WHO experts suggest that the daily intake of more than 4L of water may cause “water poisoning”, but also stressed that this situation is very rare, it takes an excessive intake of water at once to cause “water poisoning”. Therefore, in general, normal drinking water will not easily change the concentration of body fluids, the key is to drink more than 4L of water in a short period of time can cause “water poisoning”.
However, when drinking too much water too fast, such as drinking 2L of water per hour for more than 2 hours, the circulating blood volume increases sharply, but the urine discharge does not increase correspondingly quickly, resulting in blood sodium ion concentration below 135mmol/L, there will be cell edema and other phenomena. When the intake exceeds 6L of water, it is enough to kill an adult of 75kg body weight.
However, in general, few people drink too much water to cause “water poisoning”, more common is the presence of kidney disease, cardiac insufficiency and other diseases, after exercise, drinking too much fresh water at once, too many medical infusions, abnormal mental state and other reasons caused by “water poisoning “. In fact, our healthy kidneys have a strong adaptive capacity and will not “go on strike” because of drinking more water. As long as it is not a short period of time to drink, there is no need to worry.
Different groups of people have what to drink water?
- children
The “Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents”, “Balanced Diet for Chinese Preschoolers” and “Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Schoolchildren” suggest that the water requirement for children under 10 years old varies by age: 6 months-1 year old, total daily water intake is 900 ml (milk/food + drinking water); 1-2 years old, total water intake is 1300 ml (milk/food + drinking water); 2-3 years old, drinking water is 600-700 ml; 4-5 years old, drinking water is 600 ml. 700 ml; 4-5 years old, 700-800 ml; 5-7 years old, 800 ml; 7-10 years old, 1000 ml. Gu Chuanling, deputy secretary-general of the Capital Health Food and Nutrition Society, reminds that children are generally less active in drinking water in a timely manner, and love to drink sweet drinks, etc. Parents should do a good job of supervision and remind their children to drink water in a timely manner.
- lactating women
About 90% of breast milk is water, and lactation is closely related to daily water intake. Lactating women should drink more water to ensure balanced nutrition, which is good for milk secretion. Gu Chuanling said that they are generally recommended to drink more water than ordinary women, about 2.1 liters per day.
- The elderly
The elderly are prone to frequent urination, and if they do not drink water regularly, they are prone to thick blood and high blood lipids, which eventually cause a series of metabolic diseases. Therefore, the elderly should drink water diligently, and the amount of water drunk should be increased accordingly, which can be judged by the color of urine: if the urine is light yellow, 250 ml of water should be added in time; if it is teal, it means that the body is more serious water shortage, and 500 ml of water should be drunk.
- Working people
Commuters can timely replenish 200 ml of water after arriving at work every day, which is conducive to promoting brain activity and work concentration. In addition, office workers are sedentary indoors, easy to gain weight, drink 200 ml of water half an hour before meals is conducive to increasing the sense of satiety, to a certain extent, to reduce the amount of food.
- physical laborers
Athletes and outdoor work workers need timely hydration after a lot of physical activities. Zhao Feihong, director of the Beijing Health Protection Association Health Drinking Water Professional Committee, suggests that these people can be properly hydrated about half an hour before physical activity, a small amount of water can be replenished in small sips during the activity, and there is no rush to replenish water after the activity is over, and then after a while the water is replenished, you can properly drink some light saline.
