wolfgang Liedtke, clinical neuroscientist at Duke University Medical Center, explains: The brain cells are tightly packed inside a rigid cage of bones, the skull, and they must share this space with blood and cerebrospinal fluid. “The inside of the skull has almost no room for expansion and swelling,” he said.
Therefore, edema or swelling of the brain can be a disaster. M. Amin Arnaout, chief of nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, explains: “Rapid and severe hyponatremia causes water to enter brain cells leading to brain swelling, which manifests as seizures, coma, respiratory arrest, brainstem herniation and death”. School.
Hyponatremia: When Drinking Too Much Water Becomes Dangerous
Where did people get the idea that drinking huge amounts of water is healthy? A few years ago, Heinz Valtin, a nephrologist at Dartmouth Medical School, decided to determine if the popular advice to drink 8.8 glasses of water a day was consistent with scientific research. After searching the peer-reviewed literature, Valtin concluded that there was no scientific research to support the “eight by eight” maxim (for healthy adults living in mild climates and light exercise). In fact, drinking as much or more of this “could be harmful, both in promoting potentially dangerous hyponatremia and in exposure to pollutants, and in making many people feel guilty for not having drink enough,” he wrote in a 2002 review for
. And since he published his findings, Valtin said, “not a single scientific report published in a peer-reviewed publication has proven otherwise.”
Most cases of water poisoning are not caused by drinking too much water, says Joseph Verbalis, chair of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center. It is often a combination of excessive fluid intake and increased secretion of vasopressors (also called antidiuretic hormones), he explains. Produced by the hypothalamus and secreted into the bloodstream by the posterior pituitary gland, vasopressin instructs the kidneys to conserve water. Its excretion increases during times of physical stress — such as during a marathon — and can cause the body to conserve water even if a person drinks too much.
Every hour, a healthy kidney at rest can excrete 800 to 1,000 ml, or 0.21 to 0.26 gallons of water, and thus a person can drink water at a rate of 800 to 1,000 ml per hour without suffering from hyperhydration, Verbalis explains. However, if the person is running a marathon, the stressful situation will increase vasopressin levels, reducing the kidneys’ ability to excrete to as low as 100 ml per hour. He said: “Drinking between 800 and 1,000 ml of water per hour under these conditions can lead to an increase in net water intake, even with significant sweating.
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Verbalis advises during exercise, “you should balance what you’re drinking with what you’re sweating,” and that includes sports drinks, which can also cause hyponatremia when consumed in excess. . “If you’re sweating 500ml an hour, that’s what you should be drinking.”
But measuring the amount of sweat secreted is not easy. How can a marathon runner, or any person, determine water consumption? As long as you’re healthy and equipped with a thirst barometer unaffected by old age or mind-altering drugs, follow Verbalis’ advice, “drink ’til thirsty. is the best indicator.”
Discover science that changes the world. Explore our digital archive from 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel laureates. There are many beverage options available, but water is the best option for most people who have access to safe drinking water. It has zero calories and is as easy to find as the nearest faucet.
Water helps restore lost fluids through metabolism, respiration, sweating, and waste removal. It keeps you from overheating, lubricates joints and tissues, maintains healthy skin, and is essential for proper digestion. It’s the perfect calorie-free drink to quench your thirst and rehydrate your body.
Yes, You Can Drink Too Much Water
Water is an essential nutrient at any age, so optimal hydration is a key component to good health. Water makes up about 60% of an adult’s body weight. We drink water when we feel thirsty, the main signal that alerts us when the body is running low on water. We also often drink beverages with meals to help with digestion. But sometimes we drink based not on these factors but on how much we think we should drink. One of the most familiar sayings is to aim for “8 drinks a day,” but this may not be right for everyone.
Remember that about 20% of the total water we drink comes not from drinks but from water-rich foods like lettuce, green leafy vegetables, cucumbers, bell peppers, summer squash, celery, berries and melon.
In addition to including water-rich foods, the following chart is a guide to daily water intake based on age group from the National Academy of Medicine:
A healthy body is designed to send thirst signals when the body runs out of fluids. Thirst is the desire to drink water, and is motivated not only by physiological but also behavioral cues. [2] An example of a behavioral prompt is water temperature; Research shows that people tend to drink the most water when it is served at room temperature although colder drinks are rated as having the most pleasant taste. We are also often influenced to drink (and eat) more in social settings.
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However, as we age, the body’s mechanisms to regulate fluid intake and thirst decrease. Research has shown that both of these factors are impaired in the elderly. A Cochrane review found that commonly used indicators of dehydration in older adults (eg, urine color and volume, sensation of thirst) were ineffective and should not be used alone. [3] Certain conditions that impair mental and cognitive abilities, such as stroke or dementia, can also reduce thirst. People can also voluntarily limit their alcohol intake due to incontinence or difficulty going to the bathroom. Beyond these situations, research has found that athletes, sick people, and infants may not have enough thirst to meet their fluid needs. [2] Even mild dehydration can produce negative symptoms, so people who cannot rely on thirst or other conventional measures can use other strategies. For example, try to fill a 20-ounce water bottle four times per day and sip throughout the day, or drink a large glass of water with each meal and snack.
Like most current trends, alkaline water has gained popularity thanks to the endorsement of celebrities with claims ranging from weight loss to curing cancer. The theory behind alkaline water is the same as the one that advertises the benefits of eating alkaline foods, which are seen as counterbalancing the health harms caused by eating acidic foods like meat, sugar and some grains.
On a scale of 0-14, higher pH numbers are alkaline; Lower pH is acidic. The body tightly regulates blood pH levels to around 7.4 because of changes
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