On January
12, 2007, a 28-year old Californian wife and mother of three children died from
drinking too much water. Her body was found in her home shortly after she took
part in a water-drinking contest that was sponsored by a local radio show.
Entitled "Hold Your Wee For A Wii," the contest promoters promised a
free Wii video game machine to the contestant who drank the most water without
urinating.
It is
estimated that the woman who died drank approximately 2 gallons of water during
the contest. When she and other contestants complained of discomfort and showed
visible signs of distress, they were laughed at by the promoters and even
heckled.
This tragic
news story highlights the importance of understanding why drinking too much
water can be dangerous to your health.
Whenever you
disregard your sense of thirst and strive to ingest several glasses of water a
day just because you have been told that doing so is good for your health, you
actually put unnecessary strain on your body in two major ways:
Ingesting
more water than you need can increase your total blood volume. And since your
blood volume exists within a closed system (your circulatory system),
needlessly increasing your blood volume on a regular basis puts unnecessary
burden on your heart and blood vessels.
Your kidneys
must work overtime to filter excess water out of your circulatory system. Your
kidneys are not the equivalent of a pair of plumbing pipes whereby the more
water you flush through your kidneys, the cleaner they become; rather, the
filtration system that exists in your kidneys is composed in part by a series
of specialized capillary beds called glomeruli. Your glomeruli can get damaged
by unnecessary wear and tear over time, and drowning your system with large
amounts of water is one of many potential causes of said damage.
Putting
unnecessary burden on your cardiovascular system and your kidneys by ingesting
unnecessary water is a subtle process. For the average person, it is virtually
impossible to know that this burden exists, as there are usually no obvious
symptoms on a moment-to-moment basis. But make no mistake about it: this burden
is real and can hurt your health over the long term.
Forcing your
body to accept a large amount of water within a short period of time - say, an
hour or two - as several contestants did during the "Hold Your Wee for a
Wii" contest can be fatally dangerous to your health. Here's why:
If you force
large amounts of water into your system over a short period of time, your
kidneys will struggle to eliminate enough water from your system to keep the
overall amount at a safe level.
As your
circulatory system becomes diluted with excess water, the concentration of
electrolytes in your blood will drop relative to the concentration of
electrolytes in your cells. In an effort to maintain an equal balance of
electrolytes between your blood and your cells, water will seep into your cells
from your blood, causing your cells to swell.
If this
swelling occurs in your brain, you'll experience increased intracranial
pressure i.e. your brain will get squeezed because the flat bones that make up
your skull don't provide much give. Depending on how much water your drink in a
short period of time, you could experience a wide variety of symptoms, ranging
from a mild headache to impaired breathing. As occurred in the tragic
water-drinking contest, it's quite possible to die if you drink enough water in
a short period of time.
This
information is particularly important for parents to pass on to their children.
Foolish drinking contests are not uncommon among high school and university
students, especially while playing cards.
So how much
water should you drink to best support your health?
The answer
depends on your unique circumstances, including your diet, exercise habits, and
environment.
If you eat
plenty of foods that are naturally rich in water, such as vegetables, fruits,
and cooked legumes and whole grains, you may not need to drink much water at
all. If you do not use much or any salt and other seasonings, your need for
drinking water goes down even further.
Conversely,
if you do not eat a lot of plant foods and/or you add substantial salt and
spices to your meals, you may need to drink several glasses of water every day.
Regardless
of what your diet looks like, if you sweat on a regular basis because of
exercise or a warm climate, you will need to supply your body with more water
(through food and/or liquids) than someone who does not sweat regularly.
Ultimately,
the best guidance I can provide on this issue is to follow your sense of
thirst. Some people believe that thirst is not a reliable indicator of how much
water you need, since many people suffer with symptoms related to dehydration
and don't seem to feel a need to drink water on a regular basis. My experience
has been that most people who are chronically dehydrated have learned to ignore
a parched mouth. If you ask such people if they are thirsty and would like a
piece of fruit or a glass of water, they will almost always realize that they
are indeed thirsty.
Some people
suggest observing the color of your urine as a way of looking out for
dehydration. The idea is that clear urine indicates that you are well hydrated,
while yellow urine indicates that you need more water in your system. While
this advice is somewhat useful, it's important to remember that some food
additives (including some synthetic nutrients) and heavily pigmented foods
(like red beets) can add substantial color to your urine. Thumbs down for
synthetic nutrients, and thumbs up for red beets and other richly colored
vegetables and fruits.
The main
idea that I want to share through this article is to beware of mindlessly
drinking several glasses of water per day without considering your diet,
exercise habits, climate, and sense of thirst. And when you do find yourself in
need of water, remember that you can get it from liquids and/or whole foods
that are rich in water.
Please share
this article with family and friends, as many people are regularly misinformed
on this topic by mainstream media.
No comments:
Post a Comment