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The danger of too much water.

I've posted before that the whole idea of having to have 8 glasses of water a day is a myth. In the primal blueprint there is also no need for so much water.


It all sounds nice and theoretical....until you see a story like this:

A mother died after drinking four litres of water in under two hours, an inquest has heard


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eshlow said…
Yeah, it's called hyponatremia. Basically, you start peeing out all your electrolytes because of so much water intake. The level of electrolytes in your brain stays pretty much the same. Since the brain/CSF fluid has a higher concentration of electrolytes now, the water rushes in to balance out the concentration of the blood and brain/CSF. Your brain swells, you die.

This can be easily solved by ingesting simple table salt if you suspect you or someone you know may have ingested too much water.

Happens a bunch especially to endurance athletes because they tend to sweat out a lot of their electrolytes and then hydrate with water. That's why it's important to ingest beverages with some form of electrolytes.
December 12, 2008 at 9:16 PM
Chris said…
Hi there

yeah, I know it is hyponatremia.

i just wanted to highlight it again in this context - that we are told time and again to drink lots of water , but almost never warned of the dangers of too much. This woman was on a diet to lose weight and part of the recommendations were lots of water - she thought she was doing well but she killed herself.

very sad
December 13, 2008 at 12:25 AM
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