Every cell in the torso needs h2o to office correctly. However, drinking too much tin lead to water intoxication and serious health consequences.

It is hard to drink also much h2o by blow, merely it tin happen, ordinarily as a consequence of overhydrating during sporting events or intense training.

The symptoms of water intoxication are full general — they can include confusion, disorientation, nausea, and vomiting.

In rare cases, water intoxication tin can cause swelling in the encephalon and become fatal.

This article describes the symptoms, causes, and furnishings of water intoxication. It also looks into how much water a person should drink each 24-hour interval.

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A person may experience water intoxication if they drink too much water.

Too known as h2o poisoning, h2o intoxication is a disruption of encephalon function caused by drinking also much water.

Doing and so increases the corporeality of water in the blood. This tin can dilute the electrolytes, especially sodium, in the blood.

If sodium levels fall below 135 millimoles per liter (mmol/l), doctors refer to the effect as hyponatremia.

Sodium helps maintain the balance of fluids inside and outside of cells. When sodium levels drib due to excessive water consumption, fluids travel from the outside to the inside of cells, causing them to swell.

When this happens to brain cells, it can be dangerous and even life threatening.

Bottom line: Water intoxication results from drinking too much h2o. The backlog water dilutes sodium in the claret and causes fluids to move within cells, causing them to swell.

When a person consumes an excessive amount of water and cells in their encephalon kickoff to swell, the pressure inside their skull increases. This causes the first symptoms of water intoxication, which include:

  • headaches
  • nausea
  • vomiting

Severe cases of h2o intoxication tin produce more than serious symptoms, such as:

  • drowsiness
  • muscle weakness or cramping
  • increased blood pressure
  • double vision
  • confusion
  • inability to identify sensory information
  • difficulty animate

A buildup of fluid in the brain is called cerebral edema. This can touch on the encephalon stem and cause cardinal nervous system dysfunction.

In severe cases, water intoxication tin can cause seizures, encephalon damage, a coma, and fifty-fifty death.

Bottom line: Drinking besides much h2o tin can increment the pressure level inside the skull. This can cause various symptoms and, in astringent cases, get fatal.

H2o intoxication is rare, and information technology is very hard to consume too much water by accident. However, it can happen — there have been numerous medical reports of death due to excessive water intake.

Water intoxication most commonly affects people participating in sporting events or endurance grooming, or people who have various mental wellness conditions.

Sporting events

Water intoxication is particularly common amidst endurance athletes. It tin happen if a person drinks a lot of water without correctly accounting for electrolyte losses.

For this reason, hyponatremia often occurs during major sporting events.

As the authors of i written report report, out of 488 participants in the 2002 Boston Marathon, thirteen% had hyponatremia symptoms, and 0.06% had critical hyponatremia, with sodium levels of less than 120 mmol/50.

Instances of water intoxication at these events have resulted in death. 1 instance involved a runner who had collapsed subsequently a marathon.

Because he was improperly rehydrated, his sodium levels fell below 130 mmol/l. The runner then developed water on the brain, known as hydrocephalus, and a hernia in his brain stem, which caused his death.

Armed services training

Ane medical written report described 17 soldiers who developed hyponatremia after drinking too much water during preparation. Their blood sodium levels were 115–130 mmol/l, while the normal range is 135–145 mmol/l.

According to another report, three soldiers died due to hyponatremia and cognitive edema. These deaths were associated with drinking more than 5 liters of water in just a few hours.

The symptoms of hyponatremia can exist misinterpreted as those of dehydration. According to i report, a soldier who received an incorrect diagnosis of aridity and heat stroke died from water intoxication every bit a effect of rehydration efforts.

Mental health conditions

Compulsive h2o drinking, also chosen psychogenic polydipsia, can exist a symptom of various mental health conditions.

It is almost common among people with schizophrenia, but it can also arise in people with affective disorders, psychosis, and personality disorders.

Bottom line: Water intoxication tin exist life threatening, and information technology is most common among soldiers in grooming, endurance athletes, and people with schizophrenia.

It is difficult to consume too much water by accident. However, it tin can happen, and there have been numerous reports of decease due to backlog water intake.

People at risk of death from water intoxication tend to be participating in endurance sporting events or military grooming. A person who is doing neither is unlikely to die from drinking too much water.

Overhydration and water intoxication happen when a person drinks more than water than their kidneys can get rid of via urine.

The amount of h2o is not the only factor — time likewise plays a office.

According to figures quoted in a 2013 report, the kidneys tin eliminate most 20–28 liters of h2o a day, but they can remove no more than than 0.8 to 1.0 liters every hour.

To avoid hyponatremia, information technology is important non to outpace the kidneys by drinking more than h2o than they tin can eliminate.

The authors of the report report that hyponatremia symptoms can develop if a person drinks 3–4 liters of water in a curt catamenia, though they practise not give a specific fourth dimension estimate.

According to i case report, soldiers developed symptoms after consuming at to the lowest degree ii quarts (1.9 liters) of h2o per 60 minutes.

Another study describes the evolution of hyponatremia later on drinking more than v liters in a few hours.

Water intoxication and prolonged hyponatremia likewise occurred in an otherwise healthy 22-yr-old prisoner who drank 6 liters of water in iii hours.

Finally, according to 1 report, a 9-yr-sometime girl developed water intoxication afterward consuming three.vi liters of h2o in 1–2 hours.

Lesser line: The kidneys can remove 20–28 liters of water per twenty-four hours, simply they cannot excrete more than than 0.viii to i.0 liters per 60 minutes. Drinking more than than this tin can be harmful.

According to the Centers for Affliction Control and Prevention (CDC), there are no official guidelines well-nigh how much h2o a person needs to potable each day.

The right corporeality differs, depending on factors such as trunk weight, level of physical activity, the climate, and whether they are breastfeeding.

In 2004, The National University of Medicine recommended that women anile 19–30 eat around two.7 liters per day and men of the same age around 3.7 liters per day.

Some people even so follow the 8×8 rule, which recommends drinking 8 viii-ounce glasses of water per day. Yet, this was not based on research.

Relying on thirst may not work for anybody. Athletes, older adults, and meaning women, for example, may need to drinkable more than h2o each mean solar day.

To estimate the correct corporeality, information technology tin help to consider calories. If a person needs 2,000 calories per day, they should also consume 2,000 milliliters of water per 24-hour interval.

Read more most daily water intake recommendations hither.

Drinking as well much h2o can atomic number 82 to water intoxication. This is rare and tends to develop among endurance athletes and soldiers.

There are no official guidelines about how much water to drink. To avoid water intoxication, some sources recommend drinking no more than 0.viii to 1.0 liters of h2o per 60 minutes.