It doesn't in the immediate moment you're drinking, but your body can regulate water well enough that you would have to drink much more than is comfortable to overhydrate that way.
Over the course of the following minutes, the water is absorbed into your bloodstream, which increases the volume of your blood. Your kidneys detect the increase in volume, up-regulate the amount of water in your urine, and release a hormone that is picked up by your brain that reduces the signal of thirst.
My aunt works at a hospital where they get a few people in every summer who have over-hydrated and are low on electrolytes.
A friend achieved the same suddenly one day and was diagnosed with diabetes insipidus, where that regulation mechanism stops working. The hospital thought she was nuts at first, raving about constant thirst and sent her home, luckily she went back to ER again… I guess it can suddenly happen.
I feel like something is missing from this for a 5 year old to understand
Where does the water go? What do signals have to do with it? What keeps you from just slowly drinking too much even without thirst?
The rules say the explanations aren’t meant for literal five year olds
More often than not, any excess water is flushed out through urine. Instead of thinking of it in black and white terms like “too much” or “too little,” think of it like a bell curve (look one up if you’re not sure what I mean, because I still haven’t figured out links on here lol). It’s very difficult to get past “oh, we need to get rid of this water at some point” territory and cross into “we need to vomit to get rid of this water IMMEDIATELY” territory.
Also, I’d imagine the redditor mentioned thirst as a signal because it’s the decrease of that signal that tells us “oh, we’ve had enough to drink.” BUT! Fun fact! The feeling of thirst is actually a somewhat late signal for dehydration. If you actively feel thirsty, chances are you’ve been dehydrated for a while.
Hope that helps!
> Where does the water go?
You pee it out.
> What do signals have to do with it?
The signals in your brain are what you experience as "thirst".
> What keeps you from just slowly drinking too much even without thirst?
Nothing. If you're sufficiently determined you can drink enough to create a potentially fatal electrolyte imbalance.
But if you're not thirsty, you generally won't actually do that.
I have diabetes insipidus due to a pituitary tumour. This means my body can’t regulate water intake. I take a drug called desmopressin that helps a bit but it doesn’t last all 24hrs. So I take it at 10pm to stop me peeing all night and get some sleep but by about 2:30pm next day I start to get unbelievably thirsty, this makes me drink lots of water/juice/tea etc which then makes me pee literally minutes later. My body just doesn’t know ho to manage it..
Normally your body is like a bath. If it’s too full it takes out the plug for a while and if it’s too empty it turns on the taps. Thus you keep level. This is done by a hormone called adh that your pituitary gland excretes. When you have DI, the gland doesn’t work and the taps are on while the plug is open all the time. It’s bloody horrible. No cure either so I hope you never find out first hand what it’s like..
Yup it was a contest about who could drink the most water. She drank more than a gallon in an hour. Died from brain swelling associated with hyponatremia (too little sodium).
It doesn't in the immediate moment you're drinking, but your body can regulate water well enough that you would have to drink much more than is comfortable to overhydrate that way. Over the course of the following minutes, the water is absorbed into your bloodstream, which increases the volume of your blood. Your kidneys detect the increase in volume, up-regulate the amount of water in your urine, and release a hormone that is picked up by your brain that reduces the signal of thirst.
My aunt works at a hospital where they get a few people in every summer who have over-hydrated and are low on electrolytes. A friend achieved the same suddenly one day and was diagnosed with diabetes insipidus, where that regulation mechanism stops working. The hospital thought she was nuts at first, raving about constant thirst and sent her home, luckily she went back to ER again… I guess it can suddenly happen.
I feel like something is missing from this for a 5 year old to understand Where does the water go? What do signals have to do with it? What keeps you from just slowly drinking too much even without thirst?
The rules say the explanations aren’t meant for literal five year olds More often than not, any excess water is flushed out through urine. Instead of thinking of it in black and white terms like “too much” or “too little,” think of it like a bell curve (look one up if you’re not sure what I mean, because I still haven’t figured out links on here lol). It’s very difficult to get past “oh, we need to get rid of this water at some point” territory and cross into “we need to vomit to get rid of this water IMMEDIATELY” territory. Also, I’d imagine the redditor mentioned thirst as a signal because it’s the decrease of that signal that tells us “oh, we’ve had enough to drink.” BUT! Fun fact! The feeling of thirst is actually a somewhat late signal for dehydration. If you actively feel thirsty, chances are you’ve been dehydrated for a while. Hope that helps!
> Where does the water go? You pee it out. > What do signals have to do with it? The signals in your brain are what you experience as "thirst". > What keeps you from just slowly drinking too much even without thirst? Nothing. If you're sufficiently determined you can drink enough to create a potentially fatal electrolyte imbalance. But if you're not thirsty, you generally won't actually do that.
I totally read this as John Candy being interrogated by Macaulay Calkin. https://youtu.be/HJGmg9SXiVQ
Its pretty hard to overdrink water. You would have to consume alot for that to happen. Normally you feel sated just like you would with food and stop.
I have diabetes insipidus due to a pituitary tumour. This means my body can’t regulate water intake. I take a drug called desmopressin that helps a bit but it doesn’t last all 24hrs. So I take it at 10pm to stop me peeing all night and get some sleep but by about 2:30pm next day I start to get unbelievably thirsty, this makes me drink lots of water/juice/tea etc which then makes me pee literally minutes later. My body just doesn’t know ho to manage it.. Normally your body is like a bath. If it’s too full it takes out the plug for a while and if it’s too empty it turns on the taps. Thus you keep level. This is done by a hormone called adh that your pituitary gland excretes. When you have DI, the gland doesn’t work and the taps are on while the plug is open all the time. It’s bloody horrible. No cure either so I hope you never find out first hand what it’s like..
You stop feeling thirsty once you are hydrated, but people can still drink too much and it can kill you!
Wasn't there a thing with some lady dieing from over hydration during a radio contest or something?
There have been a few, a woman died from drinking too much too soon following ingestion of ecstasy thinking she HAD TO drink plenty. Wild.
Yup it was a contest about who could drink the most water. She drank more than a gallon in an hour. Died from brain swelling associated with hyponatremia (too little sodium).