A few weeks back I was extremely bored to the death during lunchtime. It was a hot day too. So, I decided to part with 70 cents and buy a local newspaper to entertain myself. A particular news section caught my attention as I am one who loves to read and find out more about the extraordinary powers of ordinary foods (Now is that an oxymoron or what?).
Anyway, the article title was 'Woman loses sight after drinking too much water'. My first thought was: How much is much? Seven litres per day it seems. When I told some people about this, their initial comment was almost always: 'She must have forgone her meals'. I can understand that reaction. How can anyone stomach seven litres a day and still eat their daily portions? Yet, some miss the point. They say: 'Isn't that supposed to be good?'. I corrected them: 'Seven glasses maybe, but not seven LITRES'. That's equivalent to seven pet coke bottles - a day! EVERYDAY!
Source: The Electric New Paper, Nov 26, 2007 (Singapore)
Here's the meat. Apparently the 26-year-old Asian woman was, maybe still is, having her blood pressure constantly being on the high side. It seems she decided to self-medicate by detoxifying herself and reducing her blood pressure through excessive hydrating. In the beginning, she kept visiting the toilet. Then, as she persisted in her practise, her cells absorbed too much water and they became swollen. Her brain cells were affected by the swelling and it caused pressure which led to bleeding in her occipital lobe. At one point, she fainted and when she woke up, her sight was gone. According to doctors, her condition was 'chronic water intoxication'. The excess drinking also brought about hyponatremia - too little sodium ions in the blood, affecting normal cell metabolism rate.
So there you are folks - be amazed at the power of normal day to day foods. As in anything, power can destroy when not used properly. Conversely, we all know the adverse effects of hydrating too little. Balance, folks, balance. Yin and Yang.
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