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Oscar Wong\/Getty Images<\/p>\n <\/span> \nOne woman has died and another was hospitalized as a result of drinking too much water, according to recent news reports.\n<\/p>\n \nThe events show that, while hydration is important to health, it is possible to drink too much water.\n<\/p>\n \nTikTok user Michelle Fairburn shared her experience of being hospitalized for "water poisoning" on the platform in July, after "drinking an excessive amount of water as part of the "75 Hard" challenge, which requires people to drink a gallon of water a day.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nAccording to Fairburn, she began feeling nauseated and weak on day 12 of the challenge. She also had "major diarrhea" and a "band of fire…in [her] abdomen and [her] lower back." Those symptoms sent her to her doctor, who eventually diagnosed her with a "severe sodium deficiency."\n<\/p>\n \nThough Fairburn has since recovered, another woman\u2014an Indiana mother of two named Ashley Summers\u2014died from water toxicity last month.\n<\/p>\n \nSummers, 35, reportedly told family members she felt like she "couldn't drink enough water" and ended up drinking four bottles of water in 20 minutes. She later passed out in her garage and never regained consciousness.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nThough fatal water intoxication is rare, it can happen\u2014here's what to look out for.\n<\/p>\n How Much Water Should You Drink Each Day?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nThe biggest concern of drinking too much water is developing a condition called hyponatremia, which may also be known as water intoxication, water poisoning, or overhydration.\n<\/p>\n \nHyponatremia occurs when a person drinks so much water that the electrolytes in the blood become diluted, Natasha Trentacosta, MD, pediatric and adult sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, told Health<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cA generally healthy person\u2019s kidneys are going to be able to regulate that water balance,\u201d Eric Adkins, MD, an emergency room physician at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, told Health<\/em>. \u201cBut once the kidneys can\u2019t keep up with excreting water, the body\u2019s sodium levels become more and more diluted. It\u2019s progressive and can be dangerous.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nSodium, one of the body\u2019s key electrolytes, helps control blood pressure, nerves, and muscles. It also plays a crucial role in balancing the body\u2019s fluids. If sodium levels fall too low\u2014below 135 milliequivalents per liter (mEq\/L)\u2014extra water can enter cells and induce swelling, which can cause severe symptoms.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cHyponatremia may present with lethargy or altered mental status as the brain is sensitive to sodium levels in the blood,\u201d said Trentacosta. \u201cNausea and vomiting and loss of coordination may occur as well.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \nAccording to the National Kidney Foundation, other potential symptoms include:<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nIf someone continues to drink too much water, they can even develop seizures or fall into a coma, said Trentacosta.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Health Benefits of Drinking Water<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nThere are no uniform guidelines on excessive water intake. Rather, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends an amount of fluids that people should aim to consume: 15.5 cups for men and 11.5 cups for women. That includes fluids from food\u2014not just water.<\/span> (75 Hard's recommended gallon of water a day equates to 16 cups, at least 4.5 cups more than the recommended amount for Fairburn.)\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cToo much water is going to be somewhat proportional as far as the size of the person,\u201d Adkins said. Everyone\u2019s body composition and hydration needs are slightly different, he added.\n<\/p>\n \nAdkins recommended paying attention to the color of your urine to determine if you\u2019re drinking too much water. \u201cIf it looks dark\u2014orange or dark yellow\u2014it\u2019s an indication that you\u2019re not getting enough water. You want to make sure it\u2019s closer to light yellow,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \nBut if you find that you\u2019re \u201cdrinking so much that it looks like you\u2019re constantly urinating out water\u201d and you\u2019re having other symptoms, it\u2019s \u201cprobably a sign that your water intake is too aggressive," he said.\n<\/p>\n \nIf you\u2019re doing a hard workout, he suggested having a drink that contains electrolytes, like a sports drink or coconut water, to help balance out sodium levels.\n<\/p>\n \nAccording to Adkins, the average person doesn\u2019t have to worry about hyponatremia. On the flip side, most people don\u2019t drink enough water.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWe don\u2019t see a ton of people coming into the emergency department with this, but there are rare scenarios where people are being aggressive with their water intake,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \nTrentacosta said hyponatremia more often affects athletes. People in the intensive care unit or elderly patients are also more likely to develop hyponatremia, according to Adkins, because the condition can result from excessive water intake but also other factors, such as diarrhea, extreme sweating, and vomiting.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nTreatment depends on the severity of the condition, said Adkins. If doctors suspect you have sodium deficiency, they usually do blood and urine tests to determine your levels.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIf it\u2019s a mild case, the kidneys will help return the balance to normal if you can limit the amount of water intake by the person,\u201d Adkins said. But doctors will give you medication or an IV to slowly raise sodium levels in more severe cases.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWe have to have really tight control around the correction of the sodium in the body,\u201d Adkins said. If doctors \u201covercorrect\u201d the imbalance too quickly, it can impact the brain by destroying the protective sheath around nerves called myelin, he said.\n<\/p>\n \nIf someone has a mild imbalance, sodium levels may become normal within a few hours after limiting water intake, according to Adkins. It may take several days in more severe cases.\n<\/p>\n \nFortunately for Fairburn, she felt much better after her hospital visit, saying she went from feeling "like a negative ten" the previous day to a six. While Fairburn revealed plans to continue 75 Hard, she said she'd no longer be participating in the water portion of the challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One woman has died and another was hospitalized as a result of drinking too much water, recent news reports have shown. Though rare, water intoxication (or hyponatremia) occurs when a person drinks so much water that the electrolytes in their blood become diluted. Symptoms of hyponatremia include nausea or vomiting, headache, confusion, and fatigue, among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[410,1191],"tags":[116,1192],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Drinking Too Much Water <\/span> <\/h2>\n
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How Much Water Is Too Much? <\/span> <\/h2>\n
Treatment for Hyponatremia <\/span> <\/h2>\n