Everyone who was interested in martial arts as a child and collected posters of Bruce Lee has at least a passing familiarity with his philosophy, “I say, empty your mind, be amorphous, shapeless, like water. You pour water into a cup; it becomes a cup.”
In the tragic turn of events, Lee’s death came as a result of the water’s ability to overpower him to such a degree that he passed away at the relatively young age of 32. In this version, Spanish experts who did not believe in the narrated account of Bruce’s death came to this conclusion. After taking so many blows to the head, torso, and legs, he shattered bamboo and several kinds of wood and finally succumbed to a headache before passing away.
The official version of the mysterious death says: on July 20, 1973, the actor and fighter arrived at the home of Hong Kong actress Betty Ting to study the script at her request. Suddenly, Li got a headache, and Ting gave him a strong aspirin-based drug called Equajestic (which contains not only aspirin but also the tranquilliser meprobamate). Bruce then retired to the bedroom, where he was found unconscious a few hours later. The doctor who arrived at the scene could not bring Bruce Lee back to life, and death was declared in the emergency hospital.
Doctors determined that the primary cause of the actor’s demise was an allergic response that precipitated cerebral oedema. There were additional fantastic hypotheses as well. An actor, for instance, could be murdered by a fellow martial artist or a person employed by the Chinese mafia. It was also believed that the ablation of Li’s sweat glands caused his body to overheat and placed a tremendous strain on his heart. Also considered were variations of an epileptic seizure and heat stroke.
According to a recent study published in the prestigious scientific publication Clinical Kidney Journal, Bruce Lee died of hyponatremia (insufficient sodium levels in the blood plasma). This condition may be brought on by excessive drinking. Le was so fond of water that he created a crucial drop in salt levels in the blood, which proved fatal. Linda Emery, the actor’s wife, and doctors saw that he frequently rejected solid food.
“According to Linda, in recent months, her husband stopped eating solid food and lived exclusively on carrots and apple juice,” the paper states. This pattern of consuming only liquid foods may account for the rapid weight loss between May and July 1973.
Increased alcohol intake contributed to the danger of hyponatremia, as highlighted by the actor’s friends in his final months when he would “drink 10 to 12 bottles of sake per evening.”
Scientists at the Autonomous University of Madrid, led by Priscilla Villalvaso, observed that the actor took medicine after exhibiting symptoms of probable brain oedema (which was detected two months before his death) and that he had taken the drug previously. There were no difficulties with this.
“Cerebral oedema would not be the only autopsy evidence if hypersensitivity to the drug was indeed the cause of death,” the study states. “We assume that Bruce Lee died from a specific form of kidney dysfunction: an inability to excrete enough water to maintain water homeostasis. This could lead to hyponatremia, cerebral oedema, and death within hours if the increased water intake was not balanced by urinary excretion, consistent with events preceding death. The fact that 60% of our body is water does not protect us from the potentially fatal consequences of drinking more water than our kidneys can handle.”
Every other nutritionist, endocrinologist, and healthy living expert now emphasises the need for drinking water, water, and only water. Maximum water intake, ideally with lemon! Few individuals consider the impact on the kidneys and other adverse effects of heavy alcohol consumption. Bruce Lee’s excessive thirst may (or may not) substantiate (or refute) the rumour that he was addicted to marijuana, as it is this addiction that is claimed to produce persistent thirst.
