Such a thing as drinking too much water?

Dmar68

Rachele,
Yes you can drink too much water. The term for it is water intoxication. It is very hard to do ( several gallons in a short period of time), but if you put your mind to it you can drink too much and dilute the essential electrolytes in you blood such as, sodium and potassium. That could cause a heart irregularity. You are save staying in the 8-12 8oz glasses/day.

Karend

Here's more information on water.

You can over-hydrate as stated before. But it's quite hard to do.

But did you know that if you drink 1 cup of coffee, you will need the equivalent of 4 glasses of water to replace the fluid lost?

This is because caffiene is a diuretic.

If your mouth is dry... you are already too dehydrated. Drink some tepid (not cold) water immediately and rest for a few minutes.

So, you are back to listening to your body. Drink when it tells you to.

wrestler

I don't know why some people post on message boards when they know absolutly nothing about what they are talking about. I've read a bunch of these posts now and I'm tempted to go upstairs and get a health book and quote flat out contradictions to what some people have said. There are a few lies on this page.

Somebody said don't drink water with meals? WHAT???? This is crazy. Water should be consumed before, with, and after meals and whenever possible. First, water aids digestion. NO not the disease, the verb. I've talked to so many nutrition people and atheletic trainers about water consumption its not funny.

Water Speeds the metabolism by keeping the liver do one of it's main jobs: burning fat, instead of doing the kidney's work which is various things that can be altered by not drinking enough water.

Water is God's nutritional supplement to us. As long as it is not impure, it is the most important aspect in your weight-loss program. Someone said that if your drinking 5-gallons a day it might be too much. Well, they might be right. If you don't feel comfortable your drinking too much for comfort's sake. But, drink as much as possible. I drink all I can and know that I probably get about 2 1/2 - 3 gallons a day. Not too much.

Most people are saying what I think is true, drink what you are comfortable drinking, and trust your doctor. I know my doctor told me that if I could drink all I could swallow.