Too much of a good thing???

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RanayeG
RanayeG Posts: 12
in Food and Nutrition
Is it possible to drink too much water??? I work 12hr shifts in the ER & without paying much attention to it, I realized at the end of my shift I had gone through 4, 32oz cups of water. That's a whole gallon!!! Does anyone know if this is a problem other than making me have to pee alot. :)

Replies

  • Carrie704
    Carrie704 Posts: 176
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    i hope its not a problem! i drink that much too!
  • alliecore
    alliecore Posts: 446 Member
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    Google water intoxication....
  • melvac
    melvac Posts: 333 Member
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    Not a problem unless you have heart or kidney disease. Water flushes toxins from your body so drink up..
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    I think a gallon isn't too crazy, but I have heard that you can technically drink too much...definitely Google it!
  • aippolito1
    aippolito1 Posts: 4,894 Member
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    As long as you're peeing, it's fine. You can only drown or get "water intoxicated" if you're not peeing. You drown because it pools up in your body. When you're walking around a lot, your muscles are using that water so I don't think you have anything to worry about. You can tell by the color of your pee. When I waited tables, I would try to drink 2-32 oz bottles and my pee was STILL yellow so I knew my body was using it and I could still keep drinking.
  • prematurelyblonde
    prematurelyblonde Posts: 1
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    If you do that every day, it might be too much. I think it depletes the nutrients along with keeping you full-feeling (and distracted).
  • andreahanlon
    andreahanlon Posts: 263 Member
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    Another idea with water intoxification is that you end up ridding your body of important electrolytes and such. I used to drink a gallon of water a day (for a long time) and eventually got light headed and fainted. Some medical professionals told me fainting can be caused by this idea of "water intoxification".
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,680 Member
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    Is it possible to drink too much water??? I work 12hr shifts in the ER & without paying much attention to it, I realized at the end of my shift I had gone through 4, 32oz cups of water. That's a whole gallon!!! Does anyone know if this is a problem other than making me have to pee alot. :)
    Not a gallon spread over a period of time. Just make sure your electrolytes are balanced.
  • RanayeG
    RanayeG Posts: 12
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    Thanks for all the tips guys. I didn't realize how much I had consumed today until I started adding up my intake for the day. LOL I also did "google" it & found a calculator that tells you how much you need daily resulting from your activity & weight. It said 17, 8oz cups was recommended & I only did 16, so I'm good. :)
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
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    A gallon is not bad over 12 hours. A gallon in 12 mins. now that's something to be concerned about. Like ninerbuff said, just keep an eye on electrolytes if you don't consume a lot of sodium or potassium. You're body's Na+K- pump can get thrown off balance.

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