Q&A: Is it normal to gain weight and be puffy after long, intense exercise?
Posted August 9th, 2007 at 12:30 PM by Adam Jacobs
Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise
It is not normal to be puffy after a long ride or any other form of exercise. Your doctor should check for kidney problems, hormone abnormalities or diabetes. If these tests are normal, you drank way too much during your ride and are lucky that you only suffered from excess fluid retention. You could have developed hyponatremia, a serious condition that can kill you.
Normal healthy kidneys have a limit to how rapidly they can rid your body of excess fluid. If you take in more fluid than your kidneys can clear, fluid accumulates in your blood and dilutes the salt level. Since fluid moves from an area of low salt to high salt, and your brain has far more salt than your blood does; the fluid will move into your brain to causes swelling, seizures and even death.
Hyponatremia virtually never occurs in trained athletes competing at a fast pace. It takes so much concentration to run or cycle very fast that it is almost impossible to take in too much fluid. On the other hand, when you slow down, you have the time to overindulge in fluids and hyponatremia can happen to you. A world-class marathon runner typically takes in about a cup of fluid per hour during a race. On the basis of our present knowledge, it may not be safe for average athletes and casual exercisers to take in more than three to four cups of fluid per hour.
This post is written by Dr. Gabe Mirkin, M.D. and used with permission. Dr. Mirkin is board certified in Sports Medicine and has practiced for over 40 years. He has completed more than 40 marathons and was a talk show host of a nationally-syndicated radio program for about 25 years. For more articles by Dr. Mirkin, please check out: www.DrMirkin.com
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Tags: avergae athletes, brain fluid, casual exercisers, diabetes, excess fluid, exercise, fluid, fluid per hour, healthy kidneys, high salt, hormone abnormalities, hydration, hyponatremia, kidney problems, kidneys, low salt, puffy, risk of death, salt, salt level, seizures, swelling, weight gain, world class marathon runner
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August 9th, 2007 at 4:36 pm