How much water is too much water?

You should be fine. Its really rare to drink so much water that you put yourself at risk. The highest number of cases is where people drink too much water and do not urinate. This has happened due to water drinking contests (ie a radio station in Florida did a 'hold your wee for a Wii' contest leading to a woman's death), but is most common in marathon runners.

it takes a LOT

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hyponatremia/DS00974

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/5/f/blwaterintox.htm

When you end up with a mineral deficiency.

I drink 5 litres many days and I have always been fine. However, there can be issues when people drink a lot of water quickly or everyday (like 10 litres a day etc). This can cause sodium loss in your body. So, make sure if you drink a ton remember you also need salt and electrolytes.

I know a little bit about this because I sweat like a crazy person when I work out...don't know why...always have. I have also almost always worked outside and sometimes in extreme conditions (like I planted trees...4000/day, in 45 degree weather in Australia). So I have had fairly bad heat stroke 3 times. Stupidly the first time I tried to just drink tons of water quickly to hydrate myself. I ended up in hospital. I know now if it happens again I also need to add salt to everything I eat and get some gatorade.

Anyhow, if you are just drinking 12-15 glasses of water instead of 8 you will be fine!!

The 28-year old woman who died at the water drinking radio contest had only 6 liters of water in 3 hours. So be careful.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-drinking-too-much-water-can-kill

Don't drink for the sake of drinking water, if you need water, your body will tell you.

The 28-year old woman who died at the water drinking radio contest had only 6 liters of water in 3 hours. So be careful.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-drinking-too-much-water-can-kill

Don't drink for the sake of drinking water, if you need water, your body will tell you.

She was holding it in though, I'm sure that is what contributed to her death...I doubt most people are drinking 6 liters and not using the washroom.

Does water help flush out the excess sodium. My doctor says I should reduce sodium because I retain fluid in my ankles. I would think drinking a lot of water would make that worse but then some say that drinking water flushes out the excess sodium and will improve my fluid retention. I'm so confused.

youre supposed to drink water until your pee is clear or really pale yellow.....when your pee is invisible and you dont know where it is. then its time to stop chugging.

:laugh:
Love this!!!

Your 8 glasses of 8oz per day converts to being 8 glasses of 237mL per day (1 cup in Australia is 250mL) which would therefore be 2 litres of water MINIMUM per day. I strongly believe whatever water you drink at the gym or through exercise does NOT count in your 2 litres for the day as like you said, you sweat a lot of it out. I can drink quite comfortably between 3-6 litres of water per day (including gym water) so you'd be more than fine and your body would welcome any extra water over the 2 litres of water per day! Water is great for flushing out any excess sodium in your system :-) I know people drinking between 6-8 litres of water per day (I don't know how they do it with running backwArds and forwards to the toilet ALL DAY!)

Go for it, water is great!

Listen to your body when it comes to how much water to drink. It will give you signs before you're dehydrated. Lack of sodium is harder to get than dehydration, but it's not exactly rare either. An hour-long bike ride in hot weather without enough salty rubbish in your diet will give me one hell of a headache... and only salt seems to make it go away. Ibuprofen won't touch those puppies.