How drink sea water to take advantage of its benefits? You just have to follow three easy steps. First: head to your closest beach. Second: fill a glass with salty water. Third: turn it over and return the water to the sea.
That’s how it is, the healthiest way to drink sea water is not to drink it; since, far from bringing us benefits, it can be very dangerous. However, pages do not stop showing webs or videos in which its consumption is advised.
We might think that if it’s not beneficial, at least it won’t hurt. After all, it is water. The problem is that it is not the same type of water that we drink from the tap or consume bottled. Has large amounts of salt and that could even kill us. Let’s see why.
The reasons why you shouldn’t drink sea water
To begin with, there are the most obvious reasons why we should not drink sea water. The first is that it is about raw water and that, therefore, it is impossible to guarantee that it is free of pathogenic microbes or traces of any compound that can harm our health.
On the other hand, we all know that it’s not good abuse of salt. But drinking sea water is not like going overboard with salad dressing. We are talking about large amounts of salt. And this is where the big problem begins.
The cells of most living organisms try to maintain themselves in a state isotonic, with a similar concentration of salt inside and outside of them. To do this, they follow a process known as osmotic balance, by which water enters and leaves the cells. For example, if there is a lot of salt abroad, it will be necessary dilute it, so the cell loses water. In the opposite case, when there is little salt outside compared to the inside, the cell absorbs water, concentrating the outside and diluting its interior.
It should be noted that both processes, if they occur in an extreme way, can be very harmful, by ending with the cell dehydrated or exploding. For example, it is the reason why the salty is considered a good method for preserve food. Large amounts of salt are added to the medium, so that the possible bacteria that try to proliferate in it die desiccated, losing water in an attempt to maintain the osmotic balance.
What happens to our body?
If we decide to drink sea water, we will be causing the same effect that we generate to bacteria in salty foods.
The cells will lose fluid to try to dilute that salt, which in turn will be filtered by the kidneys, and then released into the urine. But these organs cannot cope if we expose them to such a high salt concentration.
The symptoms will be typical of dehydration, more or less severe depending on the amount of salt. They can go from dizziness, weakness, nausea, and increased heart rate even one’s own death.
Therefore, this is really water that dehydrates. Months ago a famous influencer he said something similar, but referring to the drinking water. Maybe you heard bells and didn’t know where. Maybe he got carried away by the wrong advertisements. Or perhaps a mixture of both occurred. What is clear is that she was very wrong and that it is not her that we should pay attention to when it comes to health issues. Drinking water is totally safe and, of course, the best way to hydrate ourselves. Let’s leave the sea water for the fish.