The summer heat has finally kicked off with the official start of the summer season. Many people in order to avoid heat stroke, will pay special attention to replenish water, many online fitness, health sharing post will also recommend that we should ensure that “drink enough 3-4L of water every day”. But is this advice really reliable?

First of all, the conclusion, do not drink so much!

01

Drinking too much water in a short period of time

“Water intoxication,” or hyponatremia.

Water is the source of life and is involved in almost all of the body’s vital activities. It is like the lubricating oil in an engine, too much or too little won’t do. Drinking water incorrectly can lead to problems in the body due to dehydration or too much water for a short period of time.

The reason why there is a “water poisoning” situation occurs, of course, the problem is not in the water itself, the real root cause is not the right way to drink. The day is hot, people can not avoid sweating, then if the water supplementation is not enough, not in time, when the body of water with sweat loss, body temperature is too high, the body will be due to metabolic abnormalities and heat stroke. The popularity of this common sense is still very high, we all know that the summer can not be thirsty, but in turn, drink more water for why not?

If it is a short period of time to replenish too much water, especially white water, when this amount exceeds the excretory capacity of the kidneys, the body in the case of too late to regulate, dilutional hyponatremia will occur. Specifically manifested as a decrease in the concentration of sodium ions, blood osmolality is reduced, a large amount of water to the cells, especially brain cells, which leads to brain cell edema, there will be dizziness, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms of the central nervous system and digestive system, which is “water intoxication”.

02

Should not drink more than 2L of water per day

Don’t overload your kidneys

The main cause of “water intoxication” is a short period of time to replenish a large amount of water, the body has not had time to metabolize, according to the Internet is particularly popular “3-4L of water per day” “health and slimming recommendations “. So, how much water do we drink every day is appropriate?

According to the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016), adults should keep their daily water intake at 1500-1700 ml. Sweating slightly more in summer can be increased appropriately, but it should not be more than 2,000 milliliters. As we all know, the water we drink has to be metabolized by the kidneys, and drinking too much water will put the kidneys in a state of “high load operation”. Especially for people with abnormal kidney function, the total amount of water should be controlled. A transient drink more water on the kidneys is not much, but if long-term, every day, drink too much water, the kidneys will be overburdened.

03

There’s a time and frequency for drinking water

Don’t wait until you’re thirsty.

In addition to paying attention to the total amount of water you drink each day, you also need to pay attention to some details about the timing and frequency of drinking water.

First of all, don’t wait until your body has signaled “thirst” before drinking water, because once you can detect “thirst”, it means that your body is already at least 2% dehydrated.

Second, the most correct way is to drink water evenly distributed throughout the day. If you add too much water at once, it will cause the consequences of hydration not to hurt the body. You can maintain a certain frequency, drinking 50-100 ml each time, which achieves the effect of hydration, but does not appear to be a health risk because of drinking too much water at once.

In addition, after outdoor activities or strenuous exercise, you will feel thirsty and drink a lot of water because you sweat more, and the risk of water intoxication is higher at this time. Drinking 200 milliliters of water about half an hour before exercise is not only a good way to hydrate your body in advance, but also prevents you from drinking a lot of water because you are too thirsty. In addition, the best time to drink water before and after a meal is 0.5-1 hour before the meal.

04

Drinking beverages and juices ≠ drinking water

Best at room temperature, not cold

On the question of what water to drink, generally the most recommended choice is plain water, of course, light tea is also a good choice. It should be noted that many young people do not accept “tasteless water”, but drinks and fruit juices can not replace drinking water. Sour and sweet drink cool, but a lot of sugar in it is not good for the body.

If you stay outdoors for a long time, especially when working or exercising under high temperature, you can’t achieve the effect of rehydration by drinking plain water alone, in which case you can supplement with saline water as appropriate. Homemade salt water is also very simple, in 500 milliliters of water with 1 gram of salt can be.

In the summer, many friends who are afraid of heat used to put drinking water in the refrigerator, from the outside of the home will be eager to open the refrigerator directly drink. Cool it is indeed cool, but this is not small damage to the body.

Drinking ice water can indeed quickly cool down, but the lower the temperature of the water, the greater the impact on the digestive system and circulatory system, we eat popsicles or drink ice water at high temperatures will appear briefly dizziness, headache is this reason. Therefore, even if the weather is hot, it is still necessary to drink room temperature or slightly cool water, do not choose water with ice ballast, otherwise it really hurts the stomach.

In short, drink more water in the summer this sentence is actually no problem, just in the amount of water and method of drinking water to do scientific, reasonable, so as to maintain good health at the same time, comfortably enjoy the beauty of summer.