ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Is Drinking Too Much Water Bad For You?

Updated on August 6, 2013

Yes, drinking too much water is bad for you and, yes, it could potentially kill you too. There is such a thing as water intoxication or water poisoning and it occurs when one has too much water, usually within a short span of time. I know one doesn't normally associate water as being one of the causative factors for death. But, as they say, excess of anything can be bad, and in the case of water, excess can potentially kill. Generally, in day-to-day life we don't normally consume too much water. We generally only have as much as we require, as indicated by the feeling of thirst. When our thirst is quenched, we are satiated and no longer keep drinking. So, in the normal course, water intoxication is rare. In fact, many health experts advocate drinking adequate amounts of water for its health benefits. For certain ailments too, drinking adequate amounts of water is essential - ailments such as kidney stones. Adequately hydrating oneself can prevent formation of kidney stones, which is one of the most painful medical conditions around. However, you do need to be careful about drinking excessive amounts of water.

Water Drinking Contests - Watch Out!!!

 

Watch out for water-drinking contests and the like. In such contests, one can go overboard and binge on water, potentially causing a health risk to the individual concerned. People in such situations are forcing themselves to have more water than their body requires and thereby overloading their body with water. More critically, these individuals are drinking large volumes of water within an awfully short period of time. The body cannot cope with the excess volume infusion and the tissues can swell up with the excess water retained by the body. This can in turn damage the cells of the body and cause electroyte imbalance - mostly in the form of dilution of sodium - one of the essential electrolytes in the body. Medically, this condition is called hyponatremia. i.e. the body contains an abnormally low concentration of sodium circulating in the blood.

The harmful effects of this fluid overload can be reversed if prompt treatment is given by infusing salt solutions and restricting any fluid intake. It is important to stress though that water intoxication is pretty rare and, as mentioned above, occurs only in certain odd situations like water-drinking contests or sometimes during marathons, where athletes tend to take in excess fluids. In the normal course, a person normally drinks only as much water as he/she requires. So, one doesn't have to get paranoid about drinking water. You just have to make sure that you don't overdo it. Drinking 8-10 glasses of water is considered normal and that should do you no harm at all.

© 2008 Shil1978

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)