All about overhydration: Why you should be careful about the drinking water quantity

Our body needs water to function optimally. In fact, pretty much all core functions require water. Additionally, drinking water regularly ensures that your body can regulate temperature, prevent constipation, flush out toxins, and much more.

However, it’s also important to understand that while drinking water has its benefits, drinking too much water can be highly detrimental. Continue reading to know everything about overhydration.

What is overhydration?

Overhydration refers to a body condition where the electrolytes in your body become diluted due to excess water. This can lead to water intoxication and more commonly hyponatremia, a condition in which sodium levels become dangerously low.

Our body needs to maintain a delicate balance between electrolytes and water in order for it to function optimally. Even basic cellular functions need this balance. So, electrolytes being diluted due to excess water can cause various health issues including death.

Types of overhydration

Are there different types of overhydration? Surprisingly, yes.

The first type is due to increased water intake. It usually is a type of overhydration that occurs when you consume more water than your kidneys can remove via excretion.

The second type of overhydration is due to your body retaining water. This type of overhydration is due to a medical condition that prevents your body from efficiently getting rid of excess water.

Both of these types can essentially allow the water to collect in your bloodstream and dilute your electrolytes, throwing off the delicate balance.

What causes overhydration?

Fundamentally, overhydration is the imbalance of fluids. Overhydration is primarily associated with water as it dilutes the sodium in the body, preventing essential body functions.

Moreover, overhydration occurs when your kidneys can’t remove the fluid fast enough. So, your body must either take in a large amount of water or hold a large amount of water for overhydration to occur.

It’s actually rather easy to tell if you’re overhydrated: urine is a good indicator of your hydration status. The only criterion is that you are healthy. Pale yellow or yellow urine that looks like lemonade is considered perfect and you should ideally strive for this level of hydration. Darker urine, on the other hand, is an indicator you need more water. Colourless urine means you are overhydrated.

So, who’s more susceptible to overhydration?

It’s usually athletes who are the most at risk of being overhydrated. After all, they tend to consume a lot of water before, during, and after a sports event. Not to mention that their strenuous training may require them to intake extra water as well.

However, it’s important to understand that water requirements fluctuate with age, sex, weather, activity level, and overall health. So, it’s always best to talk to a medical professional to understand your limits.

Now, people who are unwell or who have some form of a pre-existing health condition can also be susceptible to overhydration. The most common pre-existing issues that cause overhydration by retaining more water are liver disease, kidney disease, uncontrolled diabetes, congestive heart failure, and even some types of medication like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antipsychotic drugs, diuretics, and much more.

What does overhydration do to the human body?

It’s important to understand that your body maintains a state of balance. In fact, this balance is crucial for the functioning of something as fundamental as cells. Now, this balance is usually regulated by a proper ratio of fluids to electrolytes.

Electrolytes can consist of sodium, potassium, chloride, and magnesium. Moreover, it is commonly present in your bloodstream, prevents your muscles from contracting and it even contributes to the smooth functioning of the nervous system, in addition to much more.

When you drink too much water, this balance between fluids and electrolytes is affected and it can, as you can imagine, contribute to various issues.

The electrolyte that’s usually affected the most is sodium as too much water can dilute it. Now, a low sodium level in the body is known as hyponatremia. Hyponatremia can be either mild or severe.

The mild version results in symptoms like fatigue, weakness, nausea, or at the most bloating. However, sudden dips in sodium levels can lead to rather serious symptoms like convulsions, confusion, unsteady gait, and even irritability.

Severe illnesses could include coma and even death due to water poisoning. At this level, the brain swells up due to a lack of sodium and you have a high chance of slipping into a coma. Although this extreme case is rare, it is possible.

So, how much water can we handle?

While proper hydration is extremely important, it’s important to understand that your body has its limits. And this limit is different for different people. For example, it’s dependent on a ton of factors like age, weight, metabolism, pre-existing health conditions, and much more.

So, unfortunately, there’s not an absolute number you can stick to. However, you can always ask your general physician as they can recommend an accurate limit.

Of course, there are certain references that can be applicable to the general population. For example, it is commonly noted that a normal person with an average build with normal kidneys can more or less consume 17 litres of water a day. However, there are prerequisites. The most important being it needs to be consumed slowly. A perfectly functioning kidney can excrete the excess water efficiently but it can only get rid of around 1 litre an hour.

So, in addition to drinking too much, drinking too fast can also cause overhydration.

How is overhydration treated?

Well, depending on the extent of overhydration you may or may not require medical assistance.

Extreme cases like water intoxication should not be left alone as it can cause further complications to the body. Without enough sodium in the body to regulate certain functions, it can lead to the swelling of the brain. So, in instances like these, you’ll need to immediately head to the hospital and get the appropriate treatment.

Fortunately, overhydration usually shows up in the form of symptoms like clear urine, fatigue, weakness, confusion, etc. We recommend laying off drinking a lot of water when you experience these symptoms.

Of course, while prevention is the most important thing, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t drink sufficient water every day. You’ll have to ensure to consume the necessary amount of water by splitting it evenly across the day.