Ban on drinking water during sports disappearing
TOKYO, May 14 Kyodo -A practice prevailed at many Japanese schools until about a decade ago of forbidding students to drink water while doing sports, no matter how thirsty they became. ... Takako Ohira, a 36-year-old engineer, recalls how thirsty and weak she became during training as a member of the rhythmic gymnastics club at high school....Ohira said she would often get around the ban by surreptitiously gulping down water when washing her face.
However, increasing awareness about heat-related illnesses, including sunstroke, heat exhaustion, and the most serious of them all, heatstroke, which can lead to heart failure, have led to abandonment of the ''Spartan tradition.''
