Resumen

ORTEGA PORCEL, Francisco B.; RUIZ RUIZ, Jonatan; CASTILLO GARZON,, Manuel J.  y  GUTIERREZ SAINZ, Angel. Hiponatremia en esfuerzos de ultraresistencia: efectos sobre la salud y el rendimiento. ALAN [online]. 2004, vol.54, n.2, pp.155-164. ISSN 2309-5806.

Dehydration is one of the main problems associated to endurance sports. In order to avoid the negative effects of dehydration athletes tend to drink well above their current needs. The negative effect of drinking too much fluid is hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is defined as a plasma sodium concentration lower than 135mmol/L. Hyponatremia is the first cause of severe illness in ultraendurance sports and has been associated with sudden death. In this article, we analyze the causes, consequences, associated factors, therapeutic treatment and prevention of ultraendurance sports-associated hyponatremia. It is concluded that an adequate fluid ingestion is the best method to avoid hyponatremia. There is not conclusive data about the amount and necessity of sodium supplementation to avoid hyponatremia. However, it might be that it is not necessary to ingest additional sodium to prevent the development of hyponatremia in athletes who only partially replace theirs fluid losses during prolonged exercise.

Palabras clave : Hyponatremia; overhydration; sodium; ultraendurance sports..