Episode 2924
Water intoxication
Tue, 2025-May-06 00:35 UTC
Length - 2:01
Direct Link
Welcome to Random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.
The random article for Tuesday, 6 May 2025, is Water intoxication.
Water intoxication, also known as water poisoning, hyperhydration, overhydration, or water toxemia, is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that can result when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside safe limits by excessive water intake.
Under normal circumstances, accidentally consuming too much water is exceptionally rare. Most deaths related to water intoxication in healthy individuals have resulted either from water-drinking contests, in which individuals attempt to consume large amounts of water, or from long bouts of exercise during which excessive amounts of fluid were consumed. In addition, water cure, a method of torture in which the victim is forced to consume excessive amounts of water, can cause water intoxication.
Water, like any other substance, can be considered a poison when over-consumed in a brief period. Water intoxication mostly occurs when water is being consumed in a high quantity provoking disturbances in electrolyte balance.
Excess of body water may also be a result of a medical condition or improper treatment; see "hyponatremia" for some examples. Water is considered one of the least toxic chemical compounds, with an LD50 exceeding 90,000 mg/kg (90 g/kg) body weight in rats; drinking six liters in three hours has caused the death of a human.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:35 UTC on Tuesday, 6 May 2025.
For the full current version of the article, see Water intoxication on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm standard Russell.
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