|
Just in time for improved weather, the medical director of the London Marathon, Dr. Dan Tunstall- Pedoe, has published a study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine warning yet-again that over-consumption of drinking water without electrolytes (e.g. salt) can be fatal. Marathon runners and others who exercise in warmer weather can suffer, at minimum, headache, and are subject to collapse, confusion, memory loss, vomiting, seizures, and even death from fluid accumulation in the lungs or brain: all from dilution of the salt in the blood resulting from excess water intake during exercise (exercise-associated hyponatremia or water intoxication). Tunstall-Pedoe advises treatment with hypertonic (sodium rich) fluids instead of traditional isotonic fluids, but prevention is best: eat your salt! |
