Litres Hydration

Litres Hydration
dont! drink 3.5 liters of water a day?

I went to Africa and i was told to drink 3L of water a day (before that no one had told me) and it seemed right, I was sweating allot and moving allot and I was in need of water enough to drink that much… (maby a littal more)… but when i got back to England i told people about this and they where shocked i dident drink that much …3L in england and i should have been drinking more when i was in africa. i tryed to tell them that is a load of bull, but no one thinks i am right so…

The amount of water you need in a day varies according to your activity level, your body weight (really your fat content) and the conditions you do that work in. The amount can vary greatly. Where as an office worker may only need 1L a day a soldier in the desert wearing body armor and chemical protective gear needs 10L a day.

I only note these as to point out the differences in what your body needs, dependent on environment. You can not put a certain amount that is universal for every person to drink. What may be appropriate for one person may not be appropriate for another.

As for drinking too much water (called hyponatremia), it is possible, but highly unlikely. What happens is you dilute you body so much that it disrupts your electrolytes. This disruption can have severe problems for your body.

But as I said it is highly unlikely you will suffer from too much water. In fact some endurance athletes do it on purpose. As long as you are healthy, your kidneys will filter out the water. Or to me more precise you simply will urinate more.

A much worse condition is not getting enough water. This condition is called dehydration, that can amongst other things kill you. Chronic dehydration is a problem for many people. This causes a variety of problems. So I would worry more about not drinking enough water then drinking too much.