Is 1 gallon of water to much to drink a day?

Question

Is 1 gallon (16 8oz glasses) of water to much to drink a day?

Answer 1

Think of this, when I do exercise in the desert because I'm a Marine, does that one gallon of water seem like a lot when I sweat about 2 gallons out in one day? It seems that the question is relative. You ever drink a 12 pack or 24 pack of beer? Just because it has a good flavor doesn't mean it's healthy. Yet people worry about water.

Yet people worry.


Making people worry about water is probably from water selling companies that started rumors about drinking too much water: they might say, "if you would like our precisely measured water for your enjoyment, you will be safe from danger!" This measured water is only 25 US dollars. Please drink responsibly.

Answer 2

Not if you space it out during the day. But it's unecessary. The whole thing about drinking a lot of water is a myth, started by a health nut who ran a spa back around the turn of the 20th century.

Snopes.com debunked this myth:
"The best general advice (keeping in mind that there are always "exceptions) is to rely upon your normal senses. If you feel thirsty, drink; if you don't feel thirsty, don't drink unless you want to."

The exhortation that we all need to satisfy an arbitrarily rigid rule about how much water we must drink every day fully meets three important criteria for being an American health urban legend: excess, public virtue, and the search for a cheap "magic bullet."

And here is an article from the Dartmouth Medica School on the subject:
http://dms.dartmouth.edu/news/2002_h2/08aug2002_water.shtml

Drinkg too much water all at once can kill you. It's called water intoxication:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

Answer 3

It depends on your weight. My doctor says to drink 1 quart of water every day for every 50 pounds of body weight. If you weigh 200 pounds, that would mean 1 gallon a day.

But as someone else here said, don't drink a gallon of anything all at once. I don't remember exactly what it does, but it's something to do with your heart stopping, maybe because of the pressure from the excess liquid.

Answer 4

Depends on your weight and the environmental conditions. As a rule-of-thumb calculate 1/2 your weight in ounces of water as the amount of water (or other noncaffeinated/nondiuretic drinks) you should drink. Therefore, if you weighed 256 pounds, a gallon of water would be about right. If you were working out in hot weather and sweating a lot, even more would be appropriate.

Answer 5

If you're drinking because you're actually thirsty, then no.

But if you drinking that much thinking it's going to help you lose weight, then yes. You can also die from drinking too much water because your electrolytes get thinned out and you have a heart attack (electrical impulses no longer work).

You might also measure your glass. Most kitchen glasses are 12-16 oz so you might actually be drinking even more.

Answer 6

Though uncommon, it is possible to drink too much water. When your kidneys are unable to excrete the extra water, the electolyte (mineral) content of the blood is diluted, resulting in a condition called hyponatremia (low sodium levels in the blood). Endurance athletes -- such as marathon runners -- who drink large amounts of water are at higher risk for developing hyponatremia. If you are really concerned, I would suggest speaking to your doctor or a registered dietitian. If you were just curious, I would say that the best rule of thumb is 2 liters per day for females and 3 liters per day for males (relatively active).

Hope this helps!

Answer 7

Unless your a running outside in 100 degree weather or sweating alot.Then a gallon of water is way to much. Just check if your urine is light-yellow or clear. :) lol Drink like 6 glass in 8 oz cups.

Answer 8

Usually 8 8oz glasses are recommended. Make sure that you are not flushing the good things out of your body when consuming this much.

Answer 9

There is a such thing as water poisoning, actually. This can be avoided by getting sufficient electrolytes. There's a pretty good balance of sodium and potassium in powerade. But powerade has a lot of sugar, so I get the powdered stuff and mix in half the normal amount.

Water poisoning is bad news. Given severe enough instances, your body can go into shock, and you can even die. Its often mistaken for heat exhaustion and heart failure.

Answer 10

If you are exercising alot then I don't think that is too much. Depends on your weight too...
I drink about 96 ounces a day and 104 when I work out, and I lost 54 lbs! See my before and after pic: http://www.healthandstrength.net
I did do alot of other things, but drinking alot of water was one of the keys