When the weather is hot, it\u2019s tempting to be constantly guzzling drinks in a bid to stay hydrated and cool. However, drinking too much can be risky.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn extreme cases, it can lead to hyponatraemia.\u201d This is when your sodium levels fall dangerously low. It can lead to headaches, nausea, muscle cramps and fatigue. In severe cases, it can be fatal. \u201cThere\u2019s a few cases every year, usually around marathons,\u201d she says. Runners who have overhydrated have been hospitalised and died.<\/p>\n
Tip<\/p>\n
\u201cGenerally, it\u2019s not recommended to consistently drink more than 1 litre of fluids per hour, as the body can\u2019t process this amount in one go,\u201d Crouse explains.<\/p>\n
However, there\u2019s no need to worry too much about overhydration<\/a>. \u201cWith moderate amounts of water, there\u2019s not much harm, it just means you\u2019re weeing it out.\u201d<\/p>\n Myth six: There are no long-term consequences from dehydration<\/p>\n Headaches and tiredness are symptoms you might expect from not drinking enough water. However, research suggests dehydration could pose huge risks for our future health.<\/p>\n One study<\/a> from Liverpool John Moores University found that people who drink less than 1.5 litres of fluid daily experience a much higher surge in levels of cortisol<\/a> (the body\u2019s stress hormone) when put in a stressful situation, compared to those who drank two or more litres of water.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s shared machinery that controls your body water and cortisol levels,\u201d explains study author Prof Neil Walsh. When you are dehydrated, the brain releases a hormone called vasopressin that tells the kidneys to retain water. \u201cWhen that happens, cortisol also increases,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n Frequent large spikes in cortisol over time could pose a health risk, he notes. \u201cStudies show that people who have exaggerated stress responses have poorer cardiovascular outcomes, such as an increased risk of strokes and heart attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n Tip<\/p>\n \u201cEven if you\u2019re a little bit dehydrated, then when you do get stressed, you are having a greater cortisol response,\u201d Prof Walsh says. As a rule of thumb, he recommends that men drink 2.5 litres of water per day and that women have two litres.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the weather is hot, it\u2019s tempting to be constantly guzzling drinks in a bid to stay hydrated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[8112,97,13243,269,615,231734],"class_list":["post-807098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-diet","tag-health","tag-health-and-fitness","tag-nutrition","tag-standard","tag-us-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}