Aquaholics: Is drinking too much water bad for you?

If you’ve finally made it a habit to drink plenty of water everyday, it’s best you don’t pat yourself on the back. Science is revealing the benefits of H²O have been oversold and drinking too much of the liquid is detrimental to our health.

But what about the non caloric, appetite-curbing, muscle-energizing, organ-helping, constipation-preventing properties of the world’s most vital drink? While all of these are true, the key word here is drinking enough water and not excessively. If you are guilty of drinking more than the recommended dose of water per day, here are the risks you are facing:

1. Water Intoxication

While water becomes the staple ingredient to our hydration — and sanity — when the alcohol-induced hangover kicks in, it might come as a surprise to hear you can get overhydrated. Called hyponatremia, it’s a condition where there is a lethally low level of sodium in the blood that happens when you drink more water than the kidneys can filter out. Watch out, keen gym-goers!

2. Excessive sweating

Speaking of gym-goers, overdrinking can cause hyperhidrosis or excessive sweating. No, it’s not the Yes!-I-burned-a-lot-of-calories level of sweat; it’s more like I-want-to-remove-my-sweat-glands kind of oversweating.

3. Insomnia

Before we sleep, our body releases ADH, anti-diuretic hormone, to slow down kidney function and prevent our urge to pee during our slumber. But drinking too much before bed hinders ADH from doing its job and you’ll irritate yourself by waking up in the wee hours to go pee. And nothing says waking up on the wrong side of the bed like a sleepless night…

How much is enough?

Albeit the current scientific claim of two litres per day, the National Health Service (NHS) of UK recommends 1.6 litres. Endocrinologist Stanley Liew of Raffles Hospital, Singapore, supports the claim. “It is not a minimum requirement to stay healthy. On average, water intake of 1.5 litres or six glasses a day is adequate,” Dr. Liew was quoted to say. Unless you’re in a desert, anything more than 1.5 litres consumed in the hour is bad.

You don’t need a litmus paper to see if you’ve had enough or too much water. The next time nature calls, look at the colour of your urine. The ideal shade is a light, straw colour. If it’s darker, it’s a signal you need to drink more. But if it’s diluted or almost clear, lay off the water for a little bit.

While you shouldn’t exactly trade water for a sugary soda, it’s best not to catch yourself in deep water with this entire aquaholism deal!

Natasha Gan