Article Assignment #2

Sweating it out- Deborah Sanborn

Rating: ***1/2

Dehydration we all know is absolutely no joke. It can be brutal for the victim of dehydration but, now we know that the opposite extremity of dehydration is just as brutal as dehydration itself. This is called hyponatremia.

            This article “Sweating it Out” written by Deborah Sanborn talks about the opposite extremity of dehydration now known as hyponatremia which is defined as too much fluids in the human body or “water intoxication”. Some might wonder why this is a problem. Hyponatremia dilutes the salt content in the blood and can cause swelling of the brain and death. As of right now, hyponatremia seems to be hitting athletes the hardest says the American College of Sports Medicine. Most hyponatremia cases are caused by the average human inability to decipher whether they are getting enough water are too little water. One tip Dr. Larry Kenney recommends that you should drink enough water to match your sweat loss. One way to do this is by weighing yourself before and after your physical activity. If you have lost immediate weight you know you must drink water to replenish that lost water.

            This article strongly affects me because I consider myself to be a person above the average physical activity per day percentage. Saying this hydration is a strong key for me being able to stay this active for long periods of time and throughout my life. I will need to pay more attention to the amount of water I lose before and after my exercise periods. This helps me recall all the times I didn’t drink water while exercising or drank too much water while exercising and wonder how far I could’ve been from dehydration and hyponatremia. I learnt that too much water could actually be bad for our bodies which surprised me quite a lot. As well as the various tips and trick to check if you are dehydrated or hyponathermic. This article inspires me in the sense that I feel like not too many people know about hyponatremia and it can become a knowledge of mine that I will be able to share to others to help save lives. This will now definitely change my behavior because I do not want be victimized by this awful condition and will be more cautious with my water intake during my physical activities as well as my relaxing time.

I always knew dehydration is no joke, now i know the complete extremity called hyponatremia is equally as severe and i know now to take extra precautions when performing physical activity in any form.

Citation

Sanborn, Deborah. “Sweating it Out” OUTPOST. November, December 2005 Matt Robinson: 14. Print

Josh Thomas