Friday, June 20, 2003
Drinking well
By HATTIE BERNSTEIN
Telegraph Staff
 |
|
Staff photo by Dan Williamson
Allan
Rube, 55, of Nashua does a running workout at Main Dunstable Elementary School
on Thursday. Rube, who has been a runner for more than 20 years, ended up
in the hospital after over-hydrating himself before a race four years ago.
|
|
|
NASHUA
– Four years ago, runner Allan Rube drank so much water before an 8-kilometer
race that he landed in a hospital emergency room feeling weak, shaky and
frightened. Several hours later, having received intravenous fluids, Rube
was himself again.
He was also wiser.
A
veteran of many marathons, and a runner for more than two decades, Rube realized
that his habit of hydrating with plain water all day and eating little had
gotten him into trouble.
He had to rethink his idea
that sports drinks, which contain sodium and other vital nutrients, were
“gimmicks.” He also learned he would need to eat more and watch his sodium
and potassium intakes, particularly before and after his runs.
Rube, 55, isn’t the only one to have suffered the consequences of now-outdated hydration advice to athletes.
Some
runners have consumed so much water they have suffered grand mal seizures,
respiratory arrest or had their lungs fill with fluid. Some, such as a 28-year-old
woman who collapsed during last year’s Boston Marathon, have died.
Recently,
the USA Track & Field organization issued new hydration guidelines that
address both over-hydration and under-hydration.
The
guidelines developed by Douglas Casa, director of athletic training at the
University of Connecticut, are intended to educate athletes and their coaches
about both conditions. Both impair athletic performance and can lead to serious
health consequences.
Rube was following conventional
wisdom that for years recommended that runners – and in particular long-distance
runners – drink before, during and after training and races.
Drink before you’re thirsty, coaches advised. Drink as much as you can hold.
Casa,
who described the new guidelines as “common sense,” said little was known
about the dangers of over-hydration four to five years ago.
The
condition, known in layman’s language as low blood sodium, is caused by excessive
intake of fluids or ingestion of low-sodium fluids during extended periods
of physical activity. Often the condition occurs during exercise that lasts
four hours or longer. In Rube’s case, however, the ill effects of over-hydrating
hit him during a race lasting little more than a half-hour.
Experts
agree that athletes need to replace fluids they lose during activity, primarily
through sweating. Sweating, a cooling mechanism, allows the body to release
heat produced by working muscles.
The amount of fluid replacement is key.
Until
recently, Casa said, coaches and athletes worried chiefly about dehydration,
which occurs when fluid consumption does not keep up with the loss of fluids
from sweat, urine and respiration. Dehydration is still the more prevalent
issue for most athletes, he said, although publicity about excess fluid intake
has wrongly implied that athletes should drink less.
“The goal is to find a middle ground,’’ Casa said in a telephone interview.
In
fact, hydration needs vary from person to person depending on size, sport,
fitness level and more, he said, stressing that the key to a healthy intake
of fluids depends on striking a balance based on individual needs.
To
calculate hydration needs, Casa said an athlete should take an accurate scale
weight while naked and after urinating, run for an hour in conditions similar
to those of the event he or she is training for, and drink a liter of water.
Afterward, repeat the test: Get naked, weigh yourself, and if you have lost
a liter – which weighs 2.2 pounds – figure that adding in the liter you drank,
you actually lost two liters of fluid. Hence, your sweat rate is two liters
an hour.
Casa said the guidelines apply not only to
runners, but also to those participating in other sports as well as military
and recreational activities. Fluid replacement, he stressed, should be taken
seriously – and individualized.
“This is very simplistic,” he said. “It’s common sense.”
Back to stories page.... |
;)
;)
Print this Article
Email this Article
