Why Drinking Too Much Water Can Be Harmful To Your Health

While I agree with Kitty that many people do turn to food when they get thirsty, mistakenly viewing the nagging need for water as hunger, I think she is being quite judgmental to single out overweight people in this. This is a common reaction in many people of differing weights and body sizes and does not in itself cause overweight. Congratulations to her for having lost some extra pounds through substituting water for food and being more aware of her need for water, but to make the statement that obese people eat when thirsty rather than drinking is an ignorant judgment based on opinion.

Sharon

I've gained weight since starting to drink more water. I almost always drink water first before thinking to eat, but I am still overweight. I know when I am thirsty and I don't eat instead of drinking.

When I didn't drink as much water as I do now, I did not substitute food to wet my mouth. I ate when I was hungry or bored. I drank water when my mouth was dry.

Also, I rarely ever drink anything other than water so you can't blame my weight gain on drinking sugary fluid.

I am the first to admit my own problem with eating too much. So many times I have read, read, and read some more to learn how to improve my diet. And I am well versed on preaching about the rights and wrongs on eating healthy. But all the knowledge in the world won't get you there. It might make you keep trying. But the problem is that most yummy food is addictive. And if you try just one food, you end up coughing down a lot more and becoming addicted. I have lost weight and gained it so many times. I have been on a bodybuilding kick where i gained alot of muscle and became thin. But I eventually went back.

But one thing that never changes is that I love to drink water. I prefer it. There are times when I need to stand in front of the fridge and drink three or four glasses of it. But most times I drink a small glass every hour or two. And it matters where it comes from as well. That should be a focus in this topic. Not all water is equal and some of it is even dangerous anyway. Studies have found arsenic, feces, and other garbage in bottled water labeled "Spring".

okay whole foods could be a great way to get your water intake if you think you need to eat.that way you can do two things at once,eat and rehydrate.but to be safe you can drink some water 15min. before you eat that way your food intake is less or even non at all.

Everybody's body is different. Obviously 8 glasses of water wouldn't have the same effect on a 100 pound adult compared to a 200 pound adult and so on... So needless to say, some people don't need as much as others and vice versa. I was told to take YOUR WEIGHT, divide that in HALF, and that's how many ounces you should be drinking daily. AT LEAST. So if you weight 250 pounds, you should be drinking 125 ounces of water.. It makes more sense that way than assuming every body is the same and requires the same amount of water daily.

I use to drink 6 to 8 litre water a day. My doctor asked me to consume 2.5 to 3 litre water in a day. I have tried many times to reduce water quantity but failed :(

I drink over 5 -- 16 oz bottled waters per day. In the last 2 yrs i have lost over 60 lbs. When i get overhungry i just reach into the refridgerator for a flavored bottle water. I feel healthier and know water is most of what a human body is composed of.

First off, I would like to state that this was a great article, not many people know that excessive water consumption can be fatal.
With that said, I will offer my own experience with water in terms of weight loss:
I spent several years dieting and exercising and doing my best to avoid high calorie foods yet supply my body with the recommended daily vitamins, minerals, and calories. I did very well and lost over 100 lbs just by drinking a few glasses of water a day and eating whole foods and exercising but then I hit a plateau became very discouraged and soon returned to my processed foods and diet soda after going back to college (for a second time at age 29). My schedule and finances are a complete mess as anyone who has tried to pay their own way through college can tell you. With my current schedule, it's hard to find time to use the bathroom let alone take proper care of myself and so I really let my physical health go.
I hit bottom this Summer, I was drinking in upwards of 2 liters of diet soda a day, 3 cups of coffee, and eating frozen or boxed processed foods. Throughout that process I had managed to gain back over 50 lbs and if that weren't enough, I started smoking again, about a pack every 2-3 days. I can look back over that now and see that I was reaching for things which would provide quick energy fixes that were cheap, satisfying and accessible. I felt miserable, just getting from A to B felt like a struggle, I felt swollen and bloated and extremely constipated and like I was winded and couldn't breathe. I suffered from depression, didn't want to be seen, and my clothes did not fit.
Then, I came upon a water diet news story and thought, well it doesn't cost me anything to try this, why not?
So I began drinking about a gallon of water a day and completely did away with my diet soda habit but noticed something very strange. I only wanted 1 cup of coffee in the morning (often times just half a cup), I started craving healthy whole foods, not greasy and salty stuff, and cigarettes tasted and smelled absolutely disgusting to me. My intention was to simply increase my water intake to what sounded like an excessive amount but in the process I've quit smoking after only wanting 3-4 a day, and I have to force myself to eat 1,900 calories a day, I genuinely no longer feel the need to emotionally eat when stressed and feel like my memory and cognitive functioning have improved 100 fold. My joints feel well lubricated and no longer inflamed, the psoriasis on my hands has nearly cleared, and my skin looks like it did 10 years ago. In addition, I've lost 32 lbs. and counting in the past month alone. Normally, I would never dream of losing this much weight this quickly but I feel 1,000 times better. My digestive problems have cleared, no more frequent heartburn, gas, or painful bowel movements, no more dizzy spells, and I sleep very soundly, no more tossing and turning all night. No more bouts of depression and my clothes fit again.
So I would have to definitely weigh in in favor of drinking a gallon of water a day for a male who is 6'3" tall. It has completely turned my life around and hasn't cost me more than a 1 gallon jug of water that I refill each morning. I should add that I sweat a lot, always have even since a child so there could be something to that. My brothers and everyone in my family seem to sweat a great deal as well. I don't believe that we release the same amounts of fluid within a given day, this should be accounted for when you're trying to figure out what is best for your own personal health. We each are really very, very different in these respects. As a human race we have managed to thrive in just about any climate across the globe and have adapted very unique ways of coping with those challenges over hundreds of generations, our unique sets of adaptations which we have inherited will further dictate which dietary options are best for each of us. I know that I do not do well with processed, refined, salty or sugary foods and that drinking what most would consider a very large amount of water works best for me. People of different decent might understandably not benefit from this same diet according to the dictates of their environment from which they came.
The responses to the article have certainly gone in some interesting directions and I have read them all. I urge each of you to consider how different environments on planet Earth actually are (how different we all are) before you consider swearing by any one way of being healthy versus another.
We are right to gather information and experiment with what works best for each of us but we are wrong if we insist that our experiences or the experiences of another can account for an entire group of people. I do not think Kitty's post attempted to do this and I thank her for sharing her experience as well as everyone else who contributed to this thread.

The doctor was dealing specifically with the ingestion of too much water not too little. Thus, that is the slant of the article. Many people would see themselves in that group and know what he was speaking of.
Kitty, who is,personally, more concerned about the opposite condition just threw herself and her world into it.Keeping a bottle of water at hand for someone who is not at risk of consuming amounts that exceed the normal range constitutes no concern. Put that bottle into the hands of a person who is continually throwing their electrolytes off,causing their cells to carry burdens that they should not and having other systems deal with removing it do not need to be encouraged.

The advice is not bad - it is just under the wrong topic. That is why people should see experts. Too many people think that their experience or condition represents everyone else.

I came on this site to gain knowledge about how much water is to much to drank, instead I came across post of folks bad mouthing one another. I've been in a lot of pain sense my surgery which was over 4 months ago, I have lost 40 pounds rapidly and I'm still loosing weight. All I drink is water, seems like the only thing that I can hold down these days. So I was really looking foward to reading something very useful about drinking water, I barely eat: I couldnt tell anyone the last time that I really eat a full meal because my meals consist on taking three to four bites of something all day and being done with it. I'm still loosing weight and not in a healthy way at all. I'm waiting for loads of test results to come back to figure out what else is wrong with me.
Nobody should judge nobody, we are all put here to help one another in some kind of way. Lifes to short to judge any one or to be hateful towards them. We are all equal and we all have our own opinions about the way that we see things regardles to if someone agrees or disagrees with us.

Drinking more than 8 glasses of water a day simply makes me hungrier. I don't believe for one minute that it reduces appetite. Perhaps these people drinking lots of water, as part of a diet program are losing weight because of their diet - not because they are consuming lots of water.

I also feel is unnatural to drink OR eat if one doesn't feel the need.

If drinking too much water does dilute and flush out the body's minerals and vitamins, might as well take in more minerals and vitamins anyway to balance it all out.

I read this article with great interest.  I'm obese and I don't reach for foods instead of water when I'm hungry.  I'm also an osteopenic hypothyroid celiac with fibromyalgia.  I have been gluten-free for 2 years and despite eating well, I'm not losing weight.  For being 273 lbs at my heaviest, I rarely eat over 2,000 calories, mostly between 1,200 and 1,500.  At one time for over 6 months I exercised daily and was sore daily (I did lose 14 lbs).  My heart palpitated before CD dx, was worse after exercise.  I gave up.  I've incorporated eating more raw food, but also eat warm soups.  Before that, the doc lowered my Synthroid dose to see if it'd help my palpitations. I'd lowered my dose before because I was absorbing better with gf diet.  This was my third time lowering my dose and it was not the charm.  I crashed.  This, at a time when I experienced no power or water for a week during a winter storm.  This, at a time when I'd just sent my husband to work out of state.  While alone I craved yogurt and only drank coffee for fake energy.  I did not have thirst and loved not going pee all the time, esp in the middle of the night as usual.  This was December 2007.  Remember the raw food I was eating?  Well, I've always had a penchant for salty foods (probably because I was malabsorbing because of undiagnosed celiac).  When changing to a more raw food diet, by proxy, didn't eat much sodium.  I found myself binging on potato chips and Lipton's onion dip - very salty!Well, I've since been diagnosed with secondary hyperparathyroidism ... and within the last two months been on quite a learning curve about our kidneys/vascular system and heart health.  I craved the sodium, but didn't drink the water to BALANCE my needs.  Warning!  You can't get back kidney health!  Take care of them and you take care of your heart too!  I am back to drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day, and I monitor my sodium intake via a free online diet site, Sparkpeople.com.  With enough but not too much water, I have been losing weight.  BALANCE IS KEY!  Thanks for the article Dr. Kim.P.S.  My fibro is about non-existent now w/gf diet! 

This great article debunks the myth that you need to drink x amount of glasses per day to be healthy, from whom and where did this fallacy start? Nature will tell you when you need water by a little mechanism called ...thirst.
Thank you Doctor Ben for a great site that is a wonderful resource of health fact for many.

I had such a hard time dieting when I was trying to drink 8 glasses of water a day. I actually felt more tired and hungry, with all that water sloshing around in my system. Not to mention the fact that I was having to pee every 5 minutes. Not fun.

the too much water totally makes sense to me... im not extremely active and do not eat a lot of salt either and have been drinking tons of water recently, I have had cramping and i have only gained weight due to not disposing what i did eat. the only thing i have changed is the amount of water i been drinking...it started off as me feeling dehydrated so i began to drink water constantly, always keep a full bottle and thats when my issues have started...i will try to drink less and see what happens.

Interesting article and comments. I do know that for myself, I suffered from chronic constipation for most of my adult life, mainly due to bad eating habits that I obtained from many many years ago. My doctor insisted that I take over-the-counter meds for it (Metamucil, etc.) and drink as much water as I could...he recommended a minimum of 10 glasses a day. Considering my adult height (4'11") and weight (approx. 110 lbs) is under average adult size, I thought this sounded exceeedingly excessive. I wondered how that rule of thumb could apply for everyone, since sizes, shapes and general body makeup differs so greatly from person to person. [I found too, that the regular meds for constipation didn't make much difference for me, and while I upped my water intake (not as much as he recommended) it didn't help a lot.]

Finally discovered on my own that drinking a moderate amount of water in a day and changing my diet worked wonders. Eating quinoa mixed with ground flax, eating healthier fresh vegetables, having a cup of coffee a day, having apples, dried prunes, etc. did the trick. As for water, I do drink it regularly now, but only in moderation (around 4 cups throughout the day, warmed, not cold). I also include soy drinks (in moderation) and fruit juice, usually freshly made at home. And since my diet has changed to include mainly fresh fruits and veggies, I don't think my body's demand for fluids is quite as high, unless it is hot weather and/or I'm particularly active.

Interesting thing to note: I once had a pet rabbit who became totally disabled. And for some reason that I never did discover, at the time that he became disabled, he seemed to not be able to drink water any more. He still ate his meals heartily, but refused to drink. So I began feeding his water to him in a dropper...but then I discovered that if I moistened his vegetables with water, he didn't seem to need that full intake of water any more. He survived quite well without having to drink...seems he got enough fluids from the vegetables themselves, along with the odd supplement of 'spoon-feeding' him a bit of fluid from the dropper. After observing my rabbit for over a year, that's when I began to wonder if what the doctors were saying about "8 to 10 glasses a day" of water intake for humans was accurate.

While I admit I don't know a great deal about nutrition and the body, I do suspect that we don't need nearly as much water as we've been told in the past. If one has a healthy diet of vitamin- and water-rich foods, and learns to listen to what their bodies tell them (I too was one who would reach for foods when I was actually thirsty), then you'll probably find a good balance. Everything in moderation seems to be key.

litres or GALLONS?!!

I have practically the same symptoms that you had. Maybe i have that Inflammatory Bowel Disease that you spoke about. I must be drinking too much water cause i go to the bathroom like every hour too and lots in the night. I'm gonna give it a try, i guess a gallon is enough.

I suffer from headaches everyday and I have IBS.. I have tried everything!!! I drink over 100 ounces of water a day and I try to eat right - fruits and veggies! Constanly going to pee every 30 minutes - always clear! I always heard the more water you drink the more you require & I stay thirsty!! I am going to drink less water and see if that helps! Thanks you for posting this :)

Sorry for posting this behind your post Kelly. I could not figure out how to do my own post without just hitting reply.

Anyways, I looked up "effects of drinking too much water" and found this page. I started dieting about a week ago and I have been snacking and eating meals like I should, but so much less that I am still hungry. When I feel the hunger which is about every hour I drink a whole 16.9 oz bottle of water without pause. Whether thats with my snack or meal I still do it to help fill my stomach. Anyone know if drinking this much water is bad? It seems to be helping keep me full at least for a little while after I drink it. I definitely go to the restroom a lot. I dont drink as much after dinner as I do during the day. I pretty much stop after dinner. Any thoughts?

Did ur doctors comment on the amount of caffiene u had been consuming? because the coke + green tea + energy drinks can pack quite a punch .... i just thought id ask since caffiene is a known diuretic

I have started taking a leaf out of the Australian Aboriginal practice for thirst. When they were walking the long distances while hunting in our dry country, they would choose a smooth pebble to keep in their mouth. It promotes saliva production, so less feelings of thirst, until they can find water. I substitute a stone from fruit for the pebble, and it works superbly! A prune stone, plum seed or apricot stone are great, and even a rough nectarine or peach stone are interesting textures in your mouth. I have also used few smaller seeds such as three cherry seeds or citrus pits. They all have their own flavours, too, which increases the sensation. The flavours are subtle, but quite recognizable.

Your kidneys are not the equivalent of a pair of plumbing pipes whereby the more water you flush through your kidneys, the cleaner they become---

I think this was definitely the idea I n so many other ppl have. Water is such a basic requirement it would be very interesting to understAnd more the dynamics of it in our body n our blood n kidneys.
Thanks dr Kim for talking more about this!

The Water Cure book mentions the taking of good quality salt, but also mentions including potassium, such as a small amount of orange juice. So just a little fyi.

This article is amazing. I read this article a year ago and it hit me like ton of bricks. I always had a bottle of water on hand, I was always using the bathroom thinking if my urin was clear it was a good thing. My left kidney started to ache sometimes but I was stupid and thought I wasn't drinking enough water. I would literally panic if I ever felt thirsty, like I was going to die or something. I was feeling so sick and down, and then I read this article, I had never before heard that americans were drinking too much water. It is SOOOO TRUE! We are water obsessed. Needless to say, I started cutting back on water right away and it changed my health and life. I started to have more energy. I have not had any kidney aches since. I am so much more free. I drink when I am thirsty. It makes so much sense! Thank you Dr. Ben kim. You are a saint for posting pure doctrine on health.

I have learned a lot about water in the last couple of years, how contaminated it is and the poisons that are in our water. I started drinking alkaline water about 2 years ago and water a world of difference. It seems to be overlooked here that our bodies need to be pH balanced, and that our bodies need to be hydrated. For all the pop and food that we consume our bodies are so acidic. I feel that contributes to all of the dis-eases of our bodies. We should be drinking half of our body weight in water. Our bodies are an ocean of salt water. We need a 7.365 healthy blood pH, our body weight in water is around 75 to 80%, our blood 83%, our bones 20%, our brain 80%water. We need water and we need healthy water. THat is why my combination of alkaline water, which I will drink nothing else, and Himyalan Salts, I have never felt better and my body loves it.

Absolutely not!

I find it dangerous and irresponsible to tell people to drink less water. If sipped slowly, the kidneys can process about 15 litres of water a day. That's a ridiculous amount, right? So, assuming you're not engaging in any water-drinking competitions, it's very unlikely that you will ever overdose on water.

There are indeed certain kidney disorders for which your doctor might tell you to decrease your water intake, but short of that drink drink drink! I see so many urinary infections (especially in women) that could have been prevented by proper hydration. Sepsis can be life threatening, even in young otherwise healthy people. And remember, one bad kidney infection can damage your kidneys forever.

My own water drinking is an effort to cope with what seems like Myesthenia Gravis. I take amino acids complete and know H2O is necessary for the proper formation of proteins. They have to have a wet environment and I suspect we have a defective thirst response. Fruit may work but we live in a world mostly above the Equatorial region that has only seasonal food. The imports may contain only dead enzymes that are non functional. Indeed, rancid vegetable oils (not refrigerated, kept in light, and if not fresh, weeks, they are off, rancid, and therefore rob vitamins from the blood stream.

I personally believe that drinking "too much water" is a good thing. I work out twice a day an hour in the morning and a two hour session at night. I eat 6 times a day I just get a bit over 228 grams of protein a day as well. I do not monitor my water intake but I can tell you, atleast 50-80 cups a day, easily. I ALWAYS NEED TO BE HYDRATED, always. I don't know much science behind water but I can tell you I have not been sick once since I was 14 and I am now 22. Ignoring your bladder, being inactive and an idiot will lead to results like this lady. I would tell some contest to shove it up their ass, why degrade yourself this way... anyways, in the article you should make it clear that drinking too much water is bad for your health if you do not use it. As is overeating, a lot of my heavier male friends get jealous when we go out to eat because I can finish off a 24 oz steak, vege, mash, a few beers and desert. Why? I am always working out and I am healthy, thats why. Theres no mountain to tall no ocean to deep when it comes to eating. Trust your body and it's signals, eat as much as you want, just burn that energy and let the protein and vitamins make you bigger, better, faster and stronger. and feel good too :)

A lot of people are debating the validity of drinking a set amount of water daily and using the above article as an excuse for why one shouldn't drink a set amount. However do note that the article is describing EXCESSIVE drinking within a short time frame. Excessive water consumption in a short time frame (much like drinking too much alcohol in a short time frame) will put your body into tilt because you've created a major stress on the body. He did not say "DON'T ever drink more than x amount of water daily - because if you do you're going to kill yourself".

The example was a woman who attempted to win a contest by drinking 2 gallons of water in an hour and then forced herself to hold it. Most normal folks wouldn't do something this stupid. So, with a regular (and calm) drinking pattern, your body would have time to safely eliminate any excess water. If drinking a set amount of water works for you - go for it. If it doesn't - don't.

No that's not true. Pure water that you drink and water from foods all get mixed up together in your stomach, and they have the same effect on your body. The more water there is in the food the less you will need to drink to stop you being thirsty.

And for most healthy people there's no need to drink when not thirsty.

(I am not a medical professional)

I was told that I was chronically dehydrated by my physician and that the sodas I had been drinking were causing more dehydration while diminishing my thirst.

So I decided to cut sodas and only drink water. I was surprised how quickly I felt better. I started working out, too.

Then I started to get thirsty more often...and CRAVED water. I thought this was finally my body telling me I was feeding it correctly. Before I realized it (within a couple of weeks), I was refilling my 32oz bottle 4 or 5 times per day. No you're reading that right. Sometimes, I'd drink over 150oz in a day. I was drinking to thirst, so I didn't think it was a bad thing.

Then, I started having low back pain. Within 24 hours, I was running a high fever, and feeling like crap. Went to urgent care, and they said I had a kidney infection. Well super. The cure was antibiotics and drinking MORE water.

So I pushed more water and took antibiotics. After about 3 days, I started to bloat abdominally. I had swollen ankles and hands, felt miserable, and the bloat was so painful that I thought I might be pregnant (and I've had a partial hysterectomy!! So you see how strange that is!). Went back to the doc. Blood tests showed acute kidney failure.

By changing my water intake to "normal" right off the bat, I set my body on a course to self-destruct. Now, I'm battling chronic kidney failure, IBS, and chronic dry mouth. I kind of wish I could start over.

People need to realize that too much for your body may simply just be what is too different from what you were already giving it. Start small. Don't make sudden changes. Even when it comes to water intake.

It is a very informative discussion regarding whether to take or not to take more water.

I, at 61, 6.1 ft, 190 lbs, am fairly healthy, but with Hypotension & type II diabetics, have been drinking around three + liters of water since around two months.

I have lost five five pounds, my diabetic scores are within limits ( of course with medicines which were generally out of range even with medicines earlier), urine is near clear levels, going to wash room frequency is more and apart from this, I have not found any other adverse effect. Dunno really about it flushing out vitamins with the toxins, I have been taking multi vitamin & vit C on regular basis, though. Moderate three meals as breakfast at 8.30 AM followed by fruit mostly Apple at 11.30 AM, lunch at 2 PM, light snack with tea 4/5 PM and dinner( mostly chicken five days in a week) at 9 PM and water in between has been the norm.

If drinking water helps matters of health, diabetes, not sure about Hypertension though, it appears to be worth the effort of going to wash room, which at my age is more even otherwise ok due to prostrate enlargement, while hoping it does not make the kidneys over work, effect them adversely or has any other adverse implication.

Imbibing that much of water now happens automatically and I do not have to make extra effort on my part.

What will be the outcome, I will know the result couple of months down the line!

Till then lot of water would have gone down the system, hopefully more cleaning toxins and less washing out vital vitamins, as these would have been absorbed by the system!

Life goes ON, more so in positive thinking and less expectations from anyone /anything, including water!