What happens if I drink a lot of water in a day?

Water is a necessary good and today we can get it in many ways, although in the vast majority there is a price. Without going into the cost or problem of single-use plastic and water bottles, we want to emphasize the need to drink water every day.

Both children, adolescents, adults and the elderly have to drink water, some more than others, but we must give the body the hydration it needs to face a new day.

The human body is 70% water and apart from saliva, tears and sweat, that water disappears from our body in a thousand different ways. It is vitally important to constantly hydrate ourselves, even if we do not have that characteristic thirst sensation.

Thirst is a response from our body that tells us that water levels are reaching a minimum and that we need to replace the water we are releasing. Therefore, when we do sports, we must increase hydration.

We not only hydrate ourselves by drinking water, we also do so by eating and drinking other types of liquids such as teas, milk, juices, and the like, and even with food, as happens with fruits and vegetables.

The best option, without a doubt, is to drink water , instead of drinking sugary soft drinks and the like. But not just any water, but quality filtered water. It is like mineral water, without spending a fortune, without generating plastic waste, without carrying that weight and with the convenience of getting it at home directly from our tap. There is the option of filter jugs or bottles and there are also special taps with filters.

How much water should we drink daily

Each person has their hydration needs, but we are going to give some basic notions to know how much water should be drunk for each age group. Later we will explain what happens in our body if we exceed these amounts.

Before knowing what happens if we drink a lot of water, it is convenient to know what is the maximum that we can drink, according to each age range.

• Between 0 and 6 months: water is acquired through breast milk or formula milk and must be around 100 and 190 ml of water per day for each kilo of weight.
• Between 6 months and 1 year: at this age you should drink a maximum of 1 liter of water a day and it can be acquired through breast milk or formula milk and complementary foods.
• Between 1 and 2 years: a maximum of 1.2 liters of water per day.
• Between 2 and 3 years: 1.3 liters per day.
• Between 4 and 8 years of age: 1.6 liters per day.
• Between 9 and 13 years: maximum 2.1 liters per day (men) and 1.9 liters per day (women).
• Between 14 and the age of majority: 2.5 liters per day (men) and 2 liters (women).
• Between 19 and 70 years: 2.5 liters per day (men) and 2 liters (women).
• Pregnant: 2.3 liters per day.
• Lactating women: 2.7 liters per day.

As we can see, the amount of water we should drink varies between age, sex and other special conditions. It also varies if we have a health problem such as kidney failure or we do a lot of sports.

In these cases, or when in doubt, we recommend asking a specialist. Only they, and knowing our medical history, will be able to tell us if we need more or less water a day. For example, if we have kidney failure, it is not advisable to drink a lot of water or take fruits and vegetables rich in water since this puts an extra strain on our kidneys.

What are the consequences of excess hydration?

It is clear that drinking water is important, but we must not overdo it. Now we are going to know the reasons why it is better not to drink too much water.

If we drink a lot of water, this can lead to a disease called hyponatremia (low sodium concentration in the blood). Its symptoms are disorientation, nausea, headache (the brain becomes inflamed), fatigue and even death. It is a rare disease, but it can occur in extreme cases where we drink much more water than the body uses in a day.

Another problem with excess water is that the kidneys work at a forced march and there comes a point where they are not able to cover all the liquid that reaches them and the body’s waste begins to accumulate and will cause us dizziness, nausea , vomiting and diarrhea.

Our heart is also going to suffer several consequences and that is that the volume of the blood increases and excessive pressure is exerted on the blood vessels and on the heart itself.

One of the most “known” sequences that we arrive at without realizing when drinking a lot of water is behavior. If we drink a lot of water, we end up “drunk”, it is true, but not because the water contains alcohol, but because overhydration can become a poison for the body and water intoxication occurs.

How to control your water intake

If we drink little water, we will have dry skin, we will feel tired, we will have dark yellowish urine, we will have dizziness, dry lips, itchy eyes, we will feel very thirsty, we will not go to the bathroom, etc.

However, at the extreme we have people who are obsessed with drinking water and are known as alcoholics. They are those people who tend to hyperhydration and we already know many of its negative consequences.

To be able to control your water intake, we recommend drinking between 6 and 10 glasses of water a day . More than 10 in an average adult, with a correct diet, healthy lifestyle habits and some daily physical activity, is more than fine.

Remember that water is obtained from countless foods and beverages, so we cannot control only the water we consume, based on counting glasses of water. That would be unreal, since any food contains a certain level of hydration, especially fruits and vegetables.

It is advisable not to drink only water, but to use other healthy liquids such as water with natural flavors such as lemon. strawberries, orange, coconut, raspberry, mint, etc. In this way we do not lose minerals.