Keyword I should mention is caffeine poisoning. For someone to die of caffeine poising by drinking coffee, that person would be on the Darwin Awards and it'd take some real effort. Dying from the effects of caffeine is something else, and quite common for those who caffeine pill pop heavily, and not unheard of from dying of poisoning with caffeine pills.

Good to know! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Ef0ErCU1c

I don't think I saw one single case of caffeine poisoning (toxic levels) during my entire nursing career. I have however seen some come in with anxieties and such from too much caffeine (chest pain),. That is so rare it's not worth mentioning. Most deaths triggered by caffeine intake is from some underlying cause that the caffeine just triggered. It may be becoming more often now but still not so much. Most know when they start shaking that they best back off on the caffeine.

Alcohol poisoning is much more common to see.

To much or to little is always bad.

Moderation is a simple concept.

Overhydration is possible.

Everything is poisonous, just how poisonous it is depends on the dose. If you sat there and ate a kilogram of plutonium, you'd be a bit dead. If you drank 25 litres of water in one go, you'd be a bit dead. The only reason it takes more water is because it takes more of a dosage to kill you, making it less poisonous.

Just don't participate in water drinking contests and you'll be fine.

to a certain point there is no such thing as "healthy", there is just "less unhealthy"

You would never hear someone say they died of drinking water in some poor village in Honduras or parts of Africa. I mean some people would kill for a faucet with working water in some countries, even here in the US. Yet us Americans actually play in water, ridiculous.

I see adverts all the time saying people in Africa die a lot from drinking dirty water.

I mean clean water. Clean water in water parks.

That is true, it is sad that it is true but not everyone in the world must give up playing in water and stuff because there are people in poverty, and I don't mean this in a way where everyone should be selfish and uncaring. But it's kind of like saying people should stop playing games because poor people can't afford them. Sigh, there is no way to say this without sounding cruel or selfish, but I hope you know what I mean.

People should help the poor, but not give up their lifestyles and luxuries just because other people are poor is what I am tying to say.

I understand completely. Life is not perfect nor fair. Some people in poverty has risen and probably created water parks and stuff like that. There will always be poverty stricken people, it's sad but true.

too much of anything can kill you. Our body needs to be in a balance, exceed the limitation of that balance and you die if it is not addressed in time.

I can't drink a single cup of coffee. If I do, my heart races and I get the shakes... with one cup! I can't imagine what would happen if I drank an energy drink.


It's odd that you'd post this OP - I was just having this conversation/argument with someone on FB. Their cousin kept saying they needed to drink insane amounts of water on top of any other fluid they had. (soda, fruit juice, tea, coffee) I had to point out that everyone has a different limit for how much they needed to drink a day, which also depended on your activity that day, the weather, etc. It's called moderation. Anything above or below that will put you at risk of unhealthy side effects.. just like everything else in the world.

Yeah, I think most urologists would recommend drinking as needed rather than to hit a particular target. With "as needed" meaning "when thirsty". There are instances (as you have said) where thirst might not be an accurate indicator, but those are rare enough that they can be more or less ignored*.

*But if you're still thirsty right after drinking lots of water relative to your activity, you should be cautious 'n see a professional (and if you're actually fine in that regard, you're probably dehydrated).

I think it would be very, very difficult to die by drinking too much water.
I drink about a gallon a day, I would never be able to chug that in one setting even if I tried my hardest my body just wouldn't let me do it I can pound down a quart if I've been doing a lot of exercise and been in the sun for a while but after that I slow down into smaller gulps and sips.
If you really got a phobia of drinking water just consider instead that the real fear is microbes, like your shower head bacteria gets stuck in that dark little spout and incubates in the ideal warm darkness and then turns airbourne from the misting of the shower head. Or stuff that gets past water treatment plants that if it gets up your nose it can travel to your brain and kill you. Drinking yourself to death is a lot less likely than those other things.

I think it's silly people don't use common sense. Really why is there a need to drink that much in so little time
Serves them right for being both stupid and greedy.

It doesn't seem very reliable since it didn't give the amount of time you need to drink 130 cups of coffee. I go through that in a few a months and I don't drink coffee that often.

OP: I remember reading some where that you can die from Water Intoxication if you drink 4 litres in less then an hour. Though this would probably vary person to person.

Too much of anything can kill you, regardless of how "healthy" it normally is. And people must generally go out of their way to consume the healthy things in unhealthy amounts....

You can 'overdose' on vegetables, fruit, juice, peanuts, and, of course, water. Hell, even certain 'good' vitamins can be dangerous to your health in large doses... Really, moderation is key. Common sense really isn't a "common" thing these days... Listen to your body, and you'll be better off.

Consecutively, so I guess that's like an hour or two?

Caffeine has a half-life of 4 or 5 hours, as I recall (and it varies between individuals, of course). I think theobromine (the primary stimulant in cocoa) is about eight hours.

live in mexico a shot glass of water has enough bacteria to make you wish you were dead