How much water is too much

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

Had a chat with a colleague a few minutes about this.

I drink at least 2 litres of water while at the office. He's argument is that too much water could actually flush out the nutrients of the food you're consuming during the course of the day.

As I'm walking back to my desk I started to think that he might be right.

Please note, I'm referring to pure water - for this argument, lets assume the water from the taps, dispensers, etc is pure. And lets exclude other liquids completely (tea, juice, etc).

 

[TehStranger]

Do you pee yellow? If not you should be good.

 

[I.am.Sam]

is bottled water not pure ?

but yeah atleast 2l a day is good they say

 

[STS]

Had a chat with a colleague a few minutes about this.

I drink at least 2 litres of water while at the office. He's argument is that too much water could actually flush out the nutrients of the food you're consuming during the course of the day.

As I'm walking back to my desk I started to think that he might be right.

Please note, I'm referring to pure water - for this argument, lets assume the water from the taps, dispensers, etc is pure. And lets exclude other liquids completely (tea, juice, etc).

too much water is when you start blowing out bubbles instead of speaking words

it takes a LOT to get to that point, i mean a LOT. you'd have to drink more than 30 liters a day, in other words it has to be an addiction or drinking more than you should, for example when you are not thirsty.

not sure about the exact amount, but i was researching this when i was looking at how harmful my energy drinks were :twisted:

 

[cpu.]

but yeah atleast 2l a day is good they say

Is that the same 'they' that said potatoes and eggs is bad for you?

 

[RandomDesign]

There are factors involved, it's not a black and white matter of "every human requires 2074ml of water daily, end of story". your levels of respiration and perspiration will greatly affect your water requirement, and those factors are affected by ambient weather and your level of physical activity. some medications can affect urination, some foods require additional moisture to be properly digested. etc.
in short, your colleague has no clue.
As TehStranger alluded, the colour of your urine is your best indicator as to how much water you should be drinking. (darker = more)

 

[xrapidx]

I drink about six liters a day at the moment.

 

[^^vampire^^]

I weigh 83kg and should be drinking almost 3 litres a day.
1 litre for every 30kg of body mass

 

[Archer]

Your body can handle roughly 1L per hour, pushing this (under normal conditions) you risk death (there are records of people dying from as little as 4L over 2 hours). As for the nutrient aspect, I half remember (cant find a source) that the threshhold is 15L in a day to completely flush our your liver/kidneys. Good luck with that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

 

[ngwe23]

I find that my body is a good regulator. I drink when I feel like drinking. I don't want to over work my kidney while they try to get rid of all that excess water.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Do you pee yellow? If not you should be good.

That would be relevant if drinking too little, he is arguing about drinking too much in which case he should be peeing perfectly watery regardless.

Personally I've never bought into this nonsense. I don't drink any water or rather very rarely as I need to make a conscious effort to do so yet I don't ever piss yellow unless I'm on multivitamins.

 

[DJ...]

The nutrients argument is a little weak to be honest. BUT, look up dilutional hyponatremia to see the dangers of over-indulgence in even the most basic life-giving solution...

 

[RanzB]

I'm on around 4l a day.

 

[DJ...]

I'm on around 4l a day.

Me too. I drink nothing but water and booze. 'cos you gotta keep healthy, ya know...

 

[Unhappy438]

Me too. I drink nothing but water and booze. 'cos you gotta keep healthy, ya know...

Dont forget fish oil tablets with your marijuana.

 

[Electric]

Dont forget fish oil tablets with your marijuana.

Hey, that's my health regime.