To others reading this there needs to be a big bold WARNING: Do not drink liters of water as people have died doing just that. Google it and you’ll find horror stories of people in competition to chug tons of water only to make an ER trip and die on the way.
There is a myth on the internet that drinking shitload of water beyond comfort is acceptable and has zero risks because hey it’s just water right?
To be more precise: do not chug liters of water without supplemental electrolytes. What kills people is the fact that salts are water-soluble and are flushed out as you drink water. It's not the volume of water that's inherently dangerous. It's that it flushes out water-soluble electrolytes that are necessary to muscle function.
I can't edit my comment anymore but did upvote yours. I agree with those warnings about imitating this practice. My "drinking as much water as I can" is perhaps 1 liter, much less than what seemed to be described in "The Old Way".
In the article you point to the main issue seems to come from inhibition of urination. I think native people knew their bodies extremely well and could avoid any problem here whereas in modern times we have been training ourselves since being a small child to ignore or hold back urination. Combining that with other suppressors mentioned in that article can end in tragedy.
There is a myth on the internet that drinking shitload of water beyond comfort is acceptable and has zero risks because hey it’s just water right?
Here is some literature: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-...