;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=8c3e1d8abc599205fd74708f3255413482e6375003360333385d1fae0da38bfe "35-year-old mother drinks four bottles of water in 20 minutes and dies")
The New York Post reports that 35-year-old Ashley Summers was traveling with her husband and their two daughters at Lake Freeman, Indiana, when she felt severely dehydrated. The temperatures were high that day and Summers had not drunk anything all day.
The mother spontaneously resorted to the supposedly healthiest option available: water. Within 20 minutes she is said to have drunk four small bottles – a total of 2 liters. To her amazement, Summers developed dizziness and a persistent headache. She collapsed and was taken to the hospital, but never woke up.
Water intoxication can be life threatening
Doctors told Summers’ family that their loved one died of hyponatremia, a relative lack of salt in the body caused by drinking too much water.
“It was a shock to all of us,” Summers’ brother Miller told the New York Post. “When they first started talking about the toxicity of water. I just said: does that really exist?
Despite the high temperatures, you should not drink too much
A condition known as water intoxication or water intoxication occurs when too much water is drunk in a short period of time, or when impaired kidneys retain too much water in the body. Typical complaints are malaise, muscle cramps, headaches, vomiting, dizziness and shortness of breath. In severe cases, coma and death occur.
In order to avoid them, you should also make sure in summer that you drink regularly rather than a lot at once. After a large loss of water, for example after heavy physical activity in hot weather, water enriched with electrolytes should be drunk if possible. Distilled water should not be drunk.
Summer’s organs were donated
The New York Post reports that Summers was an organ donor, so her heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and bones could be donated. She saved the lives of five other people.