This is the first article from our new Sports Nutritionist, Katie Rhodes. As the weather gets hotter, it becomes more & more important to monitor hydration if you are an active person.
Hydration
“Why is hydration important for me?”
The more I talk with athletes, the more I realize how little they know about hydrating themselves properly. You drink when you are thirsty, when you work out, when trainers/coaches tell you to, and you usually drink what you see others drinking or what you are told to drink. But do you really know why it is so important? In this month’s review my goal is to make you, the athlete, a believer in hydrating yourself for health and better performance.
Having the right balance of fluids in your body is essential to prevent dehydration, overhydration, and overheating. It is also essential in order for your body’s metabolism to function at its best.
• Your body is made up of 55-60% water
• Around 70% of your muscles are made up of water, one of the reasons proper hydration is important for athletes.
Protein and carbohydrate concentration in muscles and electrolyte content in your body affect how much water you need. Since athletes should consume greater amounts of carbohydrate than non-athletes, maintain adequate protein needs, and work to keep their electrolytes in balance, fluids are crucial. This is because the greater these components are in your body and muscles, the more fluids you need to allow your body to function accordingly.
Dehydration can occur when fluids are not replaced when they are lost through excretion, sweat, and respiration. Failing to maintain water balance has many consequences including:
• cramps
• heat exhaustion
• heat stroke
• physiological changes that affect performance
Although not common, athletes can overhydrate. Overhydration leads to hyponatremia, when you have low sodium content in your body. This electrolyte balance is crucial for your nervous system and muscles to function and when the salt balance is diluted by water, water intoxication can take place.
Preventing dehydration and overhydration is critical to top athletic performance and can be prevented by knowing your individual hydration needs.
• Look at your urine color. If it is a very pale yellow color of lemonade, then you are hydrated.
• Weighing yourself before and after exercise can help you determine how much fluid you lose during activity. Replacing 16 ounces of fluid with every pound lost while exercising is a good rule of thumb.
• If you are exercising at high intensity for an hour or more, fluids + carbohydrate or fluids that include carbohydrates are recommended to hydrate and replace glycogen stores (these stores provide you the energy to perform).
• If consuming sports drinks or food during this intensity, be sure it contains some sodium.
A Sports Nutritionist can help you assess how much fluid you should consume and when, making this a more reliable way to plan hydration since everyone has individual needs.
So where do you go from here?
• Be aware of how much you drink.
• Figure out your sweat loss per hour and replace fluids during exercise.
• Sports drinks are great for intense activity lasting an hour or more.
• Eat your fluids. Fruits and vegetables are a source of fluid and they offer a host of other benefits.
If you would like to schedule a personal nutrition visit with Katie, call 501-539-3278 or email her: katie@arsportsperformance.com
Friday, May 7, 2010
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3 comments:
One of the endocrine system's most important hormones is insulin, which plays a critical role in how your body uses food. When you eat, your digestive system breaks food down into glucose, and the glucose circulates in your bloodstream (where it's often referred to as blood sugar). In response to the rise in glucose after a meal, the pancreas releases surges of insulin, whose job is to clean the glucose from the blood. Insulin directs some of the glucose to the body's cells, which use it for energy. Some of the glucose is diverted to the liver, where it's converted into glycogen (stored glucose) for later use by the muscles. Insulin then helps turn any leftover glucose into fatty acids and stores them in fat cells, where they can be tapped later for fuel.
Thanks so much for mentioning weighing the athlete before and after the activity to measure hydration. So often this is overlooked by coaches and it is probably the second easist way to know if you are dehydrated - urine color being the first. Hydration is key not only to performance but also the prevenion of injuries. Since our bodies are mostly water, our ligaments, tendons, and muscles need proper hydration levels to function properly. While the "experts" still say that everyone needs 8 glasses of water a day, I believe that everyone is different based on their activity level. If you are an athlete who is in school most of the day and then training after school, you need to make sure you are hydrating throughout the day. Get up in the morning and have a glass of water with some lemon juice. Then take a water bottle to school and sip it until you are ready for practice. If it's especially warm on your training day, you'll want get a sports drink for after practice. Make sure you stay hydrated until bedtime and then start over the next day. Please visit www.preventsportsinjury.com for more information. And remember You Can Perfrom 100%.
P. Xtreme- You’re right, glucose and glycogen stores are the fuel that provide us with energy for our brain and muscles-something that is especially important for athletes. Carbohydrates are the most important component of an athlete's food intake to maintain blood sugar and glycogen stores. Carbohydrates and its importance is my topic for June, so stick around!
Sam H- Great post! I agree, each athlete has different fluid needs and everyone should make sure that they are hydrated daily for top performance and health. Trial and error is the best way to see how much fluid works best with your schedule to prevent dehydration. Staying hydrated does take effort, but once on a schedule it gets much easier to stick with. Great info!
I am very excited to start at ASPC and love hearing your comments! I will be posting a new Nutrition Review each month and will be leaving copies at ASPC with BJ.
Katie Rhodes
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