Dave's Not Here

Someone noticed in my post the other day , that I had consumed four 4 liters of water, instead of the recommended eight glasses. Putting that into archaic, non metric terms, I drank roughly 128 ounces instead of the recommended 64. The person was concerned that I might be headed for Water Intoxication (Water Toxicity).  In fact, there are many articles out there, that state the same thing!

So, what’s the scoop?  Did I drink too much?  Did I drink too little?  I decided to do a little research of my own.  The wikipedia water intoxication article states, “The recommendation from the medical field is to drink about 1.5-3 liters per day depending upon body mass.”  I think the key phrase there is body mass.

I started looking for how much water I should be drinking.  My friend, Rafe, computed that I should be drinking almost a gallon, a while back.  So, I looked through our IM logs, and found his formula, and googled that.  That’s when I found the rule of thumb equation that is splattered over the internet, in as many places as the water intoxication and toxicity articles.  The formula I found is:

Body Weight (in pounds) divided by 2 = Ounces of water you should consume a day.

So, for me, at 220lbs (at the moment), I should be consuming 110 ounces of water, which is just under a gallon.  So, I think I’m in the ballpark.  But, that just confirms that I’m drinking what half of the internet thinks I should be drinking.  What about the other half, the half concerned with water intoxication?  For that, let’s work the 1.5 to 3 liters a day in reverse.  First, let’s call quarts and liters equal, and do the rough math:

1.5 liters (quarts) = 32*1.5 ounces = 32 + 16 = 48 ounces.  Doubling and converting = 96lbs.
3 liters (quarts) = 32 * 3 ounces = 96 ounces.  Doubling and converting = 192 lbs.

So, in 1.5 to 3 liters, we have approximate coverage from 96 to 192 lbs.  (And, if we get all anal, and convert the liters to ounces properly, we get 101 to 203 lbs.)

Given all of the above information, I think four liters was a bit more water than I needed, but, in the ballpark.  And, far away from the amount of water it would take someone of my . . . . urm . . . girth, to have to worry about Water Intoxication or Water Toxicity.