What Happens When You Drink Too Much Water

We couldn't live without water. But if we drink too much, it can wreak havoc on our brain and body. Drinking more water than your kidneys can process can throw your blood sodium levels out of balance. That's called water intoxication. And in extreme cases, it can cause brain damage, comas, and even death.

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Following is a transcript of the video:

What do you think of when you hear the word poison? Arsenic? Cyanide? How about water?

Life couldn’t exist without water. But in the right circumstance... Water can be as dangerous as any poison.
Here's what happens when you drink too much water.
Your kidneys filter out excess waste and water from your bloodstream. But they can only process 800-1,000 mL of water an hour. And if you somehow manage to drink more than that without throwing up, you can run into trouble. Because you’re drinking faster than your kidneys can process it. So the excess ends up in your cells.

Normally, your cells are surrounded by a carefully-balanced solution of sodium and water, which flows in and out through tiny holes in the cellular membrane, so it keeps the sodium concentration both in and out of the cell balanced.

But when you drink too much water, the sodium solution gets diluted. It’s not salty enough. So some of that extra water rushes into the cell to restore balance and that causes it to swell up.

Doctors call this water intoxication and it’s a big problem. Now, most of your cells can handle the swelling to a degree since soft, flexible tissue like fat and muscle can stretch.

But for the cells in your brain, it’s another story, because your skull isn’t stretchy.
It’s bone. It’s hard — like a rock.

So, as your brain swells, it builds up the pressure in your head.

At first, you might experience headaches, confusion, or drowsiness.

But as the pressure increases, you risk brain damage, coma, and even death. And it could all be over in less than ten hours.

A 64-year-old woman, for example, died the same evening after drinking between 30-40 glasses of water. And a group of US Army trainees suffered vomiting and seizes after downing over 2 liters per hour after a tough day of training.

But it’s marathon runners who need to be especially careful. A study found that 1 in 6 marathon runners develop at least mild water intoxication because the race stresses their body, including the kidneys. So, they don’t excrete water as efficiently, which can cause water to back up into the blood more easily.

People with certain kidney issues are also vulnerable since they can’t properly process water and the problem isn’t unique to water.

For example, the same thing can happen if you down too much beer at once. That’s called potomania.

The good news is that there’s an easy way to stay safe. The average healthy adult needs somewhere around 3-4 liters of water a day. And since this can come from food and other drinks too, drink when you’re thirsty, and then stop.

[yovanilarios-saavedra]

*Too much water can kill*
... It's called drowning

[aurelia]

That moment when you fear you’ve drunken to much water-

Me- *Goes to youtube*

[TheSunIsMyDestroyer]

when you're so hydrated that you don't need to flush because the water is crystal clear

[just-a-silly-goofy-guy]

"What do you think of when you hear the word poison"

_Every rose has a thorn_

[z.ot.gonzalez]

“What do you think when you think about poison”
Me:poison

[epicon]

I once got water intoxication and it was one of the scariest moments in my life. Somehow i felt so thirsty after a long and active day that i drank at least 5 litres of water in one hour and i had already had maybe 1.5-2 litres earlier that day already. My whole body and head ached and all i could do is lie in bed and peed as often as i could. After about 4-5 hours of that i started to feel better finally. All i could think during that was "well this would be a silly way to die"

[Ranveer_sangha]

I drink everyday around 5 gallons
And i don't think if I ever think about that part

[darklighting]

Just imagine living a good long healthy life just to die from drinking to much water

[gucchikid]

i guess drinking too much water is mind blowing

[teralmiles]

This happened to an 80 yr old friend of mine. He used to walk for miles with the dogs everyday and lived in a hot country and consumed around 4 litres of water a day. He suddenly dropped down dead because of too much water. I couldn’t believe it when I was told. So as a middle aged man, I now drink 2 litres of water per day.

[kvngvone]

I believe that everything can kill me now😂

[skylaalexis]

Me: Mom, my head hurts.
Mom: Drink water.
Me: x.x

[stephanieeakes]

My mom died this way 😢 She was 63. She had a psychological disease which made her want to drink a lot of water. She was drinking about 3 liters a day and it causes her to have a seizure and hit her head. Messed up part is this all happened while she was in a nursing home!

[alexshazam]

3:00 "Drink when you're thirsty, and then stop".
Me: That's what I've been doing in almost my entire life, but some people including my father keeps telling me to drink alot of water even when I'm not thirsty or I don't feel like to.

[LoverOfManyArts]

Too much of anything is never a good thing, everything within reason and balance is key

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Thank god there's hardly any water in Best Korea

[moyfon]

Moral of the story: Drink sea water so your cell won't say "its not salty enough".

[anothername]

I asked my 4th grade teacher if drinking too much water can be bad and she just said "no, you'll just go to the bathroom a lot" which such confidence, glad I didnt just start drinking a lot of water so young

[ShellymanStudios]

Me: Drinks two bottles of water


10 minutes later: Me peeing like crazy...

[hanaeve__]

*Proceeds to drink a giant bottle of water*