You can face a barrage of issues if you are drinking large amounts of water during the day. Symptoms of overhydration include experiencing frequent headaches, nausea and fatigue. Unfortunately these symptoms are often confused with dehydration, so be careful of that! The effects of overhydration include:
Water intoxication
This is a condition in which an imbalance is created in the electrolyte levels of the body. It is caused by excessive consumption of water without replacing the sodium needed by the body. Water intoxication can lead to:
• Hyponatremia, a condition in which the blood sodium levels are low. It can lead to disorientation and hamper your ability to think and even balance yourself.
• Hypokalemia, a condition in which the potassium levels in the blood serum decrease, which can lead to a risk of irregular heart rhythm, apart from causing leg cramps and weakness.
Headaches and nausea
With higher levels of water, the cells in the body swell up and become larger. The brain calls are affected in the same way, causing a lot of pressure on the skull, leading to headaches. In addition, since the kidneys are working more than needed, they work slower, which leads to a feeling of nausea.
Tired kidneys
As we know, kidneys flush out the toxins from the body by filtering the fluids. Large quantities of water in the body will burden the kidneys to work continuously, which will tire them out. Usually, kidneys are conditioned to filter out about a litre of water in an hour, but anything more than that will lead to overworking them.
Fatigue
When the kidneys, blood vessels and heart are constantly pressured, the entire body is stressed. With such stress, you will generally feel tired all the time if you have too much water on a regular basis.
Stressed heart
With increased water intake, the volume of blood goes up in the system. Due to this, the blood vessels and the heart have to work harder to pump it, which can lead to a seizure in extreme cases.
Since the electrolyte levels in the body are disturbed, there is an imbalance of the fluid levels in the body, affecting the proper functioning of the muscles. This can lead to muscle spasms and cramps.
So what is a good amount?
• Experts suggest that ideally around two litres of fluids should be consumed in a day. Apart from water, this could be in the form of other beverages like tea, buttermilk, milk, soup, and so on.
• Consumption of water, however, largely depends on your lifestyle, depending on how strenuous your daily activities are, but a minimum of one-and-a-half litres is needed.
• Those who are on the road a lot should try and drink at least three litres of fluids, to avoid dehydration from sweating.
• The quantity also varies with the weather and seasons. During summers, it is important to keep yourself hydrated, and you can opt for refreshing drinks such as electrolyte or glucose water and nimbu paani. During the monsoon and winters, you might not feel like drinking water much, but remind yourself every now and then to do it.
• If you feel extremely thirsty at a point in the day, it is a sign you need to drink water at regular intervals.
So, stay hydrated at all times, but not overhydrated!
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