In 2007, a big miracle happened in California, USA, and it quickly made the local news. A woman named Jennifer Strange drank herself to death because she drank water, and the death looked like poisoning.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Jennifer's family is heartbroken and wants to seek the truth and seek justice for her. But after the police investigation and the forensic autopsy, there was no conspiracy behind the death of the deceased, just an accident. It wasn't the murderer who brutally poisoned the water that killed her, it was the water itself.
1. Died because of drinking water
It's really embarrassing to say, the reason why Jennifer died miserably, in the final analysis, was because of a mother's love. She was twenty-eight years old at the time and raised three children. In order to win a new game console for her babies, she signed up for a local "bottled water contest".
The rules of the competition are very simple, each contestant drinks a bottle of pure water within two minutes, and those who complete the task will enter the next round to continue drinking water, and those who can't drink it will be automatically eliminated. If someone goes to the bathroom halfway, the results will be immediately invalidated until the final "drinking king" is screened out in round rounds.
Jennifer is not a professional player like Big Eater, but she did her best to win the first prize game console for the children. She persevered to a rather late stage, the water in her stomach was about to vomit, the urine was coming, and she resolutely did not leave the playing field.
As a result, Jennifer began to feel that something was wrong. Not only did she feel bloated and want to relieve herself, but her brain also began to feel groggy. After barely drinking another bottle or two of water, she even began to have Venus in her eyes and even hallucinated. Jennifer felt a splitting headache and realized that something was wrong with her body, so she hurriedly stopped the game and returned home.
Jennifer thought that she would get better after a while, but the situation got worse and worse. That night, her consciousness was completely disorganized and she even had symptoms of difficulty breathing. The family sensed that there was a problem with the water and hurriedly induced her to vomit and try to drain the water in her stomach.
But it was too late, and before Jennifer could see a doctor, she fell ill at home and died. Her family was so grief-stricken that they hurriedly called the police to find out who poisoned her.
The police carefully inspected all aspects of the "Drinking Bottled Water Competition", but did not find anything unusual. The contestants drank ordinary bottled pure water, which was completely sealed and preserved without any toxicity; Everyone in the arena was a stranger who didn't know Jennifer, and none of them had the motive to poison others.
It wasn't until the medical examiner issued an autopsy report that the truth came out. No one killed Jennifer, she just drank water to death. The human body ingests a particularly large amount of water in a very short period of time, which can easily cause a condition called "water poisoning", and it is from this disease that Jennifer unfortunately died.
Can you be poisoned by simply drinking water? This thing sounds really incredible, so it has become a hot topic among Californians for a while. In fact, Jennifer is not the only one in this world who drinks water and drinks the body out of big things. In September 2020, Shenzhen woman Lin also almost lost her life because of "water poisoning".
In order to cooperate with the requirements of the B-ultrasound examination, Lin drank nearly four liters of boiled water in just a few hours, and as a result, his body began to feel very uncomfortable. Not only was she dizzy and confused like Jennifer, but she was also accompanied by violent spasms in her hands and feet. Fortunately, she was luckier than Jennifer, because she was sent to the hospital in time, and she was rescued by emergency and saved her life.
2. Terrible "water poisoning"
Jennifer and Lin had "water poisoning", of course, not because of the poison contained in the water they drank. What really hurts them is the imbalance in the concentration of elements in the body caused by excessive water consumption in a short period of time.
If a person wants to be healthy and energetic, all the elements in the body must be in a state of balance. Consuming too much water in a very short period of time can lead to a sharp decrease in the concentration of sodium in the blood, which is commonly referred to as salt. When the amount of salt in the blood decreases, the relative concentration of salt in the cells increases. According to the biological "principle of dialysis", the cells in the human body are constantly absorbing water.
If the cells of the limbs absorb a lot of water, a person's limbs will become swollen, which is called "edema"; But if the cells in the brain also start to absorb water and keep sucking, it will be fatal for a person. When the "brain swelling" reaches a certain level, the body's nervous system will stop, and even the respiratory system will "strike", resulting in sudden death of a person.
According to the World Health Organization's health report, if an adult drinks three to four liters of purified water on an empty stomach within six hours and does not excrete it in time, he or she may have a life-threatening acute "water poisoning" accident. This amount of water has exceeded the normal daily water intake of the human body several times, so as long as we pay a little attention to it, we will basically not encounter the life crisis of acute "water poisoning".
What ordinary people really need to pay attention to is actually the so-called "chronic water poisoning". This kind of disease has no life-threatening risk, but it can slowly eat away at a person's physical health, and because the manifestations are mostly stomach distension and edema, it is not easy to attract the attention of patients. To prevent "chronic water poisoning", we need to develop good drinking habits.
3. There is a doorway for drinking water
Many people have heard of the so-called "eight glasses of water a day" health theory, which cannot be miscalculated, but it is also too vague. An adult's daily water intake should be 1.5 to 1.7 liters a day. If you are engaged in physical labor or work that sweats a lot every day, such as professional athletes, increase your daily water intake as appropriate.
In addition to how much water you drink, you also need to be particular about what water to drink and how to drink it. For the purpose of protecting the stomach and intestines, it is best not to consume too much hot and cold water, and do not drink "stale water" that has been left for too long, as bacteria can grow.
Like eating, drinking water is also the healthiest to drink in small amounts each time, many times a day, and drinking a large amount of water in a hurry can easily cause problems with blood vessels and heart. The best time to drink water is half an hour after you wake up in the morning and one to two hours before you go to bed. It is best not to drink water when eating, as diluted stomach acid is not conducive to food digestion.
Of course, all of the above is for adults who are in a normal state of physical condition. If you are a child, an adolescent, or a middle-aged or elderly person with an underlying medical condition, you should still drink water according to your doctor's instructions. Health is no trivial matter, even the most common drinking water, there are many ways in it. We insist on drinking water scientifically every day, not only to prevent "water poisoning", but also to maintain the balance and vitality of the body.