What harm does drinking too much water do to the human body?

On hot summer days, people usually feel thirsty easily, especially when exercising outdoors or when the sun is very hot, the thirst will be even worse. This will always make people drink water in big gulps when they see it. Water is the source of life and the human body cannot live without water. However, sometimes drinking too much water will make you feel more thirsty. So, is drinking more water good? Are there any dangers of drinking too much water?

Water intoxication refers to drinking excessive water for a long time or drinking a large amount of water in a short period of time. The body must excrete excess water through urine and sweat, but as the water is excreted, the electrolytes in the human body, mainly sodium, will be diluted, the salt content in the blood will become less and less, and the water absorption capacity will decrease accordingly. Some water will be quickly absorbed into tissue cells, causing cell edema. Symptoms may initially include dizziness, weakness, and rapid heartbeat, and in severe cases, there may even be convulsions, impaired consciousness, and coma. The best drinking water is boiled water, 8 cups a day, about 2L.

Most people believe that colds are caused by viral infections or secondary bacterial infections, so drinking more water can indirectly help expel toxins from the body. However, according to Australian researchers, after analyzing the data on water absorption of patients with respiratory infections over the past half century, it was found that in many cases, drinking large amounts of pure water not only did not speed up the recovery of the disease, but instead caused disorders in other body functions. Therefore, drinking too much water has a great impact on your health.

It is best not to drink a lot of water within half an hour after a meal, so as not to dilute the gastric juice, dilute the stomach acid, and damage the digestive function. Drink some water after a meal and some soup during a meal. This will allow the digestive juice to mix with the food, which is good for digestion and absorption. However, it is worth noting that some people drink a lot of water after meals, which is unscientific.

Because after people eat, food takes up most of the space in the gastrointestinal tract. If you drink a lot of water at this time, your stomach will be full and you will feel bloated and painful. In addition, if a person eats too much and drinks too much water, the food in the stomach will be heavy, which may cause the stomach to ptosis or expansion. Although water is the source of our life, we should also pay attention to the time and amount of drinking.

Traditional Chinese medicine generally divides human body constitutions into nine categories, so people with different body constitutions have different characteristics and dietary taboos. Among them, people with yang deficiency, qi deficiency, and phlegm-dampness constitution are not suitable for drinking a lot of water, otherwise they will suffer from symptoms of spleen deficiency and water retention such as loss of appetite, bloating, diarrhea, and in severe cases, vomiting, dizziness, tasteless mouth, and clear saliva flowing from the corners of the mouth, and other manifestations of water intake.

Many people are accustomed to drinking the leftover boiled water in the thermos after a few days to avoid waste, but this is actually not the right thing to do. Do not drink boiled water that has been left for too long, as the organic matter contained in it will be continuously decomposed into nitrite, which will then lead to bacterial contamination. The boiled water you drink each time should not exceed twenty-four hours.