Runners and Hydration

bunchesonothing

I want to throw something out there concerning runners and hydration. I see far too many people pushing hydration to its extremes.

Yes, it's important to stay hydrated. But it's a balance. You don't want to be dehydrated and you don't want to be over-hydrated, or water-intoxicated, either.

These are the following symptoms of dehydration:

* dry mouth,

* the eyes stop making tears,

* sweating may stop,

* muscle cramps,

* nausea and vomiting,

* heart palpitations, and

* lightheadedness (especially when standing).

Here are the symptoms of over hydration:

1 nausea. You feel to puke, because your stomach is not able to hold the excessive quantity of water.

2 The next symptom of water intoxication in adults is having slurred speech. You feel like speaking with a thick tongue.

3 You will feel weak and tired.

4 Other prominent symptoms of water intoxication include headache and bloating. Excessive water, disturbs the digestive tract and leads to bloating.

5 You may start hallucinating. This is mainly because excessive water in the body, affects brain cells as well. Brain cells tend to swell. Affected brain, further leads to disorientation and confusion.

6Muscle cramps

7 Seizures, coma, respiratory arrest, swelling of the brain and even *DEATH* may occur in extreme cases.

Being dehydrated is bad and can lead to performance troubles. However, you have a built in mechanism for this called thirst. Making sure that you always have liquids WITH YOU is one important way to prevent against this.

But, being overhydrated could mean DEATH for a runner and some pretty serious sickness, especially in longer distance runs. In me, it illicits chubby sausage like fingers in its earlier phases. And this is what happens when you don't have your hydration in check or you listened to the advice of well-meaning people. This is because if you drink too much and sweat too much out, you are dilluting your salt(electrolytes) in your body, hyponatremia. This is dangerous. Gatorade can help, but it is not a cure all. Even if your salt levels are not too low, you can get a seriously sloshy belly, which can't be comfortable.

Fortunately, every long run you do, you can practice and find out what hydration levels YOU need. It depends on your size and sweat levels. Many bottles have oz markers on them, so you can figure out what you're drinking. Weigh yourself before your run. Weigh yourself after your run. The difference in the weight is the liquids you've lost. If you weigh more than 1% less than your original body weight, you should probably be drinking more. If you weigh more, you probably drank too much.

Also, some people are naturally salty sweaters and are more prone to this problem. You'll know you are if you have salt caked on your face after a long run. You are more prone to salt imbalances if you are. Talk to your doctor first, before doing so, but I take a salt tab to prevent against salt imbalance.

I know people mean well, but YOU have to know what's right for YOUR body.

MayMaydoesntrun

Great post, thanks!

JMCade

Great info! Thanks!