Athletic Anemia - Some useful links
- Jamie Ramsay
- Oct 11, 2016
- 2 min read
I recently had to go for a medical check-up to assess my fitness before an event. The physical check-up went swimmingly with the doctor declaring I was in great health (resting heart rate of 41BPM!). The next stage was the blood works and this is where some abnormalities were discovered. Although it was luckily nothing serious, it did make me realise that even when we think we are in tip top health there may be things worth checking out and having a regular human MOT is probably not a bad thing...
The main abnormality for me was my iron levels. This came as a little bit of a shock to me as I have never been diagnosed with an iron deficiency before and don't really display any of the symptoms. Then someone told me about how endurance athletes can be prone to something known as Athletic Anemia. I decided to look into this a little more! As I am not a doctor I am going to refer you to a few key articles I have sourced online that help explain about anemia from an athletic point of view.
What are the symptoms of Anemia?
The internet will tell you that anemia can cause the following:
Easy fatigue and loss of energy.
Unusually rapid heart beat, particularly with exercise.
Shortness of breath and headache, particularly with exercise.
Difficulty concentrating.
Dizziness.
Pale skin.
Leg cramps.
Insomnia.
How to get more iron into your diet naturally?
TrainPeaks supplied the following tips about how to naturally add more iron into your diet:
"Dietary Guidelines to Increase Iron Intake and Absorption:
Eat lean meats
Be creative about adding high Vitamin C foods to your non-heme iron foods (add mandarin oranges, green peppers, and tomato’s to your salad of dark green vegetables)
Use a cast iron pot (a little of the iron from the pot/pan ends up in the food!)
Eat foods that are higher in iron.
Reduce coffee, tea, and alcohol intake"
They also just the following as a good list of Iron rich food: http://tinyurl.com/l7kkg8
Articles That may be of interest
BreakingMuscle.com - https://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/what-athletes-need-to-know-about-iron-deficiency
Hospital for Special Surgery - https://www.hss.edu/athletic_anemia.pdf
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