how much water can a person intake in one sitting before reaching death (hyponatremia)?
922933
Assuming that the person is otherwise healthy (no medical problems, no kidney problems, no ADH regulation problems, etc):\n\nWell, most people can pee about 15 liters or urine in a day.  This is around 4 gallons!\n\nSo, it would HAVE to be much more than this to cause death by hyponatremia!\n\nIF you drank much more over a VERY short period of time (several gallons in an hour), you would probably vomit some back up, too!\n\nFurthermore, as you started to become hyponatremic, you would become nauseated, feel realy sick, get a bad headache, become confused, and lethargic...\n\nThis, in a sense, would save most people's lives...and prevent death.  In other words, they would get too sick to continue to drink enough to die....even in fraternity hazing.\n\nHowever, if someone was forced to drink enough water over a short enough period of time, they could theoretically drink enough to pass out, have seizures, go into a coma...and yes, even die.\n\nIt is hard (at least for me) to even put a rough guess at this number, as I believe every person would be quite a bit different...and the range of amount to death would likely be VERY variable, depending on weight of the person, etc.  Furthermore, it would depend more on the RATE of water consumption than the actual AMOUNT.\n\nSome would NOT be able to drink enough water to kill themselves.  They would feel so awful, they would stop.\n\nMost people that become hyponatremic from drinking "too much" water either have a physical disease (i.e. impaired ADH regulation, etc) and/or they have a psychiatric disease (i.e. pyshogenic polydypsia).\n\nIn psychiatric disease of drinking too much water, it is usually a chronic thing...not an acute thing (i.e. not a "in one sitting" situation).\n\nHowever, if there were an underlying psychological or physiological problem to begin with, then the hazing thing could kill such a person.\n-\n\nFurthermore, most otherwise healthy people would not die from their "water drinking hazing" hyponatremia...they would pass out, maybe have a seizure, go into a coma.  Then, 911 would be called, they'd be taken to the hospital...given medical care...and gradually come out of it with appropriate treatment.\n\nSo, I know you wanted an exact number...but I don't think this can be answered.\n\nA better fraternity haze is to have people drink a gallon of whole milk in 30 minutes!\n\nNO one can hold down a gallon of milk, if they drink it within 30 minutes....and projectile milk vomiting is quite a sight.
979867
you drink that much because your body is telling you to drink.  maybe you just get dehydrated easily.  regardless, you can never drink too much water.
221567
Drink 6-8 cups of water a day. It normalizes the metabolizm. If you drink too much water (more than 8 cups daily) it could lead to kidney problems later in life. So drink not too much and not too little. Exercise also helps in the process and getting at least 8 hours of sleep daily.
914390
Lots of people still believe you should drink 8 glasses a day. (Equals about 2000 ml)\n\nIt's not true.  This was debunked a few years ago.  You don't need to drink 8 glasses of water a day.  \nYou don't need ANY arbitrary target amount per day.  Drink when you're thirsty.  Period!\n\nhttp://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp\nhttp://calorielab.com/news/2006/05/28/8-glasses-of-water-a-diet-urban-legend
643307
It depends on how much water you drank during the course of the day. The healthiest numbers as doctors say is 4-6 for well hydrated people but of course everyones water needs are different. Like If you do sports like football or baseball you need a lot of water but if you do swimming you don't because the water is all around you (even though you don't drink it because of chlorine and other chemicals).
393500
You only get water intoxication if you drink like 20 cups of water within an hour or so.
1053668
You just drank too much water before the first one. Drink less before the next one.
1172052
Drink less water.  You're waterlogged.
539018
drink lots and lots of water. about one day
823140
If you exercise vigorously every day, you can drink at 3-4 litres safely.  If you dont exercise  that much or that often, stick with just 2-3 litres or you're flushing nutrients out of your body.
499615
2 Litres, which includes all the liguid you drink in 24 hours,  such as water, tea, coffee etc. Any more can be bad for you as you then start to lose electrolytes from the body. So the old '2 litres' of water per day is wrong, unless you only drink water.
1056467
Drinking a gallon of water a day is fine as long as you're not drinking it all in one sitting.  As a general guideline, most adults need about three quarts of fluid each day. Much of that water comes from food, so 8-12 eight ounce glasses a day is a common recommended intake. You may need more water if the weather is very warm or very dry, if you are exercising, or if you are taking certain medications. \n\nAs far as the gut thing goes...give me a break!
169322
Overdosage of table salt would create osmosis in the cells, resulting severe dehydration. If there is no water intake, hypernatremia may occur in less than 48 hours resulting brain edema or a coma which will eventually cause death.
392449
Although the ideal water requirement may vary depending on the requirements of a person (this is due to variations in the environment that one is in, which affects the amount of loss of water from the body, as also the level of physical activity/sweating etc.) around 8 glasses is about good enough. \n\nThe least amount of water required by the kidneys to effectively excrete the waste products in the form of urine is about 500ml/day. That is ofcourse the very least amount that is a must.\n\nAlso, the amount of water that the kidneys can excrete is indeed limited and, thus, there is indeed such a thing as excess water... consumption of excess water can be harmful by decreasing the concentration of important electrolytes in your body, especially sodium (causing hyponatremia, which have sevre adverse effects including seizures and even coma). Excess consumption of water is often seen in Psychogenic Polydipsia.\n\nHowever, to cause this reduction in sodium concentration, one would have to consume water in excess of about 12L/day (theoretically though, the figure would be around >30L/day)
78355
Just enough to cover the mouth and nostrils, or enough to inhale casuing a wet drowning.\n\nWith an otherwise unconscious person, we are talking a few inches of water, nothing more. Just enough to occlude the airway and prevent oxygen from entering the lungs.\n\nA child can drown in as little as 7 mm of water. An adult is usually able to survive in slightly deeper because of facial bone structure and size.
1128380
The minerals and salts in the water dehydrates the body the more water you drink.
264789
An average, HEALTHY adult should drink 8 x 8oz glasses a day =64 ounces of water a day. \n\nIf you are heavier it may be more..HOWEVER...drinking too much water..ESPECIALLY IN CHILDREN can be dangerous. \n\ntalk to you doctor.