Can You Drink Too Much Water?

Can you drink too much water? The fitness message for years now has been, make sure you stay hydrated. But is there such a thing as drinking too much water as it relates to what is actually healthy?  

The answer is yes. Ginger Hultin, RD, a Seattle-based spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says, “[drinking too much water] can cause a condition called hyponatremia… this is when there’s excess fluid in the body that causes low levels of sodium, a critical electrolyte required for proper functioning of the body.”

When hyponatremia occurs, the water levels in your body increase and your cells start to swell. Symptoms of hyponatremia range from nausea, vomiting, headache, fatigue and confusion to more serious ones such as seizures, coma and even death, according to the Mayo Clinic.

But how much water is too much? “Drinking more than the kidneys can eliminate could cause hyponatremia in some people,” says Hultin, noting that the kidneys can eliminate 27 to 34 ounces of water per hour, or a total of 676 to 947 ounces (20 to 28 liters) per day. More than that might put you in the danger zone.

Hultin emphasizes that hot weather can lead people to overdo their water intake, citing reports of hyponatremia in soldiers and in marathon runners. “Some of the biggest risk factors [of hyponatremia] include drinking excessive water while sweating or during prolonged sports of over an hour and not replacing electrolytes like sodium with food or properly formulated sports hydration beverages.” 

So how much water do you actually need in a day? For the typical healthy adult living in a temperate climate, about 15.5 cups (125 ounces) for men and 11.5 cups (91 ounces) for women should do it. These are the intakes established as adequate by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Saying all that, I’ve found that there are still a lot of people who do not drink as much water as they should. When it comes to improving your health and fitness water is really important. So, make sure you’re drinking enough, but don’t over do it.