When water is too much of a good thing
Q Should I be taking water with me on every walk or run the way most people do?
A Water and exercise go together like the ANC and controversy, the EFF and rabble-rousing, or the DA and face-palming. In other words, while one can exist without the other, it is not likely.
Many years ago, a successful coach told me to “drink to thirst”. Now, that may sound like the single-most obvious thing you’ll ever read, but it’s not. An obsession with “hydration” can be harmless for some but fatal for others. But beyond that, it appears drinking to thirst with an underlying medical issue could also be dangerous.
If I look back over my formative years, I would have to credit Bruce Lee for my love of strength and fitness. I was obsessed with him, and quite devastated when, as a little chap, I discovered that he was actually dead. I learnt that it was actually his Way of the Dragon nemesis, Chuck Norris, that was near immortal.
Bruce Lee, whose mysterious death has baffled kung-fu fans for decades, famously said “be water, my friend”, when describing his philosophy. Of course, he wasn’t talking about drinking it but almost 50 years later, it has been revealed that water was central to his untimely demise.
We will refrain from tabloidesque clickbait proclaiming that “water killed Bruce Lee”, but the cause of his death as announced by researchers in a study released in the Clinical Kidney journal, was hyponatraemia, which is a dangerously low concentration of sodium in the blood which can be caused by drinking too much water, and other factors.
It had been reported that Lee died of a cerebral oedema, or swelling in the brain. The autopsy report said this was caused after taking a painkiller. The researchers suggest in the new study that the swelling was brought on by hyponatraemia. They said that it was likely his kidneys were unable to excrete the extra water he consumed.
In the report, researchers mention a few risk factors: he drank excessive amounts of water, he used cannabis which increased his thirst, he had a history of fighting-related kidney injuries, alcohol intake and the fact that at the time of his death, he was on a juicebased diet.
I had heard of the dangers of uncontrolled water intake before, and so after digging a little, found an interesting article called “Exercise-associated Hyponatraemia: The (not so salty) truth”, on the I-Run-Far website. The article includes anecdotes of runners drinking too much water during races, collapsing, falling into a coma and dying.
A sentence in the article jumped out: “Honestly, it should be said that, already in 1985, life-threatening cases of ‘water intoxication’ were starting to crop up at the Comrades Marathon, including runners with seizures and hospitalisations. Fortunately, all survived.”
WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR BODY, REMEMBER THIS: EVERYTHING IN MODERATION
None of this should be misconstrued as advice to stop drinking water. A study called “Drinking strategies: Planned drinking versus drinking to thirst”, published in Sports Medicine, says that sometimes drinking to thirst is appropriate, while in other circumstances there is a need for pre-planned drinking at sporting events.
“When consuming fluid ad libitum or to thirst, or if consuming fluid according to a predetermined programme, it is important to never consume so much fluid that weight is gained.” That’s a useful barometer.
Should you be taking water with you on every walk or run? You’re an adult so you can decide for yourself. However, realise that even though it does seem rare, the old saying of “too much of a good thing” rings true
even for the most important compound to sustain life.
And if we’re going to go down the rabbit hole and consider the most important element to sustain life, oxygen, it turns out that excessive levels of administered oxygen can cause a host of complications, the most notable being death.
I know SA is like a movie, and that we’re all adrenaline junkies going at a million miles an hour needing our drama fix, but when it comes to your body, remember this: everything in moderation.