 Water. We all need it, and we all drink it. But what does it do to us, and why exactly must we drink it? Here’s a few good reasons to drink water.
For one, it helps out with body fluid distribution. You need water for digestion, and for creating saliva, or spit. It also keeps your body’s temperature regulated. It can also help you lose calories. While it doesn’t have any effect on actually burning calories, if you’re thirsty, you could always just drink some water instead of higher calorie drinks, like soda. It also energizes muscles. But with all these benefits, it sounds like nothing could ever be bad about it, right? Wrong. When you drink too much water, you can get over-hydrated. This happens when you drink so much water, your kidneys can’t get rid of enough. The water can collect in your bloodstream. This seems like an obvious problem, right? It gets worse. Over-hydration can cause liver disease, kidney diseases, and congestive heart failure. SIADH (syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone) is another cause for over-hydration. SIADH is when your hypothalamus produces too much antidiuretic hormone, and it can make it more difficult to release water from your body. This over-hydration caused by drinking too much water can cause electrolyte levels, like sodium, to drop. This causes various complications, like cramping, nausea, vomiting, and in major cases, confusion, seizures, and coma. It can cause your muscles to be significantly weaker, and you can even randomly fall unconscious. So, water is not all good, as you can plainly see. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “Everything in moderation.” This tends to hold true in every way, and it is true with water as well. Just make sure to drink some in the first place, or you’ll die. The recommended amount of water a healthy adult should drink in a day is 78-100 ounces, or 9-13 cups, as told by the Institute of Medicine. Don’t go overboard, though. Story by Jonas Suskey Sources Healthline Comments are closed.
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