What Happens When You Drink Too Much Sea Water?

Before you begin guzzling seawater, you should know that drinking water straight from the ocean will dehydrate your body faster than not drinking at all. Just 0.25 percent of total human body weight is dissolved salts, while the weight of seawater is 3.5 percent dissolved salts. The difference between the two numbers is dangerously high. Humans can live for weeks without food, but only days without water. The affects of drinking too much seawater occur quickly.

Excessive Thirst

• Contrary to what you may think, drinking seawater actually increases your thirst. To properly process the high concentration of salt found in seawater your body would need to urinate a larger amount of liquid than you consumed in ocean water. In the early stages of drinking seawater, your body will attempt to urinate large amounts to balance it's salt percentage. Ultimately, you'll feel more thirsty than before drinking the seawater.

Low Blood Pressure

• With continued dehydration and drinking more seawater, your blood becomes thicker and has difficulty moving through your body. Without fresh water to properly dilute your blood, your blood pressure falls. With lowered blood pressure comes fainting, dizziness, headaches and sleepiness.

Cognitive Effects

• In the most advanced stages of dehydration, your brain loses the ability to think clearly and rationally. This delirium can lead you to drink even more seawater as your body becomes racked with frenzied thirst, hallucinations and poor judgment. Some people will experience seizures while others may become unconscious. By the time you reach this point, death is near.

Virus or Bacterial Sickness

• Accidentally ingesting a gulp or two of the ocean isn't automatically fatal, provided you drink enough freshwater to dilute the seawater. However, seawater isn't just salty water, it contains millions of bacteria from pollution and human runoff, particles of dead sea creatures and the excrement of their live counterparts. When you drink seawater, you're also ingesting the bacteria and viruses in the water.