Why do some athletes get sick from drinking too much water?
Physiopathological, Epidemiological, Clinical and Therapeutic Aspects of Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Drinking more than 0.8 liters of fluid per hour dramatically increases EAH risk — and some athletes gain weight during races from overdrinking.
Most hydration guidelines used to promote replacing every drop of sweat, but this study shows that weight gain during a race is a red flag for dangerous overhydration.
Practical Takeaways
Drink only when thirsty during long races — don’t force fluids to 'stay ahead of dehydration.'
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Drinking more than 0.8 liters of fluid per hour dramatically increases EAH risk — and some athletes gain weight during races from overdrinking.
Most hydration guidelines used to promote replacing every drop of sweat, but this study shows that weight gain during a race is a red flag for dangerous overhydration.
Practical Takeaways
Drink only when thirsty during long races — don’t force fluids to 'stay ahead of dehydration.'
Publication
Journal
Journal of Clinical Medicine
Year
2014
Authors
C. Urso, S. Brucculeri, G. Caimi
Related Content
Claims (8)
When people exercise a lot, they can get low sodium because they drink too much water, not because they aren’t taking in or losing too much salt.
Women endurance athletes, especially those swimming in open water, seem to get exercise-related low sodium more often than men — 36% of women versus 8% of men in some studies — and this might be due to differences in hormones, habits, or body type.
If endurance athletes get a serious condition from low sodium during long exercise, giving them a strong salt solution quickly can help them recover faster and feel better, but giving them regular IV fluids might make things worse.
Some athletes who do long, tough workouts like marathons or triathlons can end up with low sodium in their blood — a condition called exercise-associated hyponatremia — and it’s actually pretty common depending on the event.
When endurance athletes exercise for a long time, their bodies sometimes release a hormone that tells the kidneys to hold onto water — even when they don’t need to. This can dilute the salt in the blood and lead to a dangerous condition called hyponatremia, kind of like a known medical syndrome caused by too much of that hormone.