Can a person drink TOO MUCH water?

Question

What are the symptoms? What happens internally? What happens on the cellular level? I'm curious!
Thanks!

Answer 1

A. Yes, there is a condition known as "water intoxication." It is usually associated with long distance events like running and cycling. And it’s not an unusual problem. For example, water intoxication was reported in 18% of marathon runners and in 29% of the finishers in a Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon in studies published recently in the Annals of Internal Medicine and in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise respectively.

What happens is that as the athlete consumes large amounts of water over the course of the event, blood plasma (the liquid part of blood) increases. As this takes place, the salt content of the blood is diluted. At the same time, the athlete is losing salt by sweating. Consequently, the amount of salt available to the body tissues decreases over time to a point where the loss interferes with brain, heart, and muscle function.

The official name for this condition is hyponatremia. The symptoms generally mirror those of dehydration (apathy, confusion, nausea, and fatigue), although some individuals show no symptoms at all. If untreated, hyponatremia can lead to coma and even death.

Enough, but not too much. The fluid requirement for the majority of endurance athletes, under most conditions, is about 8 to 16 ounces per hour. There is considerable variation here, of course, due to individual sweating rates, body size and weight, heat and humidity, and running speed, and other factors. Still, much more than this amount of fluid is, in most instances, probably physiologically excessive as well as uncomfortable, as liquid sloshes around in the gut during the activity.

One way to test if you are drinking too much water is to compare your body weight before and after a long run. Normally, people lose weight during the course of a distance event. But over-hydrated individuals typically either gain weight or maintain their starting weight. It is interesting to note, too, that this problem tends to be more of a concern with slower runners, because they are exercising at a lower intensity, and therefore have a lower fluid requirement. Also, the slower runner has more opportunity to consume fluid.

Answer 2

Water intoxication= drowsy, lightheaded, and weak. They have trouble coordinating bodily movements and thinking straight, looking and feeling as if they just stumbled out of the local bar. Minerals and nutrients become diluted at the cellular level. But the water-intoxicated can't just go home and sleep it off. They must get treatment or risk going into convulsions, a coma, or even death.

What most Americans actually need to worry about is getting the eight glasses of water nutrition experts recommend (that's eight 8-ounce glasses). They suggest even more for athletes or people living in hot climates. While it may seem like a lot, it really isn't when you recognize that water accounts for up to 80% of your body weight and plays an integral role throughout in the smooth functioning of your body's vital systems

Answer 3

Well yes you can drink too much water but your health has to be on shaky ground to begin with. You can actually start to deplete your electrolytes, the big one being potassium (affects heart and other major muscles). The easiest way to explain this is what happens to someone with anorexia, so you would have to drink an awful lot of water. If someone elderly with a bad heart were to drink more than the "8 glasses of water" you hear about, they may run into problems.....but someone in good health should be fine. Also....you need to remember...if you are thirsty....you probably need water. If you work out, or if it's hotter than normal outside....you likely need more than normal. (Global warming showed this last summer when more people showed up in emergency rooms with dehydration than ever before). Hope this answered you question.

Answer 4

Absolutely. Early symptoms simply appear as bloating and nausea.
Think of a log that gets waterlogged. It can only dry out so long but then the 'cells' become so saturated with water that their ability to purge the liquid begins to fail and therefore it becomes 'waterlogged'. The human body will react in much the same way and it will try to excrete the water anywhere and anyway it can. If it starts getting into the lungs and organs then it can cause death from a form of 'chemical pneumonia'.

Answer 5

Yes! Some lady just died from drinking too much water in a contest. Marathon runners sometimes have the problem of drinking too much water too.

The reason it is so dangerous is that it flushes the electrolytes out of your system without replacing them, causing damage to your brain. Basically, too much water gets in the cells and they swell and rupture. Look up "water intoxication" or "hyper-hydration" for more info.

Answer 6

Yes, too much water can kill a person.

Walter Dean Jennings died in an hazing ritual, and 11 of his frat-brothers were charged with crimes ranging from hazing to negligent homicide.

"Doctors say it takes gallons of water to cause someone to die. Drinking all that water reduces sodium in the body, which can then cause cells to swell. Once brain cells start swelling there isn't much that can be done.

"If somebody is being forced to take just volumes and volumes of water, the body can't adjust very quickly," said Dr. Peter Weimersheimer of Fletcher Allen Health Care. "The body's trying to process that water and get rid of it. And if the water is being taken in faster than the body can get rid of it, there's nothing for it, there's just no recourse."

Answer 7

confident, even even though it form of feels very uncommon for popular persons. there is this variety of element as water poisoning, yet you're additionally oftentimes utilising the restroom, so dont hardship too plenty. Plus, it does not sound such as you drink quite a few gallons suddenly the two. you will desire to work out your well being care provider approximately this thirst concern element on the grounds that seems to be the bigger underlying concern appropriate now.

Answer 8

Yes, absolutely. You can drink so much water that you flush too much of your natural salts from your body, leading to shock and death.

This is known as water intoxication or hyperhydration...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

Answer 9

Yes!!
Some woman died yesterday from drinking to much water, in some radio contest, However she was trying not to go to the toilet at the same time!
I suppose you would have to go to the toilet heaps, or vomiting?

Answer 10

A lady died in California during a radio station stunt-contest. It happened on friday I believe. Google it to check it out.