Feeling nauseous after working out and even throwing up is a problem that affects a considerable number of people. Why do some people throw up after a workout? This one question such people always ask.
Every doctor will advise you to exercise regularly to maintain good health. While exercises are meant to work your body and keep fit, it feels extremely awkward to feel nauseous after a workout.
Why do I throw up after a workout.
Are you a victim of this? I guess you must be very worried as you cannot tell where nausea comes from after intensive physical activities. However, this is a temporary feeling that disappears once your body is relaxed. You don’t have to get worked out because of this.
According to Stack.com, intense physical activities come along with numerous body changes such as a change in blood flow and increase in lactate levels among others. However, these metabolic activities go back to normal once your body is at rest. Could be these activities be the cause of vomiting after vigorous exercises?
Exercise-induced nausea, as some people call it, is common to many people. Therefore, you don’t have to imagine that you are alone in this.
Although puking after a workout is common, very few people know why it happens. Luckily, today, we will explore various facts on what causes throwing up from exercising.
Gym instructors warn that vomiting after a workout is mainly attributed to the overall well-being of your body. It depends on what you eat as well as your emotional state.
Eating the right food, therefore, is a determining factor of whether you are going to throw out after rigorous physical activities. Furthermore, being calm and relaxed would also determine how your body behaves after exercises.
Commonly, nausea after exercise is attributed to the following factors:
The blood flow patterns are likely to change when one engages in rigorous physical activities. As you know, muscles play a very essential role during exercises and workouts. To do this, these muscles require a lot of energy.
Biologically, energy formation requires a lot of oxygen. This oxygen is supplied by blood. This oxygen facilitates the breakdown of food to give out the energy required during a workout. What does this tell you? Blood flow will have to change direction to meet this high demand for oxygen.
This only means one thing; very little blood flows into the stomach and intestines., Consequently, digestion is completely inhibited, or slowed down. You can imagine what would happen for someone who had just taken a meal before a workout. Vomiting.
If food stays in the stomach for long without digestion taking place, the stomach rejects it. This is what happens during exercises and workouts. As a result, you will hear people complain of throwing up after running.
How do you stop this? Firstly, avoid taking heavy meals short before a workout. If you have to do it, just take a light meal. It is, however, advisable to take a lot of water rather than food before engaging in any workout.
During a rigorous activity, there is a lot of metabolisms to produce energy. This increased energy metabolism gives rise to lactate as a byproduct. Lactate causes some burning in your body during a workout session. Although lactate helps in creating more energy, it can make someone nausea.
There are times when your muscles will produce excess lactate. According to Self.com, feeling nauseated after your workout is largely attributed to the excess production of lactate. The excess lactate is not utilized in the production of energy but accumulates in the blood.
If you continue exercising, your body reaches lactate threshold. This is the maximum amount of lactate that can be handled by one’s body. How is lactate related to vomiting after a workout?
A rise in lactate levels in the blood leads to a rise in acidity level. Your brain senses this rising acidic environment. Being toxic, the body regulates the acidity level by inducing vomiting. This is one of the common explanations for getting nauseous after working out.
There are times when people work out on an empty stomach. Are you one of them? This is common in the early morning hours. In such a case, you expect your body to break down the small amount of glucose available in the body.
As a result, the blood sugar levels go down. According to Wikipedia.org, this is due to the fact that most anaerobic routines drain the body’s stored energy. Consequently, one feels dizzy and nauseated. One also feels sickly short after a workout.
This can, however, be managed through eating a light meal before exercising. You shouldn’t take fatty and heavy foods. Instead, take snacks that are rich in proteins and carbohydrates. These would be broken down during exercises, thus preventing lowering of blood sugar levels.
If you are planning to go for a workout, then check what you eat and drink. Some people have a habit of taking caffeinated beverages, alcohol and sports drinks. These are likely to cause a stomach upset.
Livestrong.com notes that other foods that might induce nausea after exercises include dairy products, spicy foods, fructose, greasy foods and sweeteners among others. Some energy drinks are also likely to cause the same problem
If the above foods have to be taken, then make sure that you take them at least one hour before a workout. However, it is always advisable to take snacks instead of whole foods. Instead of energy drinks, drink plain water. You can also dilute these energy drinks with some water.
In other cases, the foods taken might adversely react with your stomach. This might be due to an allergic reaction. In such a case, nausea you are witnessing is simply an allergic reaction from the food taken.
Throwing up after exercise is, to some extent, attributed to general body dehydration. Generally, workouts come along with excessive sweating. It is, in this case, advisable to take plenty of water before exercising.
Medically, dehydration is a major cause of nausea, before and after exercises. This nausea comes along with headaches. This can, however, be managed through keeping hydrated. It is advisable to take some water as your exercise.
When we talk about keeping hydrated, some people tend to overdo it. This will affect you if you take too much water or other fluids before, during and after a workout. Alongside nausea, Overhydration can also cause muscle tremors, diarrhea and confusion.
Therefore, hydration does not mean drinking too much. In fact, you should take little water every now and then. It is believed that too much water causes hyponatremia. This is a condition where electrolyte levels in the body are highly diluted. As a result, one is likely to throw up after a workout.
Have you ever heard of motion sickness? This is a mysterious condition where what is sensed by the inner ear is different from what is seen with the eyes. It occurs to many people during rigorous workouts. It can also occur when traveling by train, boat, car or airplane.
You can easily tell if are having motion sickness. One starts by feeling uneasy. This uneasiness then becomes a cold sweat. One starts feeling dizzy and nausea follows. If you are having this condition, feeling nauseous after working out is inevitable.
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