How much water is good for your health?

You have always heard or been told that you should drink a lot of water for the good of your health. The usually stated amount is eight glasses in a day. But did you know that too much of it in your body could be dangerous? Yes. Health experts have confirmed that too much water in the body which is referred to as water intoxication is dangerous and could actually kill you.

Dr Idris Mubiru, a consultant at Vine Medicare Hospital in Mukono, says water plays a big role in detoxifying the body but that once it is misused, it could have a negative effect on your health.
“The amount of water in the body is about 70 per cent. This circulates around the body through blood vessels. It is important because it enables the body to get rid of the wastes.

This is usually done through stool, urine, breathing, and sweating among others. The amount of water one drinks must be regulated by the amount that is excreted from the body by all means,” he says.
He continues to say that once this is not done, water accumulates in the body which eventually makes the body to swell.

It is all about body types
Another health expert, Dr Dickson Cliff Wabwire, a Medical Superintendent at Mukono Church of Uganda Hospital agrees. He says, the weakness in the body system is usually the cause of the negative effects that people encounter.

“Six to eight glasses in a day is what is usually recommended. However, this depends on the body system of a person. The person must have both the kidneys functioning well because they are the organs in the body that regulate the amount of water. The heart must be healthy too. Once these two are not in a good condition, the body becomes weak which in the end could turn out to be dangerous if unchecked,” he says.

Dr Wabwire adds that the brain is compacted within a skull and therefore has no room to expand, and drinking too much water means forcing the brain to share the little space with blood and cerebrospinal fluid which in the end makes it swell and expand because of the competition for space unlike other tissues that are a bit flexible.

Once there is not enough space, the brain could burst which may eventually lead to death.
He advises that to avoid such uncertainties, you must do routine checkups to ensure that your kidneys and heart are functioning well.

Are your body organs functioning well?
In the event that you have not yet checked to know if your body organs are functioning well, you can tell by how much you are drinking compared to the amount you are passing out. He says, if you are drinking water more frequently, you must also be in position to pass out urine very frequently as that is the most common way you can tell that probably the body is functioning, says Wabwire.
However, Dr Mubiru says, the body really needs water and that you should never be hesitant to drink enough of it.

“Much as too much of it could turn out to be dangerous, there are times when one’s body really needs water. You can tell that when you feel thirsty or feel headache, when your lips become dry and start cracking, when you have dry mucous, passing out dark coloured urine, when you suffer from illnesses that quickly make you lose water easily, for example, malaria among others. Such conditions are an indication that your body is in need of water and you must respond until there is an improvement,” he advises.

He continues to say that the rate at which you drink also depends on the rate at which your body is working. He says, a person involved in exercises or heavy activities can never consume the same amount of water like that one who is just sitting and doing nothing.

He advises that you should drink it in intervals, not all at once to allow the body to have enough time to absorb it. He says drinking too much of it overworks the body which is not healthy. Furthermore, he says that it is not good for you to eat while drinking as this is also unhealthy to the body.

“We usually advise people to drink water at least 30 minutes before or after any meal. The reason for this is to allow the body digest the food and absorb the nutrients before water dilutes it.
However, this is not the case with other drinks except alcohol and sodas.

You can take juice while eating as long as it is not cold because cold foods slow down the digestion. Tea is also fine to be taken while eating. It almost the same as the soup,” he says.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com