Is there such a thing as too much water?

There are a lot of studies out there that suggest there is. People have actually died from water toxicity. What happens is too much water is consumed too quickly and it lowers the amount of sodium in the blood, which in turn pulls the sodium from your organs and other tissues.

here are a few examples:

In September 1999, a 19-year-old Air Force recruit collapsed during a 5.8-mile walk, with a body temperature of 108 degrees Fahrenheit. Doctors concluded he had died of both heat stroke and low blood sodium levels as a result of overhydration.

During January 2000, a 20-year-old trainee in the Army drank around 12 quarts of water during a 2- to 4-hour period while trying to produce a urine specimen for a drug test. She then experienced fecal incontinence, lost consciousness and became confused, then died from swelling in the brain and lungs as a result of low blood sodium.

In March 2001, a 19-year-old Marine died from drinking too much water after a 26-mile march, during which he carried a pack and gear weighing more than 90 pounds. Although he appeared fine during the beginning stages of the 8-hour walk, towards the end he began vomiting and appeared overly tired.


those 3 examples are from: Military Medicine May 2002;167:432-434


I have seen article saying 1 quart for every 50 lbs, and have seen as much 12 quarts a day spread equally over 24 hours. So, the gallon of water we drink daily is okay, as long as you don't down the whole gallon at one time.

I have pondered this from time to time, also. I have wondered whether the things that are IN tap water could do you harm at high levels. I remember when I started pushing my water at one week out this last year, I hadn't bought bottle water yet so I used tap water for the first part of the first day. I drink 1 liter per hour all day and I gotta tell you, I thought I would throw up every time I drank it. Now, when I switched to bottle water, I was fine. It seemed that there was so much shit in my tap water (and we are known in my area for good water) that I could literally taste it. I mean, there are levels of chlorine in tap water that if you took in alot of it, might cause you a problem or two if you did it for an extended time period.

I don't know about bottled water, though. I would wonder if those cases were isolated as I am sure that the rest of the group consumed large amounts of water after these runs and they all didn't die. ?? Low sodium levels? I would wonder if bodybuilders get lower sodium levels for the two days before a show than those guys that died. ??

I don't know. Interesting post, though. Makes you wonder if giving up water, protein, gear, etc., might be better and trade it in for pizza everyday, beer 4 times a week and a bong hit every now an then. *shrug*

Skip

Always make sure your bottled water is purified

I use a brita pitcher at home, the filter pulls out all the chlorine as well as a few other things

i'm thinking about getting a reverse osmosis system put under my sink so the water is purified

Yeah I have heard of that before....... Those are some very rare cases tho....

And it has to be a lot of water in a short period of time!!

exactly right.

when I was in Marine Corp at the beautiful Parris Island Resort, my drill instructors would make us drink a gallon of water right after a meal. Everyone had two 1quart canteens, drill instructors would shake 'em to make sure they were full and then tell us to drink. We had about i minute per canteen, and if people took too long they would make us fill them up and do it again. People were puking everywhere. They were some cruel/mean mofos. That happened several times during my 13 weeks vacation.

Water toxification will occur, but the circumstances have to be extreme: heavy, prolonged exercise with generally forced water intake. Sodium is lost in the sweat and not replaced in the fluids taken it.

Generally speaking, sweat has less sodium in it than the blood: if you lose a lot of sweat, you've lost relatively less sodium than fluid and sodium levels in the blood go UP! BUT, if you continually lose sodium over a prolonged period and consume large amounts of water in an attempt replace fluid losses (which is nearly impossible - just too much is lost) without replacing sodium losses, sodium will be diluted and hyponatremia (low blood sodium is the result).

One of the problems is that under normal circumstances, the thermoregulatory system perceivs low blood sodium as an indication of good hydration, meaning that high sweat rates are OK (there's plenty of fluid to lose). (Also, thirst is not strongly stimulated when sodium levels are low - for good reason, it seems - so fluid intake is generally forced in these circumstances). This continued sweating when blood sodium levels are low, of course, only exacerbates the situation b/c more sodium is lost and not replaced.

Simply drinking gatorade (it has sodium) would likely have saved these persons' lives.

-Randy

Very very interesting stuff here. Good share people.

homonunculus said:

Water toxification will occur, but the circumstances have to be extreme: heavy, prolonged exercise with generally forced water intake. Sodium is lost in the sweat and not replaced in the fluids taken it.

Generally speaking, sweat has less sodium in it than the blood: if you lose a lot of sweat, you've lost relatively less sodium than fluid and sodium levels in the blood go UP! BUT, if you continually lose sodium over a prolonged period and consume large amounts of water in an attempt replace fluid losses (which is nearly impossible - just too much is lost) without replacing sodium losses, sodium will be diluted and hyponatremia (low blood sodium is the result).

One of the problems is that under normal circumstances, the thermoregulatory system perceivs low blood sodium as an indication of good hydration, meaning that high sweat rates are OK (there's plenty of fluid to lose). (Also, thirst is not strongly stimulated when sodium levels are low - for good reason, it seems - so fluid intake is generally forced in these circumstances). This continued sweating when blood sodium levels are low, of course, only exacerbates the situation b/c more sodium is lost and not replaced.

Simply drinking gatorade (it has sodium) would likely have saved these persons' lives.

-Randy

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you are one well informed mofo. i said it before and i'll say it again, your answers are always topnotch!!!


very interesting comment about the gatorade to.

GetnBigr said:

you are one well informed mofo. i said it before and i'll say it again, your answers are always topnotch!!!


very interesting comment about the gatorade to.

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Thanks, Bro. I do my best. (Just happy that there's someone out there who cares about all this junk in my head!!!)

-Randy

Damn Randy. You must have went to school or something.

I will say that I read that some women was being charged for the murder of her daughter. Apperently she was caught drinking milk out of the jug and her mom made her drink 2 gollons of milk as a punishment and she died.

jaywooly said:

Damn Randy. You must have went to school or something.

I will say that I read that some women was being charged for the murder of her daughter. Apperently she was caught drinking milk out of the jug and her mom made her drink 2 gollons of milk as a punishment and she died.

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that's just plain mean!!! noone can drink a gallon of whole in and hour without puking (at least I haven't seen anyone do it) much less 2 gallons

GetnBigr said:

that's just plain mean!!! noone can drink a gallon of whole in and hour without puking (at least I haven't seen anyone do it) much less 2 gallons

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I think I may have a project for this weekend. If you don't hear from me by the middle of next week, contact Presser for and addy to send donations... ;^)

-R