It´s Getting Hot, How Is Your Hydration Strategy?
It’s that time of the year again! Summer is back and it is a MUST to stay well-hydrated in this very hot season.
Hence, that’s what we’ll be covering in this blog – a beginner’s guide to proper hydration. We’ll tackle its importance, how it affects one’s performance & the right amount of water one should drink each day.
The Importance of Hydration
Why is proper hydration such a big deal? Simply because our bodies depend on water to survive. We basically can’t live without it. Every cell, tissue and organ need water to function properly. As a matter of fact, we are made up of 60% water, which means over half of our bodies are ingrained with it.
Thus, staying well-hydrated is incredibly important for your own wellness & health as water is needed for a variety of bodily processes and central to nearly every aspect of health & wellness. Staying hydrated helps regulate the body’s temperature, transport nutrients, maintain the brain’s proper function, affecting one’s physical performance whether for the good or the bad.
Daily Hydration Basics
You may ask, how much water do we even need to consume in one day to maintain proper hydration? Well, this is where it starts to be fussy in the science world. The water we intake does not only come from the normal water we drink. If your diet contains soup, fresh fruit, vegetable & rice, you are getting some of your water through those. Calculating that into the equation would confuse even a PHD in Mathematics. So, allow me to take it simple.
As a ROUGH guideline females should drink 2.5 L of fluids per day, that is 5x500 ML and males should drink about 3L of fluids per day, that is 6x500 ML.
Signs of Taking More or Less Fluids
To guide you through if you are consuming the proper amount, you can look at the signs. The first & most common is your urine. It should be colorless to pale gold. If it's gold, dark gold or anything darker than that, it is a sign that you need to hydrate more.
Too much is also not proper hydration as it can lead to Hyponatremia. The initial symptoms for this are nausea, vomiting, headache, swollen hand, confusion and restlessness. If not dealt with accordingly, it can also lead to coma.
However, if it is necessary to drink more due to extreme conditions, you can use electrolytes to balance out your salt & water intake.
Sports Hydration
On top of that, there is a thing called ‘Sports Hydration’, an addition to your baseline hydration. This is especially necessary for athletes & fitness enthusiasts.
There is a variety of effects that come into play when your body is dehydrated that specifically impacts your athletic performance. Some effects of dehydration include a reduction in the blood volume, decreased skin blood flow, decreased sweat rate, increased core temperature and an increased rate of muscle glycogen use. All of these will slow you down and make you feel heavy and tired, affecting how you carry out your routines & workouts.
So, here’s a guide to help you with your Sports Hydration.
Simple Calculations For Indoor Training, moderate to high intense.
Drink about 0.5-1 l EXTRA FROM THE BASELINE per hour DURING physical activity.
Drink another 0.5-1 l EXTRA FROM BASELINE post your workout
Female that works out 1 hour on Mondays & Wednesdays moderate intensity
Monday & Wednesdays: 2.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 3.5L
Other days 2.5L
Male that works out 1.5 hour on Mondays & Wednesdays HIGH intensity
Monday & Wednesdays: 3 + 1 + 0.5 = 4.5 L total
Other days 3L
So, these are the just a few of the basics you should know about proper hydration & I hope you learned a thing or two. If you want to dig deeper in this topic, click here: https://fitwitheik.com/blog/the-hydration-how-to-guide-for-training-in-the-heat
Stay active in the heat & more importantly stay hydrated!
Cheers,
Eiks
