Experts recommend drinking at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day to stay well hydrated. When it's hot or very dry outside, or both like it is every day during summer in Arizona, we need even more water to help regulate body temperature and promote cellular function. If you wait until you are thirsty to begin drinking water, you are already slightly dehydrated. Activities like playing a sport, hiking or even doing yard work in outside temperatures over 100 degrees F. will quickly dehydrate a person, often seriously, if adequate water is not consumed before, during and after the activity.
Strenuous activity and/or hot weather cause the body to lose more water than normal through increased respiration and sweating. Early signs of dehydration include thirst and decreased urine output (darker-colored urine). Without adequate hydration, dry mouth, lack of tears, muscle weakness, nausea and vomiting, lightheadedness, heart palpitations, weakness, lack of sweating and increasingly decreased urine output occurs. In severe dehydration, confusion and severe weakness are followed by coma, organ failure and finally, death.
So, can you drink too much water? Yes, but with an asterisk :-). The cells in the human body maintain a delicate balance of water electrolytes (salt ions). When you gulp a lot (and I mean A LOT!) of water in a very short period of time, the cells in your body "swell." This is called water intoxication and fortunately, is relatively rare occurring most commonly in infants less than six months of age (usually due to over-diluting formula) and in long distance runners who don't drink electrolyte replacement drinks (usually due to stupidity). The swelling of the cells leads to electrolyte imbalances, most notably hyponatremia (low sodium) which is fatal if not corrected.
Summertime is often vacation-time. Remember to take extra water with you AND DRINK IT even if it's a short "hike" or "walk" (I sometimes fail to see the distinction between the two!). Going to Disneyland? Drink more water. Going to the Grand Canyon? Drink more water. Going to get the mail? Drink more water. Get the idea?
On a recent trip to Death Valley National Park (yes, in the summertime - and it's beautiful!), we drank more than double our normal water intake as well as munched on salty snacks (pretzels) to replace lost sodium and water-laden ones (grapes) to further replace water.
Enjoy summer but stay safe!
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