Too Much Water During Exercising Can Be Fatal

In the latest issue, British Medical Journal (BMJ) reported that drinking too much water during endurance-requiring physical exercise, such as marathon, could lead to fatal conditions or death due to brain damage from the lack of sodium in the body.

Dr. of Bioenergetics Timothy David Noakes at the University of Cape Town in South Africa said in his paper released in BMJ that too much or too less sodium level in blood could cause brain disorder and the most vulnerable group to the symptom included women, soldiers, and athletes.

This symptom first captured medical attention when a female marathoner, during the 2002 Boston race, died after gulping too much spots drink before and while running.

According to the study, beverage manufacturers` advertisement, proposing to have 600 to 1,200 mL sports drink, which is the critical amount of water intake, is preposterous fallacy from the perspective of scientists. Dr. Noakes pointed out that the false guideline from beverage sellers were based on wrong assumption that every people needed the same amount of water intake, irrespective of their physical conditions, sex, kinds of sports they enjoyed, and weather conditions. He proposed, “The best thing is that an individual person takes water depending on how thirsty he or she feels.”