It's a Saturday night and I'm gearing up for a long run for my marathon training. I don't allow myself to venture anywhere that serves alcoholic beverages, which could have me upchucking by mile four. I could order water (on the rocks), but that would just be a brutal tease.
If there is one thing I try to avoid while logging miles, it is dehydration.
The first indication of dehydration is thirst. Water is important for carrying both oxygen and nutrients to cells. In addition, we need water to transport waste products out of the body.
Yet dehydration can occur without exercise and, in fact, happens all the time. Even on a casual, inactive day, there is plenty of water loss. Through kidney filtration, which creates urine output, we lose 1.5 liters (6 cups) per day. In addition, another liter (3 to 4 cups) is lost through the skin and during respiration. These processes are why we should be guzzling 7 to 8 glasses per day to avoid dehydration.
Drinking water can be rather bland. However, there are a few ways to attain adequate hydration daily.
For some, it helps to drink with a straw or keep their water ice-cold. I like to put a capful or two of lemon juice into my glass with two or three packets of Equal. It has the taste of lemonade without all the sugar and calories, and most importantly, it makes me want to drink water more often.
Try eating foods that have high water content such as fruits, vegetables and soups (clear broth, not creamy). Avoid large quantities of alcohol and caffeine to prevent their diuretic effect, or drink one glass of water between each beer.
Carry a water bottle throughout the day, filling it up after each class. If this causes sudden urges to pee while sitting in your lectures, that is fabulous. This means you are staying hydrated, and you get to take a break from pretending to pay attention in class.
You can tell whether you are dehydrated by checking your urine color on a daily basis. Because loss of body fluid increases the water-conserving anti-diuretic hormone, the urine becomes heavily concentrated with solutes yet low in volume. So if you notice a yellow to dark yellow color, drink some more water. A urine color that is clear or pale yellow shows of adequate hydration. Also, if you pee frequently, you are doing a good job at staying hydrated.
Whether you are a casual exerciser or an athlete, water is extremely vital in your daily workout. As you exercise, your body heat rises and you begin to sweat. Sweat causes fluid loss in an effort to keep the body cool under strenuous conditions. The cardiovascular system goes into overdrive, as the heart has to work harder. Heart rate can increase as much as eight beats per minute for every liter of sweat loss.
A liter of sweat can be lost in just 30 minutes of exercise. If the body cannot create an effective internal cooling system and manageable heart rate, symptoms of dehydration occur, including fatigue, impaired concentration, muscle cramping, increased body temperature, headache, dizziness, nausea, heat stroke and heart attack in severe cases.
So how much water is enough for exercise?
Twenty minutes before a workout, try to consume 13 to 20 ounces (about 2 cups) of water. During the workout, aim for 4 to 6 ounces of water every 15 to 20 minutes. After exercise, it is important to drink the amount of fluid you lost and to provide your body additional sips to help replace cellular body water and aid the kidneys in forming urine.
Weighing yourself before and after a workout indicates how much fluid you lost. One pound lost means you should drink two 8-ounce glasses of water.
What about sports drinks?
It is a basic rule of thumb that a workout of more than 60 minutes could benefit from a sports drink. The longer duration requires replacement of both water and electrolytes. For shorter workouts, sports drinks provide extra calories you probably don't need, so water would be your best bet.
However, a note to endurance athletes: The sports drink can help prevent hyponatremia, or the dilution of blood sodium (largely lost during exercise) that occurs if there is too much plain water consumption.
