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Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015)

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Re: Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015)

#71

Post by ganonm »

eggy wrote: post #53
ganonm wrote: post #20

The chlorinates created when the chlorine reacts with e.g. sweat and urine is what causes red eyes and breathing difficulties. From my experience, stay away from hotel/health club pools. These usually have saunas and jacuzzis which means people jump into the pool afterwards and contaminate it a lot... If you are doing swimming for fitness you will be inhaling a much larger volume of air, plus you will be inhaling air…

Chloramines, or combined chlorine are the by-products of free chlorine reacting with organic material. If there are too many, the pool has been improperly treated, or a huge amount of organics has overwhelmed the system. Chlorinates are things into which you've added or introduced chlorine.

Thanks for this clarification, my knowledge of chemistry is quite poor. I remember the pool manager trying to tell me that 'if anything, the chlorine levels are low'. I suspect this was because any chlorine they added was very rapidly being turned into chloramine by-products.

Re: Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015)

#72

Post by Sean1708 »

ganonm wrote: post #45
nickjj wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say difficulty in breathing, do you mean that feeling that you sometimes get after being in a pool for a long time where if you take a deep breath, it kind of hurts your lungs?

I trained briefly in a health club/gym pool (not full length, had a sauna etc). I would usually find that after swimming in it for any length of time, inhaling fully wouldn't feel like it was providing me with the expected amount of oxygen - hard to describe accurately the feeling but it definitely wasn't just breathlessness from exerting myself. Didn't really hurt or anything. When I swam in a proper fitness pool ho…

Have you ever been tested for asthma? I used to get that feeling all the time when doing rigorous exercise, and I was always under the impression that it was related to my asthma in some way (I could well be wrong though, I can't remember where I learnt this).

Re: Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015)

#73

Post by simias »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #58
simias wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea is that a sudden immersion in cold water when the weather is hot can cause a sudden contraction of your blood vessels which can result in a syncope. At least that's what I've always been told, but I know there's a lot of cargo culting and urban myths surrounding these topics so it's hard to know what's really dangerous and what's just superstition. For instance as a kid I've always been told that it…

Syncope == faint(ing) TIL a new word, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncope_(medicine)

I actually ended up with this word while attempting to translate the French word "hydrocution" but after some more googling it looks like "cold shock response" is the right term: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_shock_response

Re: Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015)

#74

Post by ganonm »

Sean1708 wrote: post #72
ganonm wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I trained briefly in a health club/gym pool (not full length, had a sauna etc). I would usually find that after swimming in it for any length of time, inhaling fully wouldn't feel like it was providing me with the expected amount of oxygen - hard to describe accurately the feeling but it definitely wasn't just breathlessness from exerting myself. Didn't really hurt or anything. When I swam in a proper fitness pool ho…

Have you ever been tested for asthma? I used to get that feeling all the time when doing rigorous exercise, and I was always under the impression that it was related to my asthma in some way (I could well be wrong though, I can't remember where I learnt this).

Never been tested and generally speaking I rarely suffer from chest issues. I have no problem exerting myself in a well maintained pool (or whilst running or cycling), it was just a particular experience I had in a poorly maintained pool.

Re: Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015)

#76

Post by qlm »

stonewhite wrote: post #33

There is a very informative video[1] that also links to scientific papers about this phenomenon and concludes much less sensationally. Essentially, urine is a sterile substance containing %95 pure water and no living cells or bacteria. Other than the asthma inducing effects of chloramine, swimming at a public pool doesn't pose a massive threat to your health. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32y9aYEzzo

I was under the impression that the sterility of urine was a myth.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3957746/

https://www.europeanurology.com/article/S0302-2838(15)00206-...

Re: Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015)

#77

Post by frockington »

Reason077 wrote: post #68
frockington wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I normally get that feeling when exercising on open trails as well or even indoors. It's part of exercising intensely

Perhaps, but it feels much worse in a polluted environment, and takes much longer to go away (lungs still sore/“tight” hours later). I do think it’s strange when I see people jogging along polluted arterial roads for this reason. Especially when there are often traffic-free trails or quiet back roads available nearby!

Interesting to hear it is a notable effect, I've never ran in a polluted environment before. Next time I'm in New York I'll have to give it a try.

Re: Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015)

#78

Post by dvdgsng »

zolthrowaway wrote: post #70
Spooky23 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The people using these pools are generally a lot more conscientious about showering before entering the pool. But you’re now going to face swimmer drama. Violation of some unknown, unspoken rule will result in dirty looks and jerky behavior. I’d rather swim in pee than deal with unfamiliar serious swimmers!

Since you generalized a large group of people, I'm also going to generalize them, too. Most swimmers are very reasonable people just trying to work out. If you ask questions while they're between sets or after their workout, I'm sure they will be willing to talk to you. There are only like 4 rules when swimming. 1) Stay to the right side of the lane. 2) If you're on the wall, stay in the corner of the lane (so people…

1) 2) & 4) are sane, reasonable and common. 3) however is not common at all, in fact I've never come across this behaviour in several years of swimming in multiple places. I just don't see how this would apply if there are not enough lanes for different paces. It does not scale at all. One very fast swimmer could easily dominate a lane, everyone would have to watch out for him/her. When you have more than 4 people on a lane, this is heavily annoying. If everyone applied 4), this wouldn't be a problem at all.

Re: Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015)

#79

Post by inanutshellus »

zolthrowaway wrote: post #70
Spooky23 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The people using these pools are generally a lot more conscientious about showering before entering the pool. But you’re now going to face swimmer drama. Violation of some unknown, unspoken rule will result in dirty looks and jerky behavior. I’d rather swim in pee than deal with unfamiliar serious swimmers!

Since you generalized a large group of people, I'm also going to generalize them, too. Most swimmers are very reasonable people just trying to work out. If you ask questions while they're between sets or after their workout, I'm sure they will be willing to talk to you. There are only like 4 rules when swimming. 1) Stay to the right side of the lane. 2) If you're on the wall, stay in the corner of the lane (so people…

I've never swam for exercise in lanes before, but I always assumed you'd only have one person in a lane at a time. How does it work to have two in one lane? If I'm swimming and someone wants to share my lane, do I swim out, wait for them to get to my side, then swim back when they reach my side? (And if I'm the slower person, I assume I start swimming behind them as soon as they launch off from the edge?)

It'd also be a shock to me to see a second person just simply joining me in my lane. Is there a protocol for joining a lane other than, I guess, flagging me down and asking? Do people normally know how to accept having a second person in their lane?

Funny thing to be asking so many questions about...

Re: Urine, Not Chlorine, Causes Red Eyes in Pools (2015)

#80

Post by Reason077 »

frockington wrote: post #77
Reason077 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but it feels much worse in a polluted environment, and takes much longer to go away (lungs still sore/“tight” hours later). I do think it’s strange when I see people jogging along polluted arterial roads for this reason. Especially when there are often traffic-free trails or quiet back roads available nearby!

Interesting to hear it is a notable effect, I've never ran in a polluted environment before. Next time I'm in New York I'll have to give it a try.

New York is notably less polluted than many European cities. For one thing, there are far less diesel vehicles. The US has long had stricter and more effective vehicle emissions rules than Europe.
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