Drinking adequate amounts of water may help regulate body temperature, flush out all toxins, prevent constipation and perform all major bodily functions. You lose water from breathing, sweating, and passing stool from the digestive system.
But can there be too much of a good thing? In rare cases, drinking an extreme amount in a short time can be dangerous. Over consumption of water, also known as over-hydration,on the other hand, excessive water consumption can lead to water intoxication. Water intoxication happens when the amount of salt and other electrolytes in your body become excessively diluted. In worst case, the sodium levels may become dangerously low.
Sodium is an important nutrient that is required to balance the fluids in and around the body cells. Water intoxication results from the swelling of cells. When brain cells swell, pressure inside the skull increases. This pressure causes the first symptoms of water intoxication, which include -- Headache,Nausea,Vomiting.
It's very difficult to consume too much water by accident, yet there have been reported cases of deaths due to this condition.
Bottom line:
Most health experts suggest that drink water whenever you feel thirsty and not load up on it unnecessarily. In order to check if your body needs water is to watch out for the colour of your urine. If it is dark yellow in colour, your body needs water and if it is light yellow colour, you don't really need it.
While water is an important elixir, over-usage of it may only cause harm to your body. So, make sure you maintain an optimum level of water to ensure a healthy body. The kidneys are capable of excreting up to 28 liters of fluid per day. However, they cannot excrete more than 1 liter per hour. Therefore, drinking more than this is not a good idea.
Thanks for reading.