{"id":41229,"date":"2015-07-02T11:15:16","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T15:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=41229"},"modified":"2016-07-14T16:05:50","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T20:05:50","slug":"hyponatremia-water-hydration-myths-070215","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/hyponatremia-water-hydration-myths-070215\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Possible to Drink Too Much Water?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"4
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019ve all heard the \u201crules\u201d of hydration: Drink until your urine is clear; hydrate before<\/em> you get thirsty. But what if those guidelines aren\u2019t quite right? A new statement released this week by a panel of 17 experts suggests that some of these myths might actually put people at risk of overhydration, or hyponatremia.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> When It Might Be Safer to Run Indoors This Summer<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHyponatremia is what happens when the blood becomes very diluted,\u201d says Dr. James Winger, a sports medicine doctor at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. \u201cIn the setting of athletics, people take in more fluid than the body can get rid of, usually in the name of preserving hydration.\u201d By drinking too much H20, the sodium in the body becomes diluted, leading to swelling in the cells.<\/p>\n

Though it can happen to anyone, hyponatremia tends to be more common among endurance athletes<\/a>. According to Winger, one study of ultramarathoners<\/a> found that over half of finishers showed signs of hyponatremia. And another study of Boston Marathon<\/a> finishers showed that 13 percent suffered from the condition by the time they finished.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 10 Ways to Stay Hydrated (That Aren\u2019t Water)<\/a><\/p>\n

Hyponatremia, which can be fatal, can be tough to spot. \u201cSymptoms can be very vague and not unlike symptoms one might experience after running a race or performing any athletic event [including] fatigue, even confusion or exhaustion,\u201d Winger says. However, he points out that it\u2019s also 100 percent preventable \u2014\u00a0as long as you don\u2019t fall prey to these common myths about hydration.<\/p>\n

4 Old School Myths About Hydration <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Myth #1: Feeling thirsty means you\u2019re already dehydrated.
\n<\/strong>Contrary to popular belief, thirst is a good thing, Winger says. In fact, the panel\u2019s report, published<\/a> in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine<\/em>, advises athletes to drink only <\/em>when thirsty to prevent overhydration.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur advice has been to drink when you\u2019re thirsty \u2014 that can be a plan, and it\u2019s the easiest plan there could be.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When you feel thirsty, your body has actually already begun to implement its own water conserving measures. \u201cPeople think it\u2019s too late; you\u2019re already dehydrated. But it\u2019s not too late for anything,\u201d Winger says, noting that running into serious problems related to dehydration is harder than most people think. Drinking only when you feel the need \u2014\u00a0instead of forcing yourself to stop at every water station on the course \u2014\u00a0will keep you sufficiently hydrated, while ensuring you don\u2019t overdo it.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 9 Homemade Sports Drink Recipes<\/a><\/p>\n

Myth #2: Your performance will suffer if you\u2019re not 100% hydrated.
\n<\/strong>Afraid you\u2019ll hit the wall<\/a> if you don\u2019t load up on H2O? Winger notes that it\u2019s natural to get a little dehydrated during athletic events. \u201cThere\u2019s growing evidence that mild to moderate dehydration has no effect on performance in many different sporting endeavors,\u201d Winger notes. \u201cWe need to look at dehydration as a natural part of exercise, not necessarily something to prevent.\u201d Most athletes can safely lose up to three percent of their bodyweight via dehydration before it impacts performance, Winger says. Drinking when your thirsty will help prevent you from entering the danger zone.<\/p>\n

Myth #3: You should drink until your urine is clear.
\n<\/strong>We\u2019ll make this brief: You can stop staring into the toilet bowl. \u201cIn general, urine color is a pretty poor marker of specific or exact urine concentration,\u201d Winger says. \u201cIf you\u2019re trying to dilute your urine, you\u2019re probably putting yourself into an overhydrated state.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Should You Eat Before a Workout?<\/a><\/p>\n

Myth #4: Muscle cramps are a sign of dehydration.
\n<\/strong>When a Charley horse hits, you might be tempted to chug water to ease the pain. However, research shows that muscle cramps<\/a> don\u2019t have much to do with dehydration. \u201cWhat\u2019s been demonstrated is that it has a lot more to do with the fatigued state of the muscle, and muscles that are more fatigued are more likely to cramp,\u201d Winger says. \u201cFatigued states often happen when you\u2019re hot and dehydrated too, so there\u2019s an there overlap that leads to confusion.\u201d While ads for your favorite sports drink<\/a> might tell you to start swigging when you\u2019re feeling depleted, recent studies tells us otherwise, Winger says.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve gone into every long run<\/a> with a strict hydration plan, Winger is basically giving you permission to relax. \u201cOur advice has been to drink when you\u2019re thirsty \u2014 that can be a plan, and it\u2019s the easiest plan there could be,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re done feeling thirsty, stop drinking. It sounds silly, but that\u2019s the simplicity of it and the beauty behind it. We don\u2019t need any sorts of numbers and measurements and weights to tell us how to stay healthy during exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How much water do you really need to drink? Forget what you thought you knew about downing H2O. These are the new rules of hydration. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":41231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7,11],"tags":[31,289,161,251,341,357],"class_list":["post-41229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","category-health-hacks","tag-beverages","tag-exercise","tag-hydration","tag-news","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2running"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}