Water is an important part of life on Earth. The human body is made up of 70 percent water and we can only live for a few days without it but it is also true that you can have too much of a good thing and water is no exception.
Water Intoxication
Water Intoxication sounds like a made up condition but it is very real and can be deadly. The condition occurs most commonly in babies who drink too much water or too much formula that has been heavily diluted and in athletes who drink too much water without replacing the electrolytes.
When you drink too much water the cells in your body swell and cause the cells to extract sodium from the inside to the outside to try and replenish the correct concentration your body needs. The main thing to look at when deciding what is safe when drinking water is how fast you drink it.
When large quantities of water are consumed at a rapid rate fluid builds up in cells and sodium concentration decreases at a rapid rate. This can cause build up of fluid in the brain and in theory can cause cells to burst. It can also increase the volume of blood to your body and this increases strain to your heart.
Not only can water build up around the brain but water can cause it to swell and the fluid can leak into the lungs. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco say that an intravenous dose of salt water is one simple cure that can reverse the effects when the sufferer is treated soon enough.
Deaths from Drinking Too Much Water
One of the most well known deaths from this phenomenon is the 28-year-old wife and mother who died in January of 2007 when she participated in a contest hosted by a local radio station in California called “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” in which the winner received a Nintendo Wii game console.
In two recent related deaths two men died when their brains swelled from drinking large amounts of water rapidly. One was a Californian teen who drank a gallon of water during football practice at his high school. When he returned home he drank another gallon because he felt as if he had heat stroke. He died later the same day when it was found that the water had been trapped around his brain. Drinking too much water is a common problem that must be kept track of among athletes. Marathon runners have also seen a high rate of deaths from this.
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