I've heard it stated that too much of anything can kill you, even too much water can kill you, but I never imagined that there are people who actually died from drinking water. In this article from Scientific American:
- A 28-year-old California woman died after competing in a radio station's on-air water-drinking contest and downing some six liters of water in three hours.
- In 2005 a fraternity hazing at California State University, Chico, left a 21-year-old man dead after he was forced to drink excessive amounts of water between rounds of push-ups in a cold basement.
- A 2005 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that close to one sixth of marathon runners develop some degree of hyponatremia, or dilution of the blood caused by drinking too much water (dilution meaning insufficient salt in the blood).
- Too much water in the blood can eventually cause swelling of the cells, and in the brain, where there is little extra room for swelling, that can spell death.
And to think it's water we're talking about!
To put it into perspective, you can't kill yourself by holding your breath, but you can kill yourself by drinking water! And come to think of it, I'm kinda feeling thirsty right now, but don't worry, I'm not feeling the least bit suicidal.
I have two major problems with that article:
ReplyDeleteA - 800-1,000 ml an hour is "way" more than 8x8 a day. A Liter an hour is actually roughly 24 times as much as 8x8 a day.
B - This means that someone who is static is actually "dehydrating" at a rate of 10 times the marathon runner. Sorry, I find this too "counterintuitive" to be true.
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ReplyDeleteMistake:
ReplyDeleteSorry that's roughly 12 times as much not 24. Still...
A. Correct. 8x8 was a circulating common advice that a person should drink, while 800-1000ml an hour is about the maximum a healthy kidney can excrete in an hour (when the person isn't working out and exerting pressure). Valtin's study was primarily to dismiss the myth of there being scientific evidence to support drinking 8x8, and the dangers he refers to may be in reference to someone who is active.
ReplyDeleteB. The kidney balances the level of water in the blood, when there is excess it can filter out up to 800-1000 ml an hour (when static). Not that it has to get rid of that water when there are healthy levels.
Oh well, he's misrepresenting his own case as well though...
ReplyDeleteThanks.