Am I drinking too much water?

cocoemma

Hi All,

I'm just wondering if someone can tell me how much is too much water? I feel a bit silly asking this actually! Bascially I drink 4 litres of water per day, The other day I drank 5 litres and I said to myself humm I better stop. Now thats from first thing in the morning till about half nine in the evening. For example this morning I worked out from quarter past six for about an hour so during my workout and after I had drank a litre of water. I'm on my third now so far today and I may hit five litres again today. Now I'm not counting tea or fruit etc..

Anyway just wondering if anyone had any thought? I know water is very good for you, but is there a point that it's too much.

:eek:

CardBordWindow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
It killed Andy Warhol!:eek:

happydayz182

you can drink a litre for every hour in the day if you want thats how long it takes for your kidneys to get a litre out

TimeToShine

I drink 6 litres a day if not more and I'm fine.

Reggy

yeah I heard one litre an hour is fine. More than this can possibly dilute the blood and that can kill you. There are horror stories of athletes who in a sense drowned themselves after drinking LOTS of H2o in a very short space of time after a race - but you should be fine if you are just sipping away gradually.

There was the theory that too much water can flush out vitamins and minerals, but I think that theory has been disproved somewhat in recent times, although somebody might correct me on that. as far as I know it only flushes out the excess water soluble vitamins that the body does not use.

Water in its role as a diuretic can mean you are constantly running to the toilet so if hydration is your goal, take a small amount of carbohydrate or food when you drink and that can slow down the amount of gastric emptying. So a dash of cordial or what have you.....

(As an aside, my friend put quitting smoking down to an increase in water consumption. He constantly had a bottle in his hand for months and instead of putting a fag to his mouth, he took a sip of water....)

cocoemma

Thanks guys for your replies. I googled it a bit further last night and I did find this full write up about it. It did say that if you have a lot of water in a short space of time you can increase your blood flow (as reggy ) mentioned and put your heart under pressure. Plus you could do damage to your kidneys if they are filtering too much water. I suppose to start drinking water four weeks ago to be healthy I was gulping and making sure I drank enough, But now that I’m in the habit I’m just going to sip and not last it into me.. In fairness I’m sure there’s a good break between litres I just got a fright the other day when I was starting on my sixth.. thanks for the further information.

PS: Reggy.. yes I heard that cold water helps kill the cravings for ciggys.. hum.. that’s a good healthy way to stop isn’t it...

Cookie_Monster

I asked something similar on here a couple of years ago, at least I think it was here... and got lots of replies saying the more the better 9apart from going totally overboard obviously)

Since then I've been drinking a minimum of 3L a day of water alone (plus tea/coffee). Best life change I've made so far IMO, I just feel better, beter skin. (more energy burned by constantly going for a whizz:D). and feel crap if I go a day or two with a low consumption level.

Reggy

I heard that cold water helps kill the cravings for ciggys.. hum.. that’s a good healthy way to stop isn’t it...

it sure is, but having never smoked, I dont know myself. My friend did use nicotine gum as well mind you, so it wasnt exactly cold turkey. But what lots of smokers tend to have a problem with is what to do with their hands. He still used to take 'cigarette breaks' in work, instead when he would go outside his office to the same place he used to smoke and instead would just sip a few mouthfuls of water at the same rate as he would drag a cigarette. it worked for him...

fearcruach

I wouldn't worry about it. As long as your stilling taking a leak then you'll be fine.

I've heard before (don't know how true it is) that 3L of water can kill you BUT only if you don't have a slash. If you could drinkt that much and not piss yourself i'd be impressed tbh