Was Mom right? Can you get drunk on anything, even water, if you have too much of it? Or is this just another myth?
Dryly,
It’s a myth. Water by itself contains no intoxicating substances. Certain juices, especially orange juice has measurable quantities of ethanol (well, non-zero quantities of ethanol), but in such low doses as to make it a physical impossibilty to get intoxicated off of (the required ammount to “feel a buzz” from orange juice is considerably higher than the capacity of the human digestive system).
As a matter of fact, the BEST thing to prevent a hangover is water. The body eliminates alcohol from the system by oxidizing it to carbon dioxide and other harmless by-products. However, it takes water to do this; and if there is a water shortage, incomplete oxidation to acetaldehyde occures. It is the accumulation of acetaldehyde in the blood stream that causes common hangover symptoms (cotton mouth, groggy feeling, massive headache, etc.) Generally, to prevent hangovers, you should consume a 12 oz glass of water for every “standard drink” you consume (pint of beer, glass of wine, shot of whiskey). Of course, if you drink TOO much, no ammount of water will help you, but drinking LOTS of water while imbibing can definately help to prevent a hangover.
Of course you can’t get drunk off enough of “anything”…to reitterate Jaime, it must have ethanol or other intoxicating chemicals. However, water is not the perfect cure for a hangover. Fruit drinks are more beneficial during the ‘morning of shame’, as they contain electrolites and nutrients lost by your body trying to flush out the alcohol. While you can’t avoid pain after a night of talking to the toilet, taking a daily vitamin pill to ready for the loss of nutrients, taking an aspirin, drinking copious amounts of water, avoiding sugar (daquiris=lot of suger=BAD), and, if you favor the liquor, sticking with clear liquors such as vodka will all help prevent the suffering. (sorry for the lack of reasoning…i’m in a hurry and don’t have time to remember why aspirin helps SO VERY MUCH)
There is something called “water intoxication” which can occur if you drink vastly too much water. I believe it causes some symptoms that resemble drunkenness because fluid levels in the brain are affected.
It’s sometimes mentioned in baby care books to caution people against giving a lot of plain water to young infants, who can get the condition more easily than other people, due to their small size.
Occasionally it’s reported in healthy adults who just overdo it (e.g., to dilute their urine for a drug test or something.)
I have never heard of anything like this…I know that after I work out, get dehydrated, then drink water heavily and work out more it can produce dizziness and lightheadedness…but that’s nothing of what you’re talking about. If this subject is mentioned in baby books, that would explain why I’m not aware of it…although drunken babies would be a funny site. I just hope they don’t get the keys to their strollers and decide to go for a little ride. Who knows, it could just be a way to trick teenagers into drinking more water. Okay, so maybe not.
cher3 is right. Electrolyte levels are disrupted, causing symptoms that resemble intoxication, seizures, and in rare cases death. So, yes, it is possible, but it is very difficult to do. If you are more interested than simply knowing if it is possible, just look up “water intoxication” in a search engine. There are many sites that tell about it.
Actually it is not all that uncommon for electrolyte levels in athletes to be disrupted, particularly marathon runners. Maybe Gatorade is good for something after all? But the average person certainly has enough salts in his/her diet to keep them exercising for the length of a normal workout.
The reason why you get lightheaded is probably because you are already dehydrated before you started working out. You should be drinking lots of water over an hour before you start working out, and continue to sip water while you are exercising. The key is that if you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. The dizziness is from lowered blood pressure from the loss of fluids, and the additional water that you drink will sit in your stomach for awhile before getting absorbed (thus the need to sip water during).