Hydration Re-Visited, By: Jayson Hunter
Guidelines to protect yourself or your athletes
Athletes tend to avoid drinking enough fluids during exercise either because of physiological reasons or psychological reasons. Athletes lose considerably a larger amount of fluid through sweat than they replace with fluids. This type of dehydration is called voluntary dehydration. The reasons for this type of dehydration can be an uncomfortable sensation of fluid in your stomach, your thirst mechanisms are turned off, no readily available beverages to drink, or lack of education. There are all kinds of reasons why athletes don’t drink as much as they should. The job of the athlete is to identify those reasons and correct them for the sake of your performance and health.
Athletes are usually clueless about how much sweat they lose and much they actually drink. The effects of water loss on athletic performance can start with as little as 2% of lost bodyweight. This chart below shows just how quickly someone can get in trouble with dehydration.
A 3% decrease in bodyweight due to fluid loss is 4.5# in a 150# person. This loss results in impaired performance. A 5% decrease in bodyweight due to fluid loss is 7.5# in a 150# person. This loss results in heat cramps, chills, nausea, clammy skin, rapid pulse, and 20-30% decrease in endurance capacity.
There have been studies conducted that show athletes may only replace 29% of the fluid that they lost during practice or a game. One problem may be that water can sometimes shut off the osmotic drive (thirst mechanisms) that you get for drinking. As little as 1 pint of water can turn this mechanism off even though you may have lost 4 pints of fluid. Also, this doesn’t help replace the electrolytes that were lost through the sweat. Average sodium concentration in sweat is around 3.6 grams of sodium per liter of sweat. NFL lineman have been known to lose 13gms of sodium in one 2.5 hour practice. That is about 3.5 liters of fluid lost if he is an average sweater, which means he probably lost around 8 pounds of bodyweight. Cramp prone athletes may lose 6 grams of sodium per liter of fluid. As you can see water may be only part of the answer to restoring proper hydration to your body. Somehow you have to replace the sodium, potassium and other electrolytes that were lost as well as the fluid. New research has shown us that drinking flavored water or sport drinks has proven to be a better hydrator than just plain water. The reasons for this is that an athlete will be more likely to drink a fluid and continue to drink when it tastes good or it has a flavor to it. Sport drinks are superior to flavored water because they provide the electrolytes as well as taste good. Sport drinks are also less likely to shut off the thirst mechanisms because it provides low amounts of sodium, which may actually elicit a thirst response. For example if you eat a bowl of canned soup, are you thirsty after eating? The sodium in the soup actually turns on the thirst mechanisms and many believe that sports drinks can do the same thing. Don’t get me wrong I encourage the consumption of plain water throughout the day, but it may not be the best choice during exercise or competition to replace the lost electrolytes.
One topic that was very popular but has kind of died down a little is the consumption of pickle juice to treat dehydration. Some teams and players tried it out because in theory you want to replace sodium losses and pickle juice contains high amounts of sodium. Well, the problem is that sodium is only one part of the equation. You are forgetting about the other electrolytes that are needed as well as just the fluid itself. It is unlikely that someone would be able to drink enough pickle juice to replace the fluid ounces that were lost. In rare cases there are some athletes that are highly prone to whole body cramping or are very salty sweaters. These athletes may need a little more sodium than the average athlete so rather than drinking pickle juice you can add a pinch of salt to your sports drink or eat pretzels for snacks, V-8 or tomato juice with meals. Even adding a little salt to your meals can help provide the amount of sodium your body needs. One way to try and determine what type of sweater you are is to pay attention when you sweat. Do you have salt lines or rings on your body? Do your eyes burn when sweat gets into them? Then maybe you need a little more salt in your diet. Just remember that fluid and the other electrolytes are just as important in proper hydration as sodium. This is why pickle juice isn’t a good substitute for hydration.
How do you know if you are getting enough fluid?
A great way to determine your hydration status is to weigh yourself before practice and weigh yourself after practice. For every one pound of bodyweight lost you need to drink 20-24oz of fluid preferably a sports drink that is going to replace those electrolytes. Ideally you want to increase your drinking during practice to the point where you can replace 80% of the lost bodyweight with fluids during practice. Drink 20oz within 60 minutes of exercise, then drink 4-8oz every 15 min during exercise and then drink 20-24oz of fluid per pound of bodyweight lost after practice. Gradually try to increase the amount you drink during practice even when you are not thirsty so that hopefully you only lose maybe 1 pound during practice. Some tips to drink more frequently is to put the fluid in a squeeze bottle so that you can have it handy or hang on to it depending on the sport you participate in. Athletes also tend to drink more when the fluid is chilled rather than room temperature. Drinking small amounts more frequently minimizes stomach discomfort and allows you to stay adequately hydrated.
As an athlete you need to take a more important look at your hydration practices because it only takes 1-2% dehydration to affect your performance. For some this could be as little as 3# of lost bodyweight. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day and replacing fluids at practice with a sports drink can be a very vital tool to the success in your sport. Now that you have the information you need to stay properly hydrated go get a big glass of some type of fluid and enjoy.
