Water Consumption

[DanG]

Now i know that drinking too much water leaches the salts and minerals from your body, and it is possible to die from water poisoning, but how much is too much?

I drink about 2 litres of water a day....

[JamesB]

2 litres a day is absolutely fine (assuming you don't have kidney failure) and you could get away with a fair bit more than that.

And in general, drinking lots of water doesn't cause you to lose significant amounts of salts or minerals. The kidneys are a stunningly good piece of kit (I always think that everybody should have at least one) and are highly efficient at both diluting and concentrating urine.

Water intoxication is a result of the blood and other fluids in your body becoming overdiluted and therefore water gets in the wrong places and you get swelling where you shouldn't.

[Waylander]

Yes it is. Do you recall the young man who died after the marathon? That was from overhydration IIRC - [okay i'm simplifying it abit!]

Similarly there are 2 modes of "common" death post-Ecstasy and 1 is related to drinking too much water.

This ignores medical conditions such as Diabetes Insipidus

[DaddyDub]

4 pints (about 8 cups) a day is what you should be drinking IIRC.

[stevie_d]

Your water consumption obviously depends on the weather conditions, your own body and what you are doing during the day.

I reckon I drink around 3 litres of water a day, more in summer, less in winter. IIRC the RN have signs on the toilets in their ships stating "You should goto the toilet every 2 hours and your urine should be clear"