Waterlogged: The Serious Problem of Overhydration in Endurance Sports

“Drink as much as you can, even before you feel thirsty."  That's been the mantra to athletes and coaches for the past three decades, and bottled water and sports drinks have flourished into billion-dollar industries in the same short time. The problem is that an overhydrated athlete is at a performance disadvantage and at risk of exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH)--a potentially fatal condition.

Dr. Tim Noakes takes you inside the science of athlete hydration for a fascinating look at the human body’s need for water and how it uses the liquids it ingests. He also chronicles the shaky research that reported findings contrary to results in nearly all of Noakes’ extensive and since-confirmed studies.

In Waterlogged, Noakes sets the record straight, exposing the myths surrounding dehydration and presenting up-to-date hydration guidelines for endurance sport and prolonged training activities. Enough with oversold sports drinks and obsessing over water consumption before, during, and after every workout, he says. Time for the facts—and the prevention of any more needless fatalities.

Known throughout the academic community for the high-caliber nature of his scientific insights and work, Dr. Timothy Noakes is Discovery Health professor of exercise and sport science at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He is also director of the Medical Research Council/University of Cape Town Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa in Newlands. Noakes was awarded a doctorate in science (DSc) in 2002, the highest degree awarded by the University of Cape Town. Publishing the first scientific article on exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH) is considered among his greatest achievements.

Noakes is a veteran of more than 70 marathons and ultramarathons, and his book Lore of Running (Human Kinetics, 2003) is considered a classic by serious distance runners. In addition, Noakes is an editorial board member for many international sport science journals and a former president of the South African Sports Medicine Association. In 1996, he presented the prestigious J.B. Wolffe Memorial Lecture at the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting. In 1999 he was elected as one of 22 founding members of the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Science Academy. The National Research Foundation of South Africa considers Noakes an A-rated scientist, and in 2008 he received the Order of Mapungubwe (Silver) from the president of South Africa.

Noakes and his wife, Marilyn Anne, reside in Cape Town.