Summer has come and the road to the refrigerator for drinking water has become fixed. One, two, four, six times a day? Some of us feel that our day has moved from the study to the kitchen. Staying well hydrated is very important, yes. It is necessary for our body to function properly. Although there is no definitive answer to how many liters a day should be drunk, the WHO considers each person’s needs (physical activity, climate, body composition, etc.)

The benefits are many, no doubt about it. In fact, there are even mobile apps and “smart” bottles that remind us when to drink water. However, what starts out as healthy can turn into something obsessive. Drinking too much water can have devastating consequences. And what’s more, if you have become addicted to it.

potomania It is the term describing the obsession with drinking water. The need to drink excessively to relieve cravings and achieve a pleasurable feeling. That is, dependence on all laws. According to the Aquae Foundation, these people can easily consume between 8 and 15 liters of fluid per day. Then the least thing that can happen to you is that you experience hyperhydration, the kidneys are not able to work on excretion as quickly and the sodium level in the blood is diluted. Symptoms? From insomnia, headaches or nausea to seizures or death.

Potomania is an addiction similar to eating disorders such as bulimia, as Spanish physician José Ramón Gutiérrez warned years ago in this article: “They are addicts who cannot imagine the consequences. They think that water is not harmful because it is natural. But this is a mistake. Excessive and prolonged The purchase could have dire consequences.”

With thirst or with thirst? Polydipsia should not be confused with potomaniac. The first is the medical term for an abnormal increase in thirst that causes the patient to drink large amounts of fluid. More than your body needs. It is often associated with a disease: for example, increased thirst is one of the first signs of diabetes. On the other hand, potomania is an eating disorder. The person suffering from it necessarily feels the desire to drink, without a previous feeling of thirst.

Why? Why? As Amaia Odriozola explains in this wonderful report in EL PAÍS, one reason this disorder is acquired is the false belief that positive traits are associated with drinking a lot of water: good skin, rejuvenating physique, more energy, and better health. Odriozola says hydration is now “marketed as a cure” for all ailments, and even as an “anti-aging elixir.” And according to experts, this belief is false.

This New York Times article states that “people drink water as if their reputations depend on it.” When we look at all the latest inventions, we see that there is a remarkable trend. We’ve seen this with four-liter mega-bottles or apps that launch reminders to hydrate.

suggested. Scientists agree that hydration levels vary from day to day for each person. So while the famous two-liter-a-day rule was established in 1945, the reality is that there is no unanimity today, according to the Food and Nutrition Board of the U.S. National Research Council.

Of course, there are different signs by which we can detect dehydration: thirst (which occurs when the person is already 1% dehydrated), changes in weight or color of urine (if it is dark, the body retains water and you need more; if it is always too light, you are eating more than you need). ).

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