Hydration
The process of replacing the amount of water lost in your body is called Hydration. A human body contains 55% water and infants contains 75% which is higher than in adults.
Often during exercise, your body loses water faster than you can recharge it. It is necessary to drink plenty of fluids during the day before you take part in exercise and even in the preceding days if you are competing. It is really important to drink fluids after exercise to replace the lost amount of fluids.
- Everyone is different and a simple way of ensuring proper hydration is drinking fluids according to sweat rate.
one must drink the same amount of water that is lost during your workout.
- This is increasingly crucial when you factor climate into your hydration replacement plan as a hot climate along with humidity causes you to sweat more and lose more water.
THE SWEAT RATE
The sweat rate is nothing but an estimate of the amount of fluid lost through sweating during a rigorous physical activity session. and why do you need to monitor fluid loss is because it can turn into a medical emergency in no time.
fluid loss = low volume of blood = low heart output = low blood flow to the organs = shock
To calculate sweat rate
1. Go for a pee and then record your body weight, ideally with no clothes on (that’s A).
2. Perform your session (or event) and record exactly how much you drank. This is easy if you drink from a single bottle or two; simply weigh your bottles before you ride (that’s X) and after (that’s Y) and record the difference (that’s Z). 1 gram = 1 milliliter.*
*Make sure all units are in kg or liters
3. After exercise, towel yourself dry and then record your weight (that’s B). Again no clothes on are best, as your clothes will hold some sweat.
4. Now subtract your post-exercise weight (B) from your pre-exercise weight (A) to get the weight you lost during the session.
Weight lost (C) = A-B
5. Also subtract the weight of the bottle(s) before (X) and after (Y) to obtain the amount you consumed (Z).
Volume consumed (Z) = X-Y
6. You can now calculate your sweat rate…
(C+Z) / time.
WATER RECOVERY RATE
You should aim to recover the same amount of sweat lost with water at a rate of:
1kg body weight: Approximately 1 litre of fluid.
(OR)
If you are not sure about your weight before and after the workout, a normal hydration guide is to drink then:
500ml of water: Before exercise (30 minutes before)
125 – 250ml : During exercise (every 15 minutes)
1000ml of water : After exercise
Signs of dehydration
Dehydration is caused by the lack of salts and water loss from the body.
In order to keep our hydration level good, you need to ensure that the amount of water you take in should exceed the amount of water leaving the body. If you fail to maintain the hydration level of your body. Normal symptoms of dehydration are seen as follows :
- Yellow, dark-colored urine and less amount of urine excretion, pain in urination.
- Headache, Rapid Pulse rate
- Muscle cramps, lethargy
Liquids to avoid
Although hydration is important for exercise, you must be aware of the different kinds of liquids and their amount of consumption in the body.
Avoid liquids like coffee and alcohol since they a cause dehydration
Risk of Overhydration
If you are worried about not getting enough fluids in your body you should also worry about getting more than required amounts too. Drinking excess amounts of water, (more than 5 liters daily), without replacing salts is as dangerous as getting dehydrated.
Overhydration can dilute sodium concentration in the bloodstream; this usually leads to vomiting, headaches, and confusion—something that would be best avoided.
Although the risk of overhydration is increasing in some cases- like in a hot climate. As long as you practice moderation with your drinking habits and avoid more than 5 liters, your body will remain sufficiently hydrated in a hot climate.
