Drinking water can be a meaningful source of microplastics and associated chemicals, including BPA and PFAS, and reverse osmosis is one of the most effective ways to reduce them. I recently installed a reverse osmosis filter on my kitchen faucet. I wanted filtered water not only for drinking and cooking, but also for washing produce. Soil and water contamination can expose fruits and vegetables to persistent chemicals, so this gives me another practical way to reduce daily exposure. The most important thing is to look for an NSF certification that covers the contaminants you care about and review the system’s performance data. That should tell you what the filter has actually been tested to reduce, and by how much. It can also help address concerns about plastic particles being introduced by the filtration system itself. No filter eliminates every exposure. But because we use water every day, reverse osmosis can be a useful way to reduce the total burden from microplastics and persistent chemicals.

Drinking too much water can kill you: - Take in a lot of water in a short period and you excrete sodium fast enough to disrupt kidney function - Drop extracellular sodium low enough and neurons stop firing action potentials, the signals behind every breath, word and movement - This has happened to people over-hydrating after sports events with fluid that had no electrolytes - Extra sodium won't make your neurons work better, but too little guarantees they work worse. That's why dehydration brings confusion, dizziness and poor coordination. @hubermanlab

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