Question: Can you drink too much water?
I read your article about drinking enough water. Can you drink too much water--thus, causing an overload on your kidneys?
Dolores - About.com User
Answer: There is a disorder called hyponatremia, which means "low sodium." This occurs when someone drinks enormous amounts of water and/or loses too much salt from the body in a short time. Drinking an enormous amount of water overwhelms the kidneys and they can't process and eliminate the water fast enough, so the amount of sodium in your blood drops too low. Your brain needs sodium and when the sodium levels drop this low a person feels confusion and lethargy. Severe hyponatremia can lead to twitching, seizures and even death.
Hyponatremia can happen to a marathon runner who drinks gallons of water and doesn't replace the electrolytes during a race, or to people with certain psychological disorders who can't make themselves stop drinking water. Hyponatremia can also occur in older people and people with certain medical conditions.
Hyponatremia can happen to a marathon runner who drinks gallons of water and doesn't replace the electrolytes during a race, or to people with certain psychological disorders who can't make themselves stop drinking water. Hyponatremia can also occur in older people and people with certain medical conditions.
Hyponatremia won't happen to a healthy person who spreads out his or her water intake over the course of the day. This means it is fine to drink two gallons of water over 16 hours, but drinking two gallons of water all in one sitting can be very bad.
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