Is there such a thing as too much water?

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jacalou
jacalou Posts: 61 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am drinking about 3 - 3 1/2 litres of water/day? Is this okay or is it too much? I am working out regularly and tend to drink a bit more on those days.
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Replies

  • NemesisJRM
    NemesisJRM Posts: 248 Member
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    Its depends, Yes there is a thing as to much but that is in one go and can cause death, but as long as its spaced out through a day then no your fine :-D

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
  • KeyMasterOfGozer
    KeyMasterOfGozer Posts: 229 Member
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    It is possible to drink enough water fast enough to kill you. It can trow off teh electrolyte balance inside your cells (the fluid in your cells is made up of salt water). This is the opposite of what happens if you eat too much salt. Either way can kill you. the good news is, you would probably have to drink several gallons of water in a few hours to make this happen to you.
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,383 Member
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    It would have to get pretty ridiculous to actually be 'too much'. You'd have to be forcing yourself to drink huge amounts in a short period of time.
  • Haven29455
    Haven29455 Posts: 24 Member
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    Good morning I was reading your post and thought this link might be helpful. Keep up the good work! :happy: http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm
  • teeley
    teeley Posts: 477 Member
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    if you are not dead yet it is not too much....
    and good job drinking that much water!!!!
  • KMcBandit
    KMcBandit Posts: 65
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/411966-water-toxicity-and-don-t-argue-with-me?error_user_id=7307195&error_username=KMcBandit&hl=water
  • Alison__
    Alison__ Posts: 107
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    I have to disagree with all of you :/ Drinking more than 2 liters of water per day could stress your bladder and make it hard for you to "hold it in" while you're older. I read about this in a fitness magazine of women in their 50's who couldn't control their bladder at all since they'd stressed it too much while younger.

    So in the long run, drinking too much water won't do you any good. But why drink more than the recommended amount of 2 liters?
  • flsunshine
    flsunshine Posts: 188 Member
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    there is such a thing as over hydrating- however if youre drinking water in x amounts during the day and not all at once you should be find.
  • CoryIda
    CoryIda Posts: 7,887 Member
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    There IS such a thing as too much water, but there is no set amount and it is very hard to overdo the water. You need water to function well, so as long as you aren't drinking so much that it messes up your electrolyte balance, you're fine.
  • karina128
    karina128 Posts: 8 Member
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    yes there is. it's called hyponetremia. It is very serious and often over looked. the symptoms are very similiar to someon having a heat stroke. It usually occurs in very athletic people, they drink too much water instaed of adding some type fo sports drink or enough sodium. If you know you are going to be doing physical activiies all day, maybe a 10 hr hike, then you'd want to make sure you are drinknig enough water and eating foods with enough sodium (regular meals should be sufficient) but it's also good to bring sunflower seeds. I've seen it in a patient before and the initial diagnosis was heat stroke, after lab work was done they realized it was hyponetremia. Potassium was almost injected in him, if it was he would have died because that was not was initially needed. If you do recognize that there is an electolyte imbalance what you can also do is make a cup of chicken broth. Hope this helped.
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    There is definitely too much. But it is different per person and as long as you are feeling good, you haven't reached the 'too much' point yet.

    If I eat too little salt, and drink too much water, I pass out. Like, straight away it starts feeling bad then I know I am done with water for that day, probably need some pretzels or something. This happens to me (personally) when I have about 120oz of water and very low salt intake (less than 800mg). I found if I balance my salt/ water for the day I am just fine and can drink my 120 oz without feeling bad :)
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    If you are exercising for awhile, or sweating a lot because of heat or intensity, then the comments regarding messing up electrolytes can happen a whole lot easier.

    Because not only have you lost a lot/some from sweating, now the remaining is thinned out from drinking too much water.
  • Kamalka
    Kamalka Posts: 164 Member
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    And a study showed that a group of people drinking 1 liter every morning BEFORE EATING and three other liters through the day for 40 years had approximately 90 % less cancers, stress, depression, back problems, etc.... drinking before eating get the best effect from water and between 3-4 liters a day is just perfect: I feel full of energy, sleep beter, more happy and it is much more important for me as my father and grand father died from kidney probems. Drinking a lot also helps me to keep my nutrition ok, my stomach get smaller (otherwise I have like bulimia problems). You could go up to 6 liters without any problems, I stood it when fasting for 3 weeks (with suplements)

    I understand you can be worried because it is not a common behavior but, listening to your body, you should know this is good for you.
  • REBEE17
    REBEE17 Posts: 101 Member
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    I was always told as long as you are passing the water you drink, you are fine.

    There was once a radio station that had a game "Hold your Wee for a Wii" - the woman that won wound up dying shortly after from not "getting rid" of all the water she drank. I forgot how much she drank.

    I tend to drink around 100 oz a day.

    I was also told a good guideline is to drink half your body weight in ounces of water a day.
  • Jess5825
    Jess5825 Posts: 228
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    I hope not. I sometimes drink up to 2 gallons per day (throughout the day of course.) but during my kickboxing class I drink 32 oz. then maybe 16 oz or so after, and on my drive home drink another 32 oz. So in a span of 1.5 hours I already have more than the recommended amount for the day.

    Seeing someone mention sodium. Most days I'm over on my sodium intake, and I've decided to try to decrease my sodium. Buying no salt added sauce and giving up my FF hot dogs. Which contribute a lot to my high sodium intake. I wonder if I should reconsider that, since I drink so much. I wonder if I'll end up Hyponatremic.....
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,383 Member
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    I have to disagree with all of you :/ Drinking more than 2 liters of water per day could stress your bladder and make it hard for you to "hold it in" while you're older. I read about this in a fitness magazine of women in their 50's who couldn't control their bladder at all since they'd stressed it too much while younger.

    So in the long run, drinking too much water won't do you any good. But why drink more than the recommended amount of 2 liters?

    I can understand where that might cause an issue, but couldn't that be remedied by urinating more frequently so your bladder isn't getting overly full (i.e. not holding it in for long periods of time)?

    Some people feel they need to drink more due to their activity level, sweating water out, etc.
  • mrschappet
    mrschappet Posts: 488 Member
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    http://chemistry.about.com/cs/5/f/blwaterintox.htm
  • Alison__
    Alison__ Posts: 107
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    I can understand where that might cause an issue, but couldn't that be remedied by urinating more frequently so your bladder isn't getting overly full (i.e. not holding it in for long periods of time)?

    Some people feel they need to drink more due to their activity level, sweating water out, etc.

    I'm not an expert, but I think it's the same; urinating too much can't be good either since our bodies aren't build to urinate that much. I think it'd be best if people stuck to what is recommended since that's the healthy amount of water our bodies needs, but going over with a few glasses won't hurt.

    And I understand that point, but as I said, I'm not an expert. I can't make any statements regarding people who are training frantically and how that's affecting their bladders. I'm only stating my opinion :)
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
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    Make sure you spread it out and don't drink it all at once. Without going into a huge technical sciencey explanation... your blood cells have a certain percentage of salt and the plasma also contains the same balance of salt to make an ideal environment for these cells. Introducing water to your blood stream is good in that it helps your blood to remove toxins and to run more smoothly and quickly though your organs. Introduce too much water all at once and the salt balance is thrown off. Your salty cells start taking in too much of that water until they can't hold any more a physically explode!

    So, yes, lots of water in a day is healthy, but, lots of water all at once is dangerous.

    --The crazy girl with (almost) a bio degree
  • SiltyPigeon
    SiltyPigeon Posts: 920 Member
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    Is there such a thing as too much water?

    Does your body go "swish swosh swish swosh" when you walk or "glub glub glub" when you roll over in bed? Do you pee more than once per hour? Have your kidneys recently shut down from over consumption of water? Have you recently passed away from excessive water consumption? These are all signs that you're drinking too much water.

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