Monday, January 15, 2007

Death by water intoxication

A woman in Sacramento entered a "Hold your Wee for a Wii" contest sponsored by a local radio station. Evidently, the contestant who drank the most water without using the bathroom would be awarded with a Wii (a Nintendo video game system). One contestant suffered a severe headache on the way home from the event and was later found dead at her home.

That radio station is looking at one huge lawsuit, IMO. Who comes up with a game like that? Hold your wee? That is obnoxious. What is really sad is that she was doing it so she could give the game system to her kids.

Water intoxication is caused when you drink excessive amounts of water which in turn dilutes the salt content of your blood to a level which can lead to organ problems (or death).

Just last night my husband and I were discussing how much water is too much. His cousin recently was told by her physician to stop drinking so much water because apparently she was drinking massive amounts and it was accumulating around her heart.

Since I'm on this diet kick, I've been trying to drink the suggested 8-10 glasses a day and have noticed that it has increased my energy level. I certainly believe that our bodies need that 8-10 glasses a day, but here is an interesting article that tries to refute that claim. The only reason I post it is because my huband is always telling me he doesn't think we need to drown ourselves in water.

Oh, btw, this is simply bizarre, but my husband brought home a Wii game system for my kids about 4 hours after I read that article. Weird. We had promised them one for Christmas, but they were sold out at every store. He finally found one.