Anxiety about water drinking

[Grace360]

So I need help with this, whoever can help me with it. I have anxiety about drinking the amount of water I need. Mostly hypochondriac reasons. Water poisoning and all that. Yes, bizarre. But its the only reason why I stay dehydrated. I think I'm gonna drink too much water in a short amount of time and get water poisoning. Does anyone have maybe like a schedule or something I can stick to? Like however many bottles or whatever in any amount of time. I look it up but its vague and non specific sometimes and I'm 16 so I want it to be accurate.

 

[bin_tenn]

Health experts typically recommend about 64oz per day, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with more - even a lot more. Assuming the average water bottle is 16.9oz, that means you only need to drink 4 bottles of water per day. No way in hell you can come even remotely close to water intoxication. Since the average amount of time awake per day is 16-18 hours, and you only need about 4 bottles of water, that means drink a bottle every three or four hours and you're good.

It takes *A LOT* of water in a very short period of time to even be considered potentially harmful. I don't know how people become anxious about water intoxication, but I guess that's just how anxiety works - it often is irrational. I'm 33 and I'd never even heard of "too much water" until a few years ago, on an anxiety forum.

 

[imsotired]

hey I'm get you are feeling this way. I think it extremely important to be cautious of the amount of water you drink. recently I have started a nutrition course and I have read the recommended amount is 8 oz or 7 cups. it is important to drink water throughout the day so I suggest spacing out the time you drink water so you are not too panicked.

hope this helped

 

[smilingsoul]

Anxiety is irrational, so this might not help much, but water poisoning is pretty tough to do to yourself accidentally. It requires a LOT of water. Like, 2 quarts (2 liters) of water per hour, for a number of hours.

 

[alwaysworried]

I second what smilingsoul said - it take a really large amount of water for this to happen. You'd feel extremely uncomfortable, it's not something that you can really do to yourself accidentally.
I don't know what your drinking habits usually are, but if you are dehydrated most of the time I would recommend filling up a water bottle and keeping it near you throughout the day. You can take sips from it every hour or so. When I was in high school I'd forget to drink water during the day, and even though I didn't feel super thirsty I'd end up with a headache at the end of the day. I started taking a few sips of water at the beginning of each class (so like every hour or so), which really helped.
That might be a good way to ease into drinking more water. But as said above, you'd have to drink a ridiculous amount of water in a short amount of time to give yourself water poisoning...we're talking liters here, and you'd feel uncomfortable before you even got to that point.
Everyone's "ideal" water intake is personal to them, so instead of shooting for a specific amount of water each day I'd use your urine color as an indication. If you're hydrated enough, your urine will be pale in color. There are some charts online you can find for urine color and hydration. It's not something that you need to obsess over every day though - your body will tell you if you're thirsty! Hope this helps a little

 

[TruthHurts]

So I need help with this, whoever can help me with it. I have anxiety about drinking the amount of water I need. Mostly hypochondriac reasons. Water poisoning and all that. Yes, bizarre. But its the only reason why I stay dehydrated. I think I'm gonna drink too much water in a short amount of time and get water poisoning. Does anyone have maybe like a schedule or something I can stick to? Like however many bottles or whatever in any amount of time. I look it up but its vague and non specific sometimes and I'm 16 so I want it to be accurate.

Drinking water is great for the body some people need to drink more then others depending on daily activity etc. I try to drink 3 liters of water a day sometimes more depending on daily activity and weather. On a hot day you'll need more because you sweat more. Don't be afraid to drink water it's one of the healthiest things you can do. You can normally tell if you are getting enough water by the color of your urine if it's a light yellow color then you are doing okay. If it's real dark then you should drink more water.