I always really liked drinking water. Not an insane amount, about 2 liters (100 fl oz) a day. So I always wondered whether I’m overworking my kidneys or if they are just passive filters benefiting from the water passing through.
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You can kill yourself if you drink too much water. It’s called Water Intoxication.
The kidneys job is to filter stuff out of your blood. Some of it’s waste product, there is some salt and other stuff that gets flushed out, and water.
Normally, if you take in the right amount of water, your body stays balanced. Because the things you eat and drink have electrolytes in them, and then you are flushing out some of those electrolytes with your urine.
If you drink too much water without replacing the electrolytes, you get water intoxication. Essentially you body has issues because there is not enough electrolytes, you have heart problems, other issues, and you can die.
In fact, there was a runner in a marathon years ago that died because all they drank was water. And it caused a rule change that every other drink station that the runners visit has Gatorade or something.
It isn’t a matter of overloading your kidneys, it’s a matter of the kidneys flushing out too much of what you need, with all the extra water you didn’t need.
It is recommended to get 8 x 8 oz glasses of water per day, so 64 ounces. Don’t drink it all at once. And you’ll be good. As always, talk to your doctor about medical issues.
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