water help

jenhenning219
jenhenning219 Posts: 385 Member
edited October 4 in Food and Nutrition
is there such thing as too much water? its 12 pm here and i am already at 72 oz of water

Replies

  • warmachinejt
    warmachinejt Posts: 2,162 Member
    water is a good thing
    I am actually forced to drink around 120oz a day cause I'm taking creatine
    just don't force yourself to drink it too much and also eat appropiately
  • jenhenning219
    jenhenning219 Posts: 385 Member
    i eat pretty well, and drunk usually 9 cups of water a day but today i am up to 13 cups so far
  • piccolarj
    piccolarj Posts: 488 Member
    You're fine just stay close to a bathroom!!
  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
    I always feel better from my skin to innards, if I'm getting plenty of water. If you're thirsty enough to clear that much water already, your body is probably using it, so don't be shy.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Yes, technically there is such as thing as too much water, and being over hydrated is just as dangerous as being dehydrated. Always go by the color of your urine, it should be pale yellow. If its clear you're drinking too much. Too much water, plus low sodium and potassium can be deadly.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    Yes, it's possible to drink too much water. Too much will adversely affect your electrolyte levels and can cause brain problems. But, it takes a lot of water to do this. 72oz is nowhere close to too much for an average adult. I'm supposed to drink about 120oz every day because I live in the high desert and am pregnant. I like to use this calculator to help me figure out how much water I need.

    http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    Yes, technically there is such as thing as too much water, and being over hydrated is just as dangerous as being dehydrated. Always go by the color of your urine, it should be pale yellow. If its clear you're drinking too much. Too much water, plus low sodium and potassium can be deadly.

    Clear urine doesn't mean a person is drinking too much water. Mine is almost always pretty clear if I'm drinking as much water as I'm supposed to. Being clear just means there is little to no waste in the urine. It doesn't mean electrolytes are being flushed.
  • morkiemama
    morkiemama Posts: 894 Member
    It takes A LOT of water to hit dangerous levels. You can die from it, but it takes a ridiculous amount from what I remember...
  • MarlaChandlerBarton
    MarlaChandlerBarton Posts: 141 Member
    Up to 60% of the human body is water, the brain is composed of 70% water, and the lungs are nearly 90% water. Lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water by weight, as is the brain; body fat contains 10% water and bone has 22% water. About 83% of our blood is water, which helps digest our food, transport waste, and control body temperature. Each day humans must replace 2.4 litres of water, some through drinking and the rest taken by the body from the foods eaten.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
    Water is a great way to make you feel full. A full feeling will tend to discourage eating. Therefore, drink more water if you need to control your urge to eat.

    Here's a medical look into drinking water:

    http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/283/5/R993.full

    [edit]
    Looks like Snopes has weighed in on this:

    http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

    [edit]
    Now, to answer your question… :-)

    You can drink so much water that it harms you though, as I understand it, it's very rare. While learning about running I've read a few books on marathons and one of them recounts a story of a few women who ran a marathon a few years about (in the 90's I'm thinking) and, when they finished the marathon, they guzzled a lot of water. Quarts, perhaps.

    Their electrolyte levels were low as a result of sweating so much and, when they added the water, their levels dropped to a fatal level. My hunch was that they lowered their potassium enough that their heart stopped.

    I learned something very neat about replenishing after exercise. If you drink a lot of water and it's sloshing around in your stomach, you haven't consumed enough sodium/potassium. When you drink a replenisher drink (which contains those chemicals), the chemicals ensure that water is digested very quickly — "water follows salt". If it's sloshing, it's 'cause there's not enough salt. Sounds like a good rule of thumb, eh?
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Yes, technically there is such as thing as too much water, and being over hydrated is just as dangerous as being dehydrated. Always go by the color of your urine, it should be pale yellow. If its clear you're drinking too much. Too much water, plus low sodium and potassium can be deadly.

    Clear urine doesn't mean a person is drinking too much water. Mine is almost always pretty clear if I'm drinking as much water as I'm supposed to. Being clear just means there is little to no waste in the urine. It doesn't mean electrolytes are being flushed.

    That's the point. I never said anything about electrolytes being flushed. Too much water in your system dilutes the concentration of electrolytes to dangerously low levels, causing the body to react by eliminating water as a safety mechanism. Your body doesn't actually use that water for anything, and all it does is cause you to urinate more and risk kidney damage.

    You might as well just pour that glass of water directly into the toilet, because essentially that's all you're doing at that point, just drinking water to immediately eliminate it, and it serves no useful or functional purpose for your body. Hence, over hydrated.

    The entire purpose of urinating is to eliminate waste products. If you're urine doesn't have any waste product in it, then you're over hydrated and potentially hurting yourself long term, or at the very least, inconveniencing yourself and wasting water.
  • madrv1
    madrv1 Posts: 4
    I don't think enough water... taste terrible after a while. Never being able to do so except when working out or out on the trail.
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