Ever heard of hyponatremia? Most people haven’t – which is unfortunately, since it’s a fairly common disorder that’s potentially quite dangerous. Hyponatremia occurs when the sodium concentration in your serum is lower than it should be. Put simpler: your body needs more salt.
While hyponatremia is associated with some illnesses, there are several ways a healthy person can indirectly cause it for themselves:
- Drinking too much water during heavy sweating. You must replace the salt as well as the fluids you’re losing when you sweat. This is why sports drinks including sodium as an ingredient are so important, especially if you’re working out hard or competing.
- Fasting for extended periods on liquids or juices.
- Chronically inadequate sodium intake. Yes, despite everything you hear about the evils of salt, it’s a mineral your body needs in certain amounts.
The symptoms of hyponatremia include nausea, vomiting, headaches, appetite loss, mental confusion or disorientation, muscle cramps. These symptoms are often confused with those of dehydration, causing people to drink more fluids, thus making the problem worse. In extreme cases, hyponatremia can cause comas, seizures and even death, though this is rare.
Preventing hyponatremia
Fortunately, hyponatremia is quite preventable. When you’re exerting yourself enough to sweat significantly (whether you’re mowing the lawn or playing pro football), drink sports drinks containing sodium rather than plain water during and after your exertion. If that’s not handy, some sodas contain sodium, though usually not much. Another quick workaround: pour a little salt in your hand, lick it up, and then drink water.
Don’t ban salt from your diet. Some people, hearing salt causes problems in some people with certain conditions, avoid salt to the extreme. This is not healthy. Avoiding excess salt is a great idea, but you definitely need some salt in your diet. Talk to your doctor or do your own research to get an idea of the correct amount of salt you should maintain in your diet.
When you have an endurance event coming up, assuming you do not have high blood pressure, increase your sodium intake level for several days beforehand. It’s a good idea to work with a sports medicine doctor on this particular plan of action, since excessive salt can create blood pressure issues.
When exerting, avoid replacing more fluid than you actually lost. If you weigh on an accurate, reliable scale right after an exertion, your body weight should be lower by the amount of fluid you lost in sweating. If you lost eight ounces, that’s how much water you should drink – no more.
