Cory Booker Stands On Senate Floor For Over 25 Hours – What Does That Do To The Body?

Not drinking or eating

Booker had spent the days before his marathon speech making preparations. According to tweets from CNN’s chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju, the senator stopped eating on Friday (March 28th) and stopped drinking water on Sunday (March 30th).

Let’s make one thing clear – this isn’t a sensible idea, even if you’re a generally healthy person. Not only does not eating enough mean that someone’s body doesn’t have the glucose it needs to function normally (not to mention the hanger – I would not be as chill as Booker was), but not drinking much – Booker only occasionally sipped water during his speech – can also be dangerous.

The main side effect is dehydration, which can land someone with headaches, fatigue, dizziness, low blood pressure, and swollen feet, none of which is going to make it easy to stand up and talk for over a day. Another symptom can be muscle cramps, which Booker came to experience.

“I definitely started cramping up from lack of water. So if some of you saw me really drink nothing at the end, that was just trying… to stop my muscles from cramping,” Raju reported Booker having told a group of reporters. “[I]nstead of figuring out how to go bathroom, I ended up, I think really, unfortunately, dehydrating myself[.]”

Not going to the bathroom

No matter how much he might’ve needed to pee, Booker clearly didn’t plan on doing so. His speech may not have been a filibuster, but the New Jersey senator followed many of the rules of one – and that meant not going to the bathroom.

It’s safe to say doctors wouldn’t recommend this – in fact, they’d tell you straight up that it’s a bad idea. “It’s not a good thing,” Dr Rena Malik, a urologist and pelvic surgeon, told the Guardian. “Cory Booker needs a urologist.”

Holding on to your pee for that long probably isn’t going to burst your bladder, but it does mean that bacteria in the bladder and urinary tract that would otherwise be flushed out during urination instead end up sticking around. This can lead to a urinary tract infection, which comes with some very unfun symptoms like needing to pee more frequently, and when going to pee, experiencing a burning sensation.

Not sitting down

We’ve all been told that sitting down for too long isn’t good for us, but it turns out that standing up for ages isn’t all it’s cracked up to be either.

“Your body is going against gravity,” Dr Joseph Herrera, chair of the department of rehabilitation and human performance for the Mount Sinai Health System, told the New York Times. “That puts pressure on the neck, knees, back and hips, most likely leading to soreness as the muscles strain to balance and hold you upright.”

Standing for a long period of time can also cause blood to pool in the legs and feet, and might even lead to someone fainting under certain circumstances. “If dehydration is present the situation is worsened,” explained orthopedic surgeon Dr Richard Nicholas in a blog for UAMS Health. “The low rate of blood return to the heart in these situations results in hypo-perfusion of the brain and at times the fainting spell. Standing at attention, or with one’s knees locked, may amplify the process.”

The bottom line? What Booker did was impressive, but best not to attempt it yourself.