Too much water can be bad

[catbirdseat]

I saw this article in todays Seattle PI. I rather doubt climbers are subject to this on account of we have to actually carry our own water and for that reason tend to drink less than we should if anything.

[letsroll]

"They found hyponatremia was most serious in runners who gained substantial weight - 4 1/2 pounds to 11 pounds - from drinking lots of water along the route." If they are drinking enough water to gain weight, they are for sure drinking way too much. It is not rocket science.

[catbirdseat]

I guess the moral of the story is compete the way you train. Some people go to races and find stations giving out water and stop at every one. They aren't getting this much water when they train. It seems that in any group of people there will always be some minority that indulges to excess.

[Dru]

 

too much water by region

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

You don't get hyponatremia from just drinking a shitload of water. It results from having too much water and not any/enough nutrients/electrolytes, etc. Apparently it can really wreak havoc on you, as it's also known as becoming "water drunk." They give you a shpiel about it as part of the safety briefing before you go down the Grand Canyon (along with helpful tidbits like "scorpion: don't touch").

[catbirdseat]

An important point of the article is that most sports drinks do not have enough salts to prevent hyponatremia.

[Gary_Yngve]

In my WFR class, they recommended taking along some pretzels.

 

Apparently back in the day, the rangers at Grand Canyon NP were unaware of hyponatremia and would treat all cases of heat/exertional illness with water, with sometimes disastrous consequences. WMI worked with them to increase education for both the rangers and the users.

 

The best way to differentiate dehydration from hyponatremia is patient history. Ask them about their water intake and about their urine output.

[meganerd]

I hiked the grand canyon (to the river) in a day in late June once. The ranger's literally told me that I was likely to die... It didn't help that I had long hair and a black Dead Kennedys shirt on at the time.

 

It's really not very difficult unless you're a dumbass. Start early in the morning, hang out at the air conditioned Phantom Ranch all day, marveling at the thermometer reading 125 (no joke...), then start back up the BRIGHT ANGEL trail (it's largely shaded and has lots of water faucets along the way) at around 3 or 3:30. Just enough time to get back up at a leisurely pace before it gets dark. And eat lots of the very salty peanuts that you get on the plane

[foraker]

i did that. north rim and back in a day. dumbest thing i ever did.

[Crux]

And then there's the story about students drinking themselves to death -- with water -- at fraternity hazing parties.

[Dru]

better that than the beer enema

[ashw_justin]

An important point of the article is that most sports drinks do not have enough salts to prevent hyponatremia.

 

I discovered this the other day at the grocery store. Compare 100% fruit juices to sports drinks: guess which one has more essential salts? I went with some pine-orange-banana that had abundant potassium, 1:1 or so water, touch of good ol' table salt.

 

Not sure it made a difference but it sure was tasty.