What are the health benefits & harms of drinking salt water?

While people drink salt water, they can’t help but get wary about the outcomes they might face later. 

Saltwater is neither all good nor all bad. There are both benefits and harms to drinking salt water. It depends on the amount of water intake and the person’s health condition.

Here, we’ll discuss both the benefits and harms of drinking salt water. 

health benefits & harms of drinking salt water

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Benefits of drinking salt water

Just as said before, it depends on the amount and drinkers’ conditions. Salt is a complex combination of sodium and chlorine. Two very important mineral elements. While mixed in water, they can become effective. Let’s take a look at the benefits of drinking salt water.

  • People who sweat a lot (maybe due to an athletic job, or another tough physical job, or because of any special physical condition) tend to lose a huge amount of sodium. Drinking water with salt can easily fill up for the lost amount of sodium and keep their health in a good condition.
  • A lot of people out there suffer from indigestion. Which causes acidity and other stomach issues. A pinch of salt in the glass filled with water can help them get rid of the trouble. Salt is an important element for proper digestion. That’s why drinking water with a small amount of salt after a meal helps a lot.
  • Rinsing the colon and stomach with salt water is a trending idea. The sole reason behind it is, saltwater helps the body toxins get out from your body. This is largely known as saltwater flush. Sodium and chlorine instigate the toxins inside to get out with sweat and urine. A lot of people these days are now getting interested in saltwater flush.
  • People with low blood pressure can benefit from drinking salt water. Sodium and chlorine are the elements that help your blood pressure go up. So, if you feel weak and have low blood pressure, a small amount of saltwater can boost you up! 
  • Adding a pinch of salt in warm water helps your sore throat get better. While you can have the flu, or catch a cold or maybe get some allergic reactions- you might hurt your vocals with a sore throat. Warm water is beneficial for throat, but saltwater is even more helpful as chlorine helps remove bacteria from the throat. 
  • This benefit is exclusive. Drinking salt water helps skin. But, not any normal sodium chloride. It needs to be rich in minerals and sea salt. Sea salt contains magnesium, calcium, and potassium. These are the elements that help your skin to get rid of pimples and acne. They also help reduce wrinkles. So, you’d look even younger.  
  • This benefit is exclusive too- for the people who are on a weight loss program. Saltwater helps lose weight. The reason behind it is simple. The salt in the water helps the process of digestion. As a result, the person gets a low amount of saved fat for calories. Especially, drinking salt water with a little amount of lemon or lime juice in the morning would keep all the belly fat away! 

Saltwater is helpful in a lot of ways. True. But, let’s remember once again that overdrinking saltwater causes a lot of trouble too. So, please refrain from overdrinking. 

Next to the cons part, we’ll discuss the harms of both overdrinking saltwater and normally drinking saltwater. 

Why is drinking salt water harmful?

If you’ve watched “Life of Pi“, you might remember the guideline from the boy. Don’t drink seawater, it would cause dehydration.  

That’s the point. But not the whole point. Let’s discuss the harms of drinking water with salt. 

  • About the dehydration issue. Saltwater indeed hydrates you faster than pure water. But the speed is the same reason why they make you dehydrated faster too. Sodium and chlorine get out with sweat fast; while they are with the water, they make it sweat faster, that’s why you get dehydrated faster too. Another issue is, the more salt reaches your kidney, the more you need to urinate. This repeatedly urinating is another reason you’ll get dehydrated faster. Be cautious! Drinking saltwater at a time when you have a short amount of pure water can lead to deadly results! 
  • Huge amounts of saltwater can cause kidney failure. This is a reason why people with kidney issues are bound from intaking uncooked salt. So, if you have any kidney issues, don’t drink saltwater at all. And if you don’t have the issues, don’t overdrink it.
  • People with heart disease need to refrain from drinking salt water too. This is large because saltwater causes blood pressure to rise, which is dangerous for heart patients. High blood pressure is troublesome. As they can cause heart attacks or strokes. As sodium chloride increases blood pressure, drinking salt water can harm them badly. 
  • Not only the heart patients, all other people with high blood pressure need to avoid water with salt for the same reason. The result might not be as deadly as heart patients, but it will still be bad. You might collapse or get sick constantly. 
  • You might have never heard of it, but drinking a lot of saltwater causes diarrhea. Salt is an element that rushes the digestion process. Though it is beneficial for people suffering from indigestion, overdrinking saltwater would surely rush the assimilation and cause you to run into the washroom frequently. 
  • Drinking water with salt on an empty stomach is even more troublesome. It would make you vomit, you’ll feel nausea and as a result, will feel weak. 
  • This is a con exclusive for the underweight people only. Saltwater reduces body weight. So, underweight people need to refrain from drinking water with salt.

Here was it all! There are both good and bad sides if you drink water with salt. It would depend on a lot of conditions.

Regardless, staying cautious is the best key. Depending on the person’s condition, it could bring either benefit or harm to the drinker. Hence, the best way to remain harm-free is to consult your physician regarding your current health condition. You’ll then know whether saltwater will benefit you, or harm you.

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