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Originally Posted by feelgood
Hmm...I've always thought that drinking too much water or sports drink will limit your blood's ability to carry oxygen to your brain and hence, you "drown".
I've never been a fan of Gatorade, plain water just does it for me.
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If I had to guess, I would say it had something to do with the sodium ion channels in the cells and the cells ability to actually respopnd to an action potential. The sodium is part of the two gradients that the cells respond to (the electrostatic, where positively charged ions seek to move towards negatively charged, and the diffusion gradient where ions seek to spread from areas of higher concentration to areas of lower). The sodium moves between the cell and the extracellular fluid at certain times when an action potential occurs, and then the cell beiefly becomes hyperpolarized and unable to fire again. I would guess that because sodium is so vital at a cellular level that it might have a dangerous effect in certain rare instances. I don't know how blood would be prevented from carrying oxygen to the brain by drinking gatorade. I would guess it had to do with the body's ability to carry it's messages to critical areas.