Drinking too much water? Here’s how it affects your body.

Drinking enough water is extremely important for us, as it operates all the functions in our body. It flushes out all the toxins from our body, helps the body to absorb minerals, provides oxygen to our brain, and does several other activities, which keep us alive. But as too much of anything is bad, drinking more than 5 liters of water regularly causes water intoxication and leads to several health problems.

Hyponatremia

Drinking too much water makes you overhydrated, which results in a decrease in sodium levels in your body. As sodium helps in many functions throughout the body, this condition leads to several problems such as vomiting, nausea, fatigue, etc.

Kidney injury

When you drink water, your kidneys filter it throughout your body and maintain the fluid levels in your blood. But drinking excessive water creates pressure on your kidneys, which leads to kidney damage. Consuming excessive water decreases the plasma level of your arginine vasopressin and causes acute kidney injury. Also, kidney stones are another side effect of drinking excessive water.

Diarrhea

When you drink too much water, your kidneys become overloaded, and the excess water stays in your body. Also, overhydration lowers the level of potassium ions in your body. These two conditions finally result in diarrhea.

Brain injury

Consuming excessive water decreases the sodium level in your blood. The excess water enters the cells and swells them up. This leads to headaches, speech disability, disorientation, and causes damage to the brain tissues, which results in serious brain injury. Constant drinking of too much water may increase the risk of coma, which can finally lead to death.

Muscle cramps

Overhydration drops your electrolyte levels and hampers the fluid balance in your body. This restricts the body's muscles from functioning properly and leads to muscle spasms and cramps.

Frequent Urination

When you drink more water than the required amount, it keeps your kidneys functioning all the time and causes frequent urination. If you need to go to the washroom once every 15 minutes, then it’s a sign that you are drinking too much water.

Liver Problems

Drinking excessive water that contains iron causes several problems in your liver. So, drink purified water to avoid this problem.

Heart failure

Filling up with too much water creates extra pressure on the blood vessels and heart. It affects the overall performance of your heart and leads to heart failure.

So, avoid drinking excessive water and live a healthy lifestyle.