The FastDay Forum

[carorees]

I have a friend whose grandmother died of drinking too much water and messing with her electrolytes. It is shocking even just thinking about it!!!

When I was in London during the 2005 heatwave, I remember one girl who was admitted to the hospital and nearly died because she drank 5 litres of water in one morning.

If I remember correctly, there was this doctor on BBC who said that 1.5-2 litres is the normal, 3 litres is advisable if it is too hot but not more than that.

Interesting discussion.
I did Lighter Life in 2005 and felt ab fab whilst on it....and at the time the slogan was "the more you drink, the more you shrink!"... but they also said it had to be consumed at regular intervals never more than 500mls at a time.

Nowadays my water intake varies between summer and winter. I don't count. I just know from how quickly my family goes through a 19 litre bottle and the crates of 500ml bottles that we have in the kitchen. They fly out in the summer and linger a lot more in winter.

A lot of nonsense is written promoting the drinking of water to the point where it has become a fashion. Tim Noakes is a guru on the subject - http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/outdo ... ports.html - he even wrote a book about it.

Fluid Requirement

Because no standard water requirement exists for free-living humans [3] and because fluid provision needed to be standardized for this study, clinical guidelines were selected to determine the total daily fluid allowance for each subject. The intent of fluid provision was to neither over nor under hydrate as both could mask treatment effect. Thirty-five mL per kg body weight per day, a guideline used in clinical practice [9,10] was selected. From this total, water from foods in the study diet and 300-mL for metabolic water was subtracted. The remainder was determined to be the beverage quantity for each subject. The mean volume of test beverages consumed by subjects was 1745±408 mL and ranged from 1202 to 2879 mL.

from a study of the effect of caffeine and the like on water balance http://www.jacn.org/content/19/5/591.long

so 2.8 litres for 80kg less water in food and less 0.3 litres so maybe 2 litres total of all drinks.

The days when I don't eat during the day are the days I drink more. It is not forced however, and I don't chug a liter at one time-or even close. I am also not "trying" to drink more. That is just what I drink.

I suspect trying to control how much we drink is much the same as trying to control how much we eat. On a day to day basis over the long haul it isn't really doable.

I get through about 5-6 litres water a day, 7 during the summer. I've been drinking that much for almost a year now. I read online a while ago, although I can't remember where so can't quote it, that drinking ALOT in a short space of time is where the danger lies????

Drinking a lot in a short space is relevant. If one drinks over the sensible amount of water in one day then won't it be a "lot" in a "short" space?

* Urine colour is affected by other things than just the amount of water it contains - for example, taking a high-dose Vitamin C tablet will make your urine a much deeper yellow, no matter how much liquid you do/don't drink.

Indeed - as in when you go to the loo and forget that you had beetroot in your salad the night before

It is a useful rule of thumb though for most people.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!! Oh my..... yes, this has happened to me.... purple poopy doo's! (sorry, tmi but couldn't resist!)

I still remember the day when my great-aunt called us (she was like a second mother to my mum) and told us that there is blood in her poop and she must go to the hospital.
Everybody was in full-panic mode till my mum asked her "what did you have for dinner?" and she replied "ah, dear, I had beetroot".

I think the message is do not drastically change your fluid intake at anytime. Below is a paste from a "competition" a radio station ran in Sacramento CA in 2007 which led to the death of women from water intoxication. This text comes from Wikipedia.

Allan.

Death of a contestant in KDND radio contest

On January 12, 2007, a listener named Jennifer Strange, 28, died of water intoxication hours after taking part in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest in which KDND promised a Wii video game system for the winner. At the time, the Nintendo console was a very popular and sought-after item, but also nearly impossible to find in North America.[3][4] In the competition, contestants were asked to drink as much water as they could without urinating. The contestant able to hold the most water would be named the winner.

According to contest participants, seventeen to twenty contestants took part in the competition in a room at KDND's studios. The contest was broadcast during the station's Morning Rave program and began around 6:15 a.m. as contestants were each handed 240ml (8oz) water bottles to drink at 15-minute intervals. Contestants also said that as the contest progressed, they were given increasingly large quantities of water to drink. Some later remarked on the physical discomfort they suffered during and following the event.

The Sacramento Bee released audio clips from the morning show indicating that the disc jockeys were aware of the death of Matthew Carrington by water intoxication.[5] At one point, a caller contacted the station and informed the DJs that the contest could be dangerous and potentially fatal.[6] The DJs responded by saying, "We're aware of that," and joked that the contestants had signed releases and couldn't file a lawsuit. However, according to a contestant, the waivers addressed only publicity issues and made no mention of health or safety concerns. The DJs also joked about Strange's distended belly, joking that she looked three months pregnant.[7]

After the contest, Strange spoke to a co-worker by telephone, indicating she was on her way home and in extreme pain, suffering from what appeared to be an intense headache. The co-worker contacted Strange's mother, who went to her home an hour later to find her daughter dead.[8][9][10]

Jesus Christ!!! Who was more stupid, I wonder? The radio station people or the contestants? How... how on earth can someone NOT think like that???

TML13 I agree with you.

And the disc jockeys knew about (and talked about during the show) a student Matthew Carrington who died from water intoxication a couple of years earlier during a college indoctrination ceremony.

In the end you can't beat stupid.

Nope, my dear! It's invincible!!!

TML13 - I see we are both in Athens - its just that you are in the real one while mine is one of many towns they couldn't think of a name for in the USA

Haaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! It's a nice name for a nice town. I remember seeing Athens, Georgia in Beverly Hills-90210 20 or so years ago and I thought that it was beautiful!