As a member of Wesleyan Crew, I feel compelled to answer Alison LeBlanc’s Wespeak “Players denied chance to save lives” from the Oct 8 Argus.
I must admit, upon reading it I was downright annoyed. Other members of my team were also less than pleased, as was my coach, who pronounced it “ridiculous.” Please don’t think that because an athlete will not give blood right before a competition, that we aren’t willing to give ever, or that athletes do not donate while they are out of season. And I have certainly never heard from anyone that donating blood would affect me for “three to four months.” If people are saying such things, I must agree with Ms. LeBlanc in calling it fabrication.
Curious for real facts on what athletes can expect in relation to blood donation, I turned to the internet. It didn’t take long, and physsportmed.com informed me that “after donating 450 L (1 U) of whole blood, plasma volume falls 7% to 13%, then recovers within 24 to 48 hours. The hemoglobin level decreases by 10 to 20 g/L. With an adequate iron supply, hemoglobin returns to baseline after 3 to 4 weeks.” The website for Concept 2, a well known maker of rowing machines, says “for a normal healthy person, donating blood is not a problem,” but recommends that users “avoid doing any flat out tests until [their] red cell count is back to normal.” A health article in the Detroit News online archives says much the same thing—low red blood cells can impact peak performance for one to three weeks due to low red blood cell counts.
As you probably know from biology, red blood cells carry oxygen to muscles, allowing aerobic metabolism to supply ATP to power muscle contractions. In endurance sports, sustained muscular output eventually causes a switch to anaerobic metabolism, a less efficient process with the byproduct of lactic acid, because there is not enough oxygen reaching the muscles. Less red blood cells equal less overall power, quicker onset of fatigue and more pain from greater levels of lactic acid.
Not too long after I read Ms. LeBlanc’s wespeak, I ran into Elaine Hensle, one of the organizers of last week’s on campus blood drive. On Wednesday, she told me, people who had been scheduled to donate were turned away because so many people came. Walk-ins were not accepted. She pointed out that in addition to the drive on campus there are often others at local churches and hospitals. In fact, bloodct.org has info for a blood drive at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Tuesday, Oct 26. (The site does not say anything about a particularly “desperate need” for donations, although I would assume that blood is always needed.)
I would encourage all athletes to donate blood, and, of course, to rehydrate afterwards. I believe that many athletes do donate blood, although many endurance athletes may —with good reason!—hesitate to do so three days before competition. And kudos to all those who flooded last week’s drive. I’m proud to count you as Cardinals.
Leave a Reply