Before His 25-Hour Speech, Booker Fasted and Dehydrated

A lot of work went into Sen. Cory Booker's 25-hour speech that ended Tuesday night on the Senate floor: He brought with him 1,164 pages of prepared material to draw from. The physical preparation was simple: "I think I stopped eating on Friday, and then to stop drinking the night before I started on Monday," he said afterward, the Hill reports. "And that had its benefits, and it had its really downsides." Booker said he didn't want his doctor to be irked at him, and other physicians did point out the risks. Still, said Dr. Santina Wheat, a family medicine doctor in Illinois, "It's an amazing physical feat." It involved:

• No bathroom breaks: Booker did not once leave the floor to go to the bathroom, which he credited to the perhaps unwise dehydration. Wheat said other doctors messaged her about whether he was wearing a diaper, per the New York Times. The senator's communications director told NPR that Booker was not wearing a diaper or a catheter. The senator did sip water from water glasses near his desk occasionally.
• The drawbacks: There's a risk of developing kidney stones or urinary tract infections when someone goes so long without going to the bathroom. Also, dehydration can make people feel even more fatigued, cause dry mouth, and make standing for long more difficult, said Dr. Joseph Herrera of the Mount Sinai Health System. For Booker, the biggest immediate problem was cramps. "That was the biggest thing I was fighting," he said, "was that different muscle groups are starting to really cramp up. And, and every once a while I had, like, a spasm."

• Standing for 25 hours: Mindful of Senate rules, Booker asked a page to take away his chair so he wouldn't be tempted to sit, per USA Today. Wearing black tennis shoes, he rocked back and forth on his feet at times and leaning lightly on his desk.
• The drawbacks: "Your body is going against gravity," Herrera said, which places pressure on the neck, knees, back, and hips. Muscles straining to keep the body upright can become sore. Also, blood pools toward the bottom of your body once a person has been standing for hours, keeping blood from reaching the heart as easily, Wheat said.
• Mental strain: While senators in the past have read from the phone book or Green Eggs and Ham while holding the floor for hours, Booker stayed on message, per NBC News: the harm he said President Trump's administration is doing to the country.
• The drawbacks: Pulling an all-nighter, as well as being dehydrated and not getting enough nutrients, makes keeping such mental focus even tougher. People can have trouble concentrating, become dizzy, or struggle with muscle coordination.
• Countering all the above: There's research suggesting exhaustion can be trumped by motivation, per the Times. That could have been the secret to Booker's achievement, said Jennifer Heisz, an associate professor at McMaster University. He rarely seemed tired, and his voice remained strong and his logic clear till the end. "When it's very meaningful and purposeful, it could potentially override feelings of fatigue," Heisz said.

(More Cory Booker stories.)