Water Intoxication

Water can be just as dangerous as any poison, depending on certain factors. Some people think of arsenic, cyanide, lead, and other chemicals when they hear "poison." But without water, life couldn't exist.

Your kidneys can filter out excess waste and water from your bloodstream. However, they can only process about 800-1,000 millilitres of water an hour, and if you somehow managed to drink more than that without throwing up, you could run into serious trouble.

Drinking faster than your kidneys can process leads to excess water ending up in your cells. A salt and water solution full of electrolytes flows in and out of your cells through microscopic gaps in the cellular membrane. As a result, it maintains a balanced sodium content inside and outside the cell. But the salt solution becomes diluted if you consume too much water. Not enough salt is present. Therefore, some extra water rushes into the cell to regain equilibrium. As a result, it enlarges. This condition is known as "water intoxication" and is quite problematic.

The human body contains stretchable tissues like muscle and fat that may stretch. A majority of your cells can manage the swelling to some extent. However, your skull isn't elastic, so it's a different story for the brain's cells. The human skull bone has a rock-like hardness. As your brain swells due to excess water, pressure inside your skull increases.

This leads to the first symptoms of water intoxication, which include:

• Vomiting
• Nausea
• headaches

Severe cases of water intoxication can produce more serious symptoms, such as:

• inability to identify sensory information
• muscle weakness
• drowsiness
• high blood pressure
• double vision
• breathing difficulty
• confusion

You may first feel dizzy, confused, or groggy, but as the pressure builds, you could risk brain injury, a coma, or even death. Moreover, your life can be over in less than 10 hours.

For instance, a 64-year-old woman passed away in the evening after consuming 30 to 40 glasses of water. A lady from California passed away in 2007 after consuming around two liters of water during a radio station contest. According to the coroner for Sacramento County, 28-year-old Jennifer Lea Strange passed away from water intoxication.

A student from Chico State University named Matthew Carrington perished in a related incident in 2005 after consuming too much water at a fraternity initiation.

After a demanding training day, a group of US Army recruits drank more than two litres per hour before experiencing vomiting and convulsions. However, marathoners are the ones who need to take extra precautions. According to research, one in six marathon runners have mild to moderate water intoxication since the race puts their body under stress, including their kidneys. They don't eliminate water as effectively, which makes it easier for water to back up into the blood. On average, drinking six liters in three hours can lead to the death of a human.

This issue is not unique to water. For instance, if you drink too much beer all at once, a similar thing may occur, a condition known as "potomania."also called "beer potomania" or "beer drinker's hyponatremia." The good news is that severe water intoxication is uncommon and more likely to occur in kidney disease sufferers who can't process water efficiently. Drink only when you're thirsty and then stop, as water can also come from meals and other beverages. On a daily average, a healthy adult needs three to four litres of water.

In conclusion, although water is necessary for survival. Too much water can be just as damaging to the health of your body as any other dangerous substance out there.