Sodium & water

girl_brett

Pretty much every day you'll see someone mention something about sodium and water. I'm the type of person who never drinks tons of fluids, only as I feel thirty, but while just looking at something I came across this. http://www.nutritional-supplement-educational-centre.com/can-you-drink-too-much-water.html I've heard many times about water intoxication, but I never knew what happens. It's kind of scary because so many people on here cut their sodium way back and drink tons of water.

I would hate to see something bad happen to anyone, so I wanted to share this!

wolfchild59

Don't worry too much, it's not that much of an overall risk.


Excerpted from this article, http://chemistry.about.com/cs/5/f/blwaterintox.htm:

It's Not How Much You Drink, It's How Fast You Drink It!

The kidneys of a healthy adult can process fifteen liters of water a day! You are unlikely to suffer from water intoxication, even if you drink a lot of water, as long as you drink over time as opposed to intaking an enormous volume at one time. As a general guideline, most adults need about three quarts of fluid each day. Much of that water comes from food, so 8-12 eight ounce glasses a day is a common recommended intake. You may need more water if the weather is very warm or very dry, if you are exercising, or if you are taking certain medications. The bottom line is this: it's possible to drink too much water, but unless you are running a marathon or an infant, water intoxication is a very uncommon condition.

amyoliver85

Yes, my boot camp instructor confirmed for me the other day that it's actually okay to drink your entire body weight in ounces of water each day (I weigh 174, so I can drink 174 ounces of water or nearly 22 cups), especially when you are exercising. You would literally have to drink 3x your body weight in ounces to get to the point of water intoxication.

When wolfchild59 is talking about how fast you drink the water that's pretty much the jist. In order to drink 3x your body weight in ounces you'd have to drink that water pretty dang fast and just overload your body with so much water at a time that it couldn't process not only the water but the oxygen in your blood stream as well.