Is drinking too much water harmful to a human being?
The Curious One
All I know is you die from drinking to much.
If you can’t convince them, confuse them.
Harry S. Truman
I have heard of such a thing but like the previous poster I don’t know much. Supposedly if you drink enough (well, way too much) water you get intoxicated and you can die from it.
Is there anyone out there who has the Straight Dope?
There is no opinion so absurd that some philosopher will not express it.
Cicero
Oh, sure, drink about five gallons in one sitting, force it down if you have to, and you’ll burst your stomach.
Seriously, if you drink too much water, you can flush a lot of water-soluble nutrients out of your system before your body has a chance to do anything useful with them. Plus you have to piss a lot.
I never could get the hang of Thursdays. - Arthur Dent
It also causes disorientation due to excess water in brain cells. Adults really have to try to get themselves in this condition, but it can happen to babies pretty easily. A lot of baby care books warn against giving a young infant more than an ounce or two of plain water.
Too much water makes your blood too thin.
Lot’s of WAG’s here, no FACTS. Geesh, folks, how about someone look this UP, and provide a reference??
A few years ago ('95 or '96, I believe) I read a short article about a man who had been hiking into the Grand Canyon. Along the trail are several signs reminding hikers to drink plenty of water along the way; it seems this guy took the signs way to seriously, and drank about 18 quarts over a period of time (around 5 hours, give or take a few, I believe). IIRC, he went into a coma–I don’t remember if he survived or not, but it certainly was dangerous.
http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugxtc1.html
Swollen Brain
"Water intoxication occurs when a person drinks so much water - a minimum of three litres - that the blood becomes diluted. Laboratory results show that on admission to hospital hours after taking the 10 pounds tablet, Leah’s plasma sodium level - a measure of how dilute her blood had become - had fallen to 126 millimoles per litre compared with a normal range of 134 to 145.
As a result, water was sucked into her brain cells under osmotic pressure, causing them to swell. This increased pressure on the brain stem, resulting in coma and death."
Saturated Stomach.
Plus if one of your enemies comes along and pokes you with a sharp object or something, you’ll leak water…
so you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts. what’s so amazing about really deep thoughts? Tori Amos
Drinking too much water can lead to hyponatremia, a situation described as low blood sodium. Basically you have diluted your blood so that it no longer has enough salts per volume unit.
Below is a link from JAMA describing the symptoms and possible effects of hyponatremia.
http://www.ama-assn.org/special/womh/library/readroom/vol_281c/ed90037x.htm
What do I believe in? Not much that isn’t explained by logic and scientific experiment. And, you better believe, I want to see the logic and the laboratory equipment.
–P.J. O’Rourke–
Don’t think of the “intoxicated” part as similar to being drunk; look at the root word “toxic”. Water intoxication is not like being drunk, except for the part about falling into a coma and possibly dying.
Sometimes people have organic brain injuries or diseases that cause them to drink water compulsively. (“Polydipsia” is the word to describe excessive liquid consumption.) They will drink themselves to death unless you watch them constantly. They will drink out of the toilet if necessary, so you have to be sure you cut off the water supply to the toilet.
Sort of related to this, I read this morning that because so much bottled water is being consumed instead of tap water, that there has been an increase in cavities nation wide. Most bottled water does not have fluoride in it like most tap water does now.
Enright3
I remember reading where a couple of female inmates at some prison heard that you can get drunk on water so they each guzzled an enormous amount. They went into convulsions, but lived.
Single doses of water in very large amounts can cause several problems, as noted. Persistent intake of water in smaller amounts can also be unhealthful. While very uncommon, except in cases of mental illness such as obsessive/compulsive disorders, it is possible to alter ones metabolic balance by taking in too much water in comparison to ones intake of other nutrients, particularly potassium, and other electrolytes.
Such habitual misuse of water takes many years to develop, in most cases, and the cause is often related to a restriction in water intake, usually involuntary, which creates the compulsion to take water very often, out of fear of thirst. While it usually has no long term ill effect to have too much fluid in the body, the habitual abuse of the electrolytic balance can cause heart arrhythmia’s, and damage to the nervous system, kidneys, bowel, and endocrine systems. Most of the chemical systems in the body depend on feedback of chemicals in the blood, and constant dilution by intake of water creates an exaggerated level of production of signal markers to achieve the same result as in a normal person.
People with this disorder virtually never pass up on a chance to drink water. Every water fountain, or faucet, every time they encounter it, provides a signal to drink. The amount may be only a mouthful, or several swallows. The overall intake of fluids is huge, compared to normal drinking habits. Five gallons a day is not impossible. It is extremely difficult to overcome, as are most compulsive behaviors.
<P ALIGN=“CENTER”>Tris</P>
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
– **Plutarch **