Although our bodies rely on it to function, drinking too much water can be just as harmful as drinking too much alcohol. According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), “water intoxication” is not well cited within medical literature, but the condition has the potential to be deadly.
Water intoxication occurs when a person drinks an abnormally large amount of fluids within a relatively short period of time. A 2003 NIH publication describes a case in which a 64-year-old woman consumed 30 to 40 glasses of water within one evening. Hours later, she died.
As the NIH states, water intoxication “provokes disturbances in electrolyte balance, resulting in a rapid decrease in serum sodium concentration and eventual death.”
When you drink water in excess, your kidneys aren’t able to keep up. The water they can’t process ends up within your cells, diluting the sodium already residing there, and therefore causing massive swelling. And when this swelling occurs within the cells of your brain, you’re in trouble.
This flooding and swelling of the brain alters one’s psyche. As serum sodium levels drop further below 120 mmol/litre, a person will experience confusion, drowsiness, and eventually, a coma. And if this drop occurs suddenly, as it did in the example mentioned by the NIH, the result is almost always death.
🧐Drinking too much water can result in water intoxication, also known as #hyponatremia, causing the inside of cells to flood due to abnormally low #sodium levels in your blood stream.#HealthyLife #water pic.twitter.com/3sP2mbybvc
— FitPear (@fit_pear) November 16, 2018
Many times symptoms of water intoxication present themselves as those of psychosis — inappropriate behavior, hallucinations, delusions, disorientation, and confusion. Therefore, psychologists have been aware of water intoxication for some time. And they know that if left untreated, these symptoms progress into seizures, coma, delirium, and death.
However, mild water intoxication, as experienced by marathon runners and army trainees, usually presents itself as vomiting, headaches, and potential seizures.
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDCEGMjbNug&feature=youtu.be"]The good news is water intoxication is a rare happening and usually affects those with kidney problems or mental health issues. As long as you’re keeping track of your water intake throughout the day (on average, adults only need three to four liters per day) and sipping, not chugging, you’ll be absolutely fine.
