Blisters and hydration questions

Um...no, it

Um...no, it doesn't.

Hyponatremia occurs because excessive water consumption dilutes the sodium content of your cells. It has become a real risk to atheletes because of the incorrect statements that 'you cant drink too much water'. You can, and it can kill you. There are proven cases of athletes dying from over-consumption of water, and they all occured since the 'you cant drink too much' mantra was adopted. (based on marketing from gatorade initially)

In fact, the science quite clearly shows that sports drinks containing sodium do not redress the imbalance. They've actually got it completely wrong. The guys at sports scientists explain it better than I can, but basically...

You sweat has a lower concentration of sodium than that of your body, therefore, sweating actually increases the sodium concentration in your body, and what you need is enough water to lower the sodium concetration in our body to restore the balance. Too much water, and you over compensate.

(sorry to go on..but the hydration myth is one of my pet peeves)

Marc

yikes....Yes It's a scary

yikes....

Yes It's a scary thing. Especially, I think, for runners, because it's not very well understood. A runner being taken into medical tents during or after a race can easily be given fluids because the symptoms of hypoglycemia, hyponatremia, heat exhaustion, or even a simple low blood pressure faint from stopping running are similar enough that non-medial folks can easily misdiagnose them.