Water is the main element of the chemical components of the human body. She participates in exchange processes. If there is no fluid in the body, the human body will not be able to work, the process of removing metabolic elements will be impossible. In addition, the body's thermal balance is disrupted. Life parameters are significantly reduced even with a slight lack of water. Dehydration of the body negatively affects the nervous and mental activity of people. The inability of a person to drink water contributes to his irritation and depression, fatigue increases faster, volitional and moral qualities weaken, and ability to work decreases. Therefore, a person needs to drink a lot of water.
The percentage of water from a person's body weight is 70%. Human cells, regardless of their functions, are a kind of microcosm. It carries out a large volume of complex and ordered transformations.
Water is the carrier of elements, both inorganic and organic. They are involved in many life processes. Intracellular fluid takes up about 70% of the total volume of human water. Intercellular fluid is about 30%, which is approximately equal to 12 liters.
Let's figure out why a person needs to drink a lot of water. Tissues and organs have the following water content:
Water is needed for normal digestion, absorption of beneficial elements, removal of harmful substances, and good blood circulation. This is why you need to drink a lot of water.
At high air temperatures, a person can live no more than five days. To create a normal water balance, a person should drink about two liters of drinking water every day. This is the answer to the question why drink a lot of water. Its volume is needed to maintain human life at the required level. It depends directly on the external temperature. If the temperature outside is 32 degrees, you need to drink 3 liters of water a day; at 20 degrees, 1.5 liters is enough. During moderate physical activity, it is advisable to drink at least 5 liters of water per day.
If you work outdoors, the water volume can be increased to 6.5 liters. A fluid loss of 25% of total body weight can lead to death. Metabolic processes quickly normalize if water loss is no more than 10% of body weight.
Do you need to drink a lot of water, and where is water spent in the human body?
Why do you want to drink a lot of water? Hunger occurs in people due to the effect of low levels of glucose in the blood. High levels of glucose and salt trigger the body to feel thirsty.
This feeling is a natural reaction for a person to changes in the balance of salt and water. Thirst increases with high temperature external environment, with physical exercise, after eating salty and fatty foods. When constant thirst appears, which occurs without the influence of the external environment, we can talk about the appearance of a disease. According to standards, an adult man needs up to 3 liters of water per day, a woman 2.7 liters. The feeling of thirst is a signal coming from the drinking center of the nervous system.
The following signals are sent to the operation of this center:
Disturbances in the functioning of the drinking center cause unreasonable thirst. It analyzes signals from human fluid organs, compares pressure levels and sodium ion content. Pancreatic and thyroid hormones work in this process.
A constant desire to drink may be a sign of the following diseases:
Taking certain medications can cause a strong feeling of thirst and dryness in the larynx and mouth.
During gestation, the rate of water consumption should be greater. Why do pregnant women need to drink a lot of water? Doctors advise pregnant women to drink 0.3 liters more water than usual. The drinking rate per day is no more than 2 liters. Thirst may increase during the last period of pregnancy due to the entry into the blood of a special protein produced by the liver.
During the development of the fetus in the womb, her kidneys experience great stress. In this case, thirst appears from the action of a hormonal substance - angiotensin.
The health organization has determined the norm of fluid intake per day for young children, depending on the total body weight. For children weighing up to 5 kg, the norm of water together with mother's milk is 0.8 liters. If the child weighs up to 10 kg, then the norm increases to 1 liter per day. The amount of water for children depends on age as follows:
In overly active children, excessive thirst is the norm. However, to prevent the occurrence of pathology, a study needs to be done.
To diagnose the causes of thirst, the doctor must find out the reasons, taking into account the peculiarities of the patient’s diet, the number of urinations per day, and the composition of the diet.
The following blood tests are performed:
Based on the data received, the patient is referred to a doctor. When consulting a doctor, you need to calculate the highest and lowest daily water intake. Many factors depend on the characteristics of the person, his age and gender. You need to know that carbonated water and alcoholic drinks do not reduce thirst, but even increase it. Doctors do not recommend drinking mineral water that contains salts to quench your thirst. The best temperature for drinking is at least 22 degrees. Icy and cold water should not be used for drinking. Strong thirst appears from fatty and fried foods, as well as from pickles and spices.
Experts currently studying this problem have concluded that large volumes of water can only be taken:
Scientists do not consider large amounts of water to be beneficial for common man. Official treatment methods do not contain advice traditional methods which say you need to drink 8 glasses a day. Large water intake can cause sodium to be flushed out of the body. There is no official confirmation that excess water has a positive effect on human organs. Excess liquid does not increase skin turgor, as cosmetics manufacturers say.
Doctors in many countries claim that the daily volume of water should be normal. Advertising high consumption of bottled water indicates increased sales. You need to listen to your body and not take extreme steps. If physical work during sports training leads to a decrease in body weight, then it should not be replenished by drinking more water.
A large volume of water affects the following:
Overhydration is a condition similar to water poisoning. Water accumulates in human cells. The reasons for this phenomenon most often are:
Signs:
This phenomenon can lead to the death of a person if medical attention is not provided. To normalize the condition, doctors use hemodialysis and prescribe diuretics.
Excess fluid accumulated in some areas of the body is visible on the face in the form of puffy eyes. The main goal is to identify these swellings and then treat them. The daily fluid intake standard is established by the advice of a doctor. To do this, carefully plan your diet and reduce the consumption of salt and foods with preservatives. Sugar and alcohol, along with salt, are the main foods for swelling. Doctors advise including diuretic foods in your diet - green tea, beets, celery and other herbs.
Plant fiber removes fluid from the body. You can reduce the amount of water and eat more vegetables and fruits. It is better to drink only clean water and not drink products with chemical content. A lack of vitamin B causes water retention and swelling in the morning. On the advice of a doctor, you need to choose a complex of vitamins.
Drink a glass of warm water on an empty stomach - this will normalize your stool. When exercising, doctors advise drinking some water. It should be drunk as a person is usually accustomed to, while following a diet. However, you need to know that water will not make you feel full, although it will help you eat less. You don't need to drink a lot of water before going to bed, as swelling will appear in the morning. Drinking liquids before lunch is strictly prohibited. The liquid washes away useful elements that serve to break down foods in the stomach. You should drink water half an hour before meals. You shouldn't wash down your food if you want to lose weight.
For people who are thirsty, doctors advise eating apples. 50% of the volume of apples enters the body as water. Fruits and vegetables containing water are recommended by nutritionists to be consumed in food. Common sources of water include oranges, melons and watermelons. The most water-containing vegetable is cucumber.
On a hot summer day, a cold decoction of apple peels and green tea quench your thirst. The lemon drink should not be cold, but at room temperature. Excess fluid, as well as its lack, affects a person’s health, disrupts the functioning of organs, and negatively affects the condition of the skin and hair.
Today there are no scientific studies that could prove the positive effect of large volumes of water on human health. You cannot trust traditional healers, information in advertising, and other unreliable facts. Why drink a lot of water a day? You need to remember logic and sense, as long as this is the only good teacher for you.
It disrupts the balance of salts and minerals (including sodium) in the body, which can lead to headaches, fatigue, brain dysfunction and high blood pressure. In case of kidney failure, this can even be fatal, so you should not drink more than 8 glasses of water a day.
We are constantly told that we need to drink enough water. Water is needed for normal functioning of the body, because dehydration leads to a lot of problems.
But the opposite is also true: excessive amounts of water are also harmful to the body!
That's why:
Overhydration can cause confusion and irritability. Among side effects- headaches, convulsions, muscle cramps, spasms and general muscle weakness.
In addition, restlessness or fatigue are common. Nausea, lack of appetite and vomiting are also common.
In the most extreme cases, even fainting, hallucinations and brain dislocation occur. Blood pressure rises sharply.
All this can lead to coma and death. So take it seriously!
The optimal sodium content in the body is from 135 to 145 mEq/L. If this level falls below 135 mEq/L, hyponatremia develops.
This disease causes the cells of the body to become overly saturated with water and swell. This extremely dangerous for the brain, since the skull does not allow it to swell.
Dilutional hyponatremia- the result of excessive water consumption. Acute hyponatremia usually develops in marathon runners and athletes due to the constant replacement of fluids lost through sweat.
That is why athletes are advised to drink not water, but sports drinks, which are a mixture of water and sodium.
Since this is a fatal risk, immediate intervention is required. It is necessary to administer 100 ml of 3% NaCl solution intravenously to the patient over 10 minutes. Then the dose can be increased to 300 ml until all acute symptoms pass.
With kidney disease, the risk of overhydration increases because these organs cannot cope with the additional load. Even worse, research suggests it may worsen chronic kidney disease.
In addition, the risk of cardiovascular disease increases.
So if you have kidney problems, you may need dialysis to lower your body's water content. You can also use sodium-sparing medications or a sodium drip.
This question is not so easy to answer. The World Health Organization says different organisms need different quantities water. This largely depends on your activity level, metabolism and environment.
Other factors that influence water requirements include body weight, age, gender and medication use.
If you are concerned about hyponatremia, monitor your salt and water balance. In this case, it is better to drink not pure water, but a sodium-containing mixture.
But do not strive for complete fluid replenishment. This may lead to gastrointestinal disorders and other unpleasant symptoms of excessive consumption.
Listen to your body. Drink water only when you are thirsty.
If you feel like drinking more than 8 glasses a day, that's not normal. See your doctor - this could be a sign of diabetes or kidney problems.
If you drink too much water and your sodium levels drop below 120 mmol/L, you will begin to experience mild symptoms of overhydration. They will become especially noticeable at sodium levels below 110 mmol/l.
Moderate symptoms include confusion and seizures. But if sodium drops to 90-105 mmol/L, symptoms will become much more severe. You will initially feel drowsy, which may lead to coma.
So: if you drink a lot of water in a very long time a short time, the transition from mild to severe symptoms can be rapid. There is a known case where a woman drank 30-40 glasses of water in the evening, which led to fatal intoxication.
At best, your kidneys can excrete half a liter of water per hour. Therefore, when you drink several liters in an hour, it overloads the kidneys.
In normal health, you can drink per hour 800−1000 ml water.
Everything should be in moderation - we all know that. But is this true for water? Water well replenishes the lack of fluid in the body. However, when too much water is consumed, it can lead to illness.
There have been severe cases where excessive drinking of water led to death.
You might want to drink more water, but the results can be deadly if you don't listen to your body's needs. Otherwise, excess water in the body can cause a condition called water intoxication or water poisoning.
When you drink too much water, salt level in the blood decreases. There is a decrease in the amount of electrolytes required to transmit impulses to cells.
Hyponatremia is a disease that occurs due to insufficient sodium in the blood. When sodium concentration drops below 135 mmol/L, cell swelling may occur.
Symptoms of this disease are nausea, vomiting, fatigue, difficulty urinating, disorientation, and headache.This is the worst result of drinking too much water as it can ultimately lead to death.
The heart performs the extremely important function of pumping blood throughout the body. When you drink a lot of water, the blood volume in your body increases.
The increased blood volume puts extra strain on the capillaries and heart, and in some cases can cause a heart attack.
The glomeruli are capillary organs in our kidneys. They work as filtration stations to remove excess water from the body.
Excessive amounts of water can damage them, leading to serious health hazards.
The kidneys must work harder than usual to filter out all the unnecessary water that is beyond their normal filtering capacity (1000 ml per hour).
Your blood becomes diluted due to excess water, and the concentration of electrolytes in your blood becomes lower than in your cells.
To maintain the balance of electrolytes in the blood and cells, water will begin to flow into the cells. This leads to cell swelling, which creates a dangerous condition for the body.
Cell swelling can lead to swelling of brain cells. This is a very dangerous condition. Most cells in our body have room to spare when expanding. But the bones of our skull do not provide such an opportunity to brain cells.
When there is excess water in the body, the process of fluid penetration into the brain cells begins, causing them to swell. This can lead to severe conditions such as coma and breathing problems.
Potassium is an essential micronutrient for your body and you need to maintain the right amount in your body.
However, excess water causes potassium concentration to drop, which can lead to problems such as irritation, chest pain, leg pain, etc.
Excess water leads to dilution of gastric juice, and, as a result, problems in the gastrointestinal tract.
As we said before, excess water leads to an imbalance of electrolytes. This imbalance causes inflammation in the stomach.
It is very important to keep in mind here that this problem is not only caused by excess water consumption. Rather, it happens because the water contains too much iron.
Too much iron may not be harmful, but in some rare cases it can lead to liver problems.
Most drinking water is treated with chlorine for disinfection.
It has been proven that an overdose of chlorine in water causes serious illnesses in humans, such as cancer or functional disorders of certain organs. So when you drink too much water, even bottled water, you are at risk.
When you drink a lot of water, it is natural that you will urinate more often.
Your body has its own mechanism for absorbing and excreting water. Increasing the amount of water you absorb puts your body in a state where it needs to process more fluid than usual. He can cope with this problem only by increasing the frequency of urination.
These effects are caused by drinking too much water. In case you experience any of these symptoms, you need to consult a doctor.
Do not try to correct the situation by sharply reducing the amount of water you drink. This may have a negative impact on your kidneys.
The best way out of the situation is to maintain an optimal level of drinking water and follow the recommendations of your doctor.
The recommended amount of water is 6-8 glasses per day.
Simply put, you should drink about 3 liters of water daily. Slight deviations may occur.
However, you need to follow a certain norm, which depends on your lifestyle, the environment, and the food you eat.
Here are our tips for meeting your water intake:
Contrary to the myths that water is possible Drink a lot and it won't hurt you, we say that drinking too much water can lead to significant health problems.
The point is that we are not insisting that you suddenly change the amount of water you drink. within a day , but we just want to warn you about the possible consequences of your water diet.
We wish you good health! Have a good day!
Proper drinking regime, along with a balanced diet, plays a significant role important role in ensuring the normal functioning of the body. What kind of water is healthier to drink and how to do it correctly so as not to harm your health? Read about it below.
Water is a universal solvent. As part of the liquid component of blood, it is involved in the transport of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients and waste products, thermoregulation and chemical processes in cells.
Scientists have calculated that the adult male body is 60% water, and the female body is 50%. For an adult:
During pregnancy Water is involved not only in the metabolism of the mother’s body, but also of the unborn fetus. This is why doctors recommend:
Your doctor will help you establish the correct drinking regimen based on test results.
Insufficient fluid intake can affect the quality of amniotic fluid and the mother’s body.
Amount consumed newborn baby water depends on the type of feeding.
Important: it is a mistaken belief that a breastfed baby does not need supplemental feeding. Remember that breast milk is food, not drink!
Maintaining water balance in the body children is the key to their health. Drinking a sufficient amount of fluid of proper quality will help to avoid problems with growing teeth, gums, joints, and kidneys.
Despite all the benefits of clean drinking water, if consumed in large quantities, it can cause harm to the body.
“Everything is poison and everything is medicine. And only the dose makes the medicine a poison, and the poison a medicine.” (Paracelsus)
There is an opinion among doctors that the best prevention of kidney disease is their continuous work. In order not to suffer from urolithiasis or inflammation urinary tract, you need to drink enough fluid per day (at least 2 liters). This volume must be reduced if there is already kidney disease.
With excessive consumption of water, the kidneys work in an enhanced mode, and it can be assumed that over time such overloads will begin to affect their health and performance. However, to date, no reliable relationship has been established between kidney disease and large amounts of fluid consumed.
In some cases, the volume of fluid consumed can be increased to 3 liters per day.
A person can live without food for more than a month, but without water only 3-4 days. A decrease in fluid levels in the body is extremely dangerous for all body systems. You suffer from mild to moderate water deficiency if:
Severe dehydration requires prompt medical attention and has the following symptoms:
Such dehydration is rare, but requires close treatment in a hospital setting.
Neither cold nor hot. Cold water causes spasms in the walls of the digestive tract and stomach, and the body still “warms” the incoming liquid to body temperature. Hot water or boiling water is not very pleasant in taste and can burn the mucous membrane.
It is correct to drink warm water, heated to room temperature or human body temperature.
There is no single correct answer to this question, but there are versions that:
According to doctors, the ideal start to the day must include drinking water on an empty stomach. It should be warm water, comfortable for our body.
To achieve such positive effects, it is enough to drink 1.5 - 2 glasses of warm water in the morning on an empty stomach.
It wouldn’t hurt to add a slice of lemon or a teaspoon of lemon juice to warm water in the morning.
Lemon perfectly stimulates the immune system, invigorates, accelerates the elimination of toxins, and enriches the body with vitamins.
In addition, it is known for its fat burning and antibacterial properties. You need to drink this homemade “lemonade” on an empty stomach, 20-30 minutes before meals.
Giving lemon water children need to be careful. Sour juice can harm the delicate mucous membrane of a child’s stomach, and lemon can cause an unpredictable allergic reaction.
Thermal treatment of the drink is one of the most effective means in the fight against pathogenic microbes. However, many people consider boiled water to be dead, useless, and, moreover, when boiling, harmful chlorine-containing compounds are formed. To avoid this, before boiling it is recommended to leave the water in an open container for 24 hours so that impurities such as chlorine, ammonia, etc. evaporate.
Raw water tastes better, but contains pathogenic microorganisms and disinfectant additives when it comes to tap water. Before use, such water must be settled or passed through household filters.
Plain water, tap water, is usually taken from land sources and has a variable composition. It depends on the amount of precipitation, time of year, distance of the reservoir from populated areas and other factors. The chemical composition of ordinary water does not always satisfy the body’s needs for the quality and quantity of microelements contained.
Mineral water has a constant chemical composition and is more saturated with inorganic microelements. Depending on the salt content in it, they are distinguished:
The first two types of water are taken as prescribed by a doctor and in limited quantities. Table mineral water (with a salt content of less than 1 g/l) can be drunk without restrictions and preferably from sources that are geographically close to your place of permanent residence.
Mineral water perfectly quenches thirst and restores water-salt balance, but its regular use requires significant financial costs.
Distilled water from a car dealership Designed for domestic machine maintenance purposes, for example, for flushing radiators. Therefore, the container in which it is stored is not intended for food, and you should not drink such water unless absolutely necessary.
Distilled water does not contain impurities and minerals, and it cannot replace absolutely all the water consumed.
Against, rainwater has an uncertain composition. It absorbs impurities contained in the atmosphere - dust, heavy metals, ammonia, toxic chemicals. It is not recommended to drink such water or even use it for domestic purposes.
Sea water is the strongest poison for humans. The salts it contains are enough to damage the kidneys and poison the body. After its absorption, there is a sharp increase in the concentration of trace elements and salt in the blood, which leads to the outflow of fluid from the tissues, which leads to rapid dehydration of the body.
Tap water goes through several stages of purification and before entering the pipes meets all sanitary and epidemiological standards. However, in the water supply it becomes secondarily contaminated - with iron oxides, organic matter, bacteria, and the chlorine compounds it contains can have a negative impact on the health of allergy sufferers and asthmatics. Therefore, it is not recommended to drink tap water that has not been boiled or purified with household filters.
Delicious and invigorating well water in modern environmental conditions, it most often contains large amounts of nitrates and fluorides. These compounds are difficult to remove, and they pose a particular danger to children's bodies. The quality of water in different wells varies, and without laboratory research it is difficult to determine whether water from a particular source is safe to drink.
The characteristic milky sediment of limestone after settling of water indicates a significant content of calcium salts (increased hardness) in it. Sanitary standards prohibit the use of such water for drinking purposes. Without additional softening and purification, regularly drinking water rich in limestone can lead to metabolic disorders and the formation of kidney stones.
The body consumes water during metabolism, even at night. To avoid feeling thirsty, half an hour before bedtime, it is recommended to drink half a glass of clean water, possibly mineral water. But you should avoid drinking liquids before bed if:
A diet for hypertensive patients must include a sufficient amount of fluid for an adult (at least 1.5 liters of water per day). Water plays an important role in the body during hypertension:
It is better to discuss the volume of water consumed and its quality with your doctor.
Frozen water has altered qualities. It greatly contributes to the cleansing and rejuvenation of the body, speeds up metabolism. To obtain it, settled water is poured into a bottle and placed in the freezer, and then the opaque ice and unfrozen part are removed.
The correct drinking regime will help not only get rid of extra pounds, but also maintain the achieved result.
During the day you need to drink 8-12 glasses of water.
Try to adhere to the approximate water consumption schedule:
In this case, water will help get rid of false feelings of hunger, reduce the amount of food consumed, and cleanse the body of toxins.
In hot weather, you feel thirstier, and you want to drink as many cold, refreshing drinks as possible.
The amount of water you drink on a hot day should be increased by 0.5 - 1 liter from the norm. Thus, an adult needs 2.5 -3 liters of liquid to maintain water-salt balance.
Choose the right water temperature. Don't overuse cold drinks- this is fraught with colds and sore throat. Ice water causes vasospasm, is absorbed more slowly and quenches thirst worse.
It is much more effective to drink warm or even hot water to speed up your metabolism, increase sweating, and thus cool your body naturally.
Instead of water, you can drink herbal teas with the addition of raspberries and rose hips.
The tradition of drinking food during meals makes digestion difficult, since the incoming water dilutes the gastric juice and carries the necessary enzymes outside the stomach. For the same reasons, you should not drink water immediately after eating.
It would be correct to drink a glass of clean water half an hour before a meal and 0.5 - 4 hours after a meal.
It is worth refraining from drinking water during training, so as not to create a feeling of fullness in the stomach and to avoid discomfort during active exercise. In addition, an athlete who uncontrollably drinks water during exercise to quench increased thirst is at risk of water poisoning.
Drinking water in one gulp puts a sharp strain on the kidneys and digestive tract. Without having time to assimilate, it is largely excreted from the body without being absorbed.
On the contrary, water, drunk in sips, is completely absorbed and perfectly quenches thirst.
Hold it drinking water in the mouth before swallowing it. This will moisturize the oral mucosa and “deceive” the receptors that signal thirst, creating the effect of drinking a large amount of liquid.
To avoid unpleasant effects on the gastrointestinal tract, do not drink melon and corn with water. This will lead to increased flatulence, colic and even diarrhea. For the same reasons, it is not recommended to eat them on an empty stomach.
The postoperative state is accompanied by severe thirst, but doctors do not allow drinking water after surgery and anesthesia.
Drinking water is allowed only 2 hours after anesthesia.
The human body consists of 60% water, it would seem that there can be no question of any harm from water for us, we ourselves are a real “aquatic environment”. Water cleanses our body of toxins and waste, normalizes metabolism and regulates body temperature. Our body needs water all the time; it helps to normalize the functioning of all vital organs and is involved in almost all processes. Without a doubt, water is extremely important for the human body, but why then do some people think that drinking a lot of water is harmful?
Is it possible to drink a lot of water and what is the norm?The generally accepted daily norm for water consumption is considered to be about 1.5-2 liters, that is, about 6-8 glasses, although the norm is regulated depending on weight, habitat and the amount of physical activity.
Some experts believe that this amount of fluid is needed only by people who are very active, involved in one sport or another, as well as people with various diseases, in order to avoid possible dehydration.
Is it harmful to drink a lot of water - real casesIt turns out that there can be too much of a good thing, and excessive water consumption leads to kidney and heart problems. There is even a known case of death in 2007. A 28-year-old woman, Jennifer Strange, drank about seven liters of water and died as a result of water intoxication (!).
That is, the answer to the question why you can’t drink a lot of water is very simple. Drinking an unusually large amount of liquid puts an unbearable burden on your kidneys. That is, excessive and regular consumption of water can lead to kidney disease, and a sharp “thrown march,” as it turns out, can lead to death.
Also, excessive water consumption is not in the best possible way affects the functioning of the cardiovascular system. After all, excess water in the body can increase the total volume of blood, and as a result, an unwanted and unexpected load on the heart.
Is it harmful to drink a lot of water when losing weight?Let's consider a very interesting question - do you need to drink a lot of water when losing weight, because we are accustomed to the fact that almost all diets recommend a dose of 2 liters.
There is an opinion that water helps with weight loss and this is true, but again, it all depends on the quantity. And we really should constantly monitor our water balance in order to avoid dehydration.
But... At the same time, you should not forcefully pour another glass of water into yourself in order to reach the expected norm. This is unlikely to bring any benefit, but rather the opposite - it is detrimental to the body.
In addition, we get a considerable dose of water from foods, for example, cucumbers contain about 95%, watermelon, cabbage and tomatoes also contain a lot. The main thing is to listen to your body and then water (in the right quantities) will only benefit you.