9 Situations When Drinking Water Should Be Strictly Avoided

Wait, there’s actually something like drinking too much water? Well, that changes everything! No matter where you go, the emphasis on staying hydrated and drinking a couple of liters of water everyday never leaves you alone.

From dadis and nanis to professional doctors, everyone recommends water as the ultimate elixir that can resolve most health issues! While they keep telling why and how much water you should drink, nobody tells you about the situations when you should absolutely not be sipping on H2O. Not to worry though as we reveal the 9 situations where you’re better off not drinking water:

1. Right Before Sleeping

Drinking water before sleeping is definitely not recommended for the following two reasons:

• If you drink water before bed, you suffer from interrupted sleep. The increased water content in your body may cause the urge to urinate, thereby disrupting your sleep and making it harder to doze off again.
• Moreover, your kidney functions slow down at night, which leads to the swelling of your legs and face. This’ll worsen if you drink water before bed.

2. While Working Out

Scientists are of the opinion that sipping on more water than you need when working out can give rise to side effects (1). When you’re exercising, your body temperature tends to rise, which makes you feel hot. Drinking water might cool you down, but it can also cause electrolyte depletion, thereby resulting in headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Also, for heart patients, excess water intake can pressurize their heart, proving to be dangerous. Ergo, drink water after exercising.

3. When The Pee Is Colorless

Urine devoid of any color is a sign that your body is over-hydrated (2). Clear pee indicates that you probably drink loads of water every day, even when you’re not thirsty. Drinking excess water can reduce the level of sodium in your body, which can lead to fatal consequences such as a heart attack.

4. After Eating Spicy Food

Drinking after eating something really spicy is like a reflex. You don’t even think about it! But experts say that shouldn’t be done. The peppers in spicy food contain capsaicin, which is responsible for that burning sensation. This substance is a non-polar molecule, whose effects can only be abetted by another non-polar molecule. Water is not that and if you drink water on top of spicy food, capsaicin will spread in your body, making you feel worse.

5. Before, After Or During A Meal

If you drink water as you eat, you may experience indigestion. The reason for this is that you wash down saliva, which produces enzymes necessary for digestion. Plus, this decrease in salivation can also cause undigested food to accumulate in your body, giving rise to toxicity, even if your diet is healthy.

6. If The Source Is A Hose

Despite the hose being connected to another pipe that offers clean water, you should never drink directly from a hose. The hose may contain elements that are dangerous for your health. For example, organotin prevents the normal functioning of your endocrine system, while antimony can damage your kidneys and liver. The element phthalate in a hose can also decrease your intelligence and lead to behavior changes.

7. If The Water Has Artificial Sweeteners In It

If you are trying to lose weight, you should strictly avoid packaged or even non-packed water that contains artificial sweeteners. Such sweeteners can increase your appetite and cause weight gain, which is the exact opposite of what you want to achieve (3). Hence, you shouldn’t have lemon water either for this reason.

8. If The Water Is Sourced From The Sea

Sea water is not good for your health. Water that comes from the coast is full of pathogenic human viruses, which when ingested can cause health issues such as severe diarrhea or vomiting (4). So, if your mouth fills up with sea water while swimming, spit it out instantly. Besides, sea water is also extremely salty. So, if you swallow it, you’ll have to have a lot of pure water to clean your boy of it, which can lead to severe dehydration.

9. If You’ve Had Plenty Of Water Already

As mentioned before, drinking too much water can lower the sodium levels in your body, which can then manifest into severe side effects. Excess water intake can also damage your kidneys as it stops them from regulating matters present in your blood.

Drinking too much water can also cause a nasty condition known as hyponatremia (5). This condition has symptoms such as dizziness, seizures, depression, and confusion. You can see then that even over-hydration is as bad as dehydration. So, to conclude, be careful of how much and most importantly ‘when’ you drink water. It could save you from a very expensive visit to your doctor.

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