NUTRITION

CONSUMING WATER

Why is it important to consume water or sports drinks after games and workouts?


An  unattributed  article from American  Swimming  magazine reprinted with permission.

You can live a few weeks without food, a few days without water, and a few minutes without
oxygen. In other words, aside from oxygen water is the most important substance we put 
into our bodies.

Your body is composed of 55 to 75% water, and blood is almost 80 to 90% water. It is 
involved in almost every body process. A lack of water can lead to both mental and 
physical changes. Water performs the following roles:

It cleans your body by flushing out toxins that are produced through normal living;

It lubricates your joints;

It keeps the skin from drying out,

It keeps the internal organs hydrated;

It controls body temperature.

When your body gets hot, water is lost through the skin in the form of sweat. This is 
a good thing, because as sweat evaporates from your skin your body cools off-like having 
a built-in air conditioner. However, for your built-in air conditioner to keep working 
you need to replenish your body with water.

If you don't drink enough to replace sweat losses, your blood can become thick and your
circulation slows down. This places a strain on the heart. If fluid losses are great 
your body will not have enough water to produce sweat: your body temperature can rise 
to a dangerous level.

While an average adult loses about 4 pints (eight large glasses) of water a day; an 
athlete can lose as much as 4 pints in an hour of hard exercise. If these  fluids 
aren't replaced, dehydration can result.

"Dehydration has a dramatic, negative effect on exercise performance", according to 
Bob Murray, PhD, director of the Gatorade Exercise Physiology Laboratory and Ironman 
triathlete.  "In  fact,  even  mild dehydration as little as a 1 % loss in body  
weight-can  hurt  your performance by causing dizziness, headache, and slower reaction 
times. And it can increase the risk of heat illness."


look for early warning signs

If left untreated. dehydration will get worse and can be deadly. Look for early warning 
signs in yourself and your team-mates  to  prevent dehydration. If you see any of the 
danger signals (see panel), talk to the coach and seek immediate medical attention.

"But won't I feel thirsty if I start to become dehydrated?" The answer Is "not always". 
In many cases exercise actually disrupts the thirst response. When exercising you 
lose a lot of water before you feel thirsty, and you stop feeling thirsty' belore 
vou are fullv rehydrated. Therefore, you can't rely on thirst sensations so take 
care of your need for water. As an athlete you need to push fluids - consciously 
drink more than you feel like drinking - especially  when  you exercise in the heat. 
For these reasons athletes need to drink water or other beverages before, during, 
and after exercise.

Before exercise: drink one to two glasses of fluid  (8 to 16 fluid ounces) 2 hours 
before a practice to make sure you start out well hydrated. Fifteen  minutes  before  
starting exercise, drink another glass (8 ounces).

During exercise: drink 4 to 6 ounces of fluids every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise 
to replace lost fluids and prevent overheating. Gold fluids are best since they are 
absorbed rapidly and cool the body's core faster.

After exercise: it is important to keep drinking fluids after exercise because it 
takes a while for the body to rehydrate. To be sure you have drunk enough, weigh 
yourself before and after exercise. For every pound in weight lost, drink 1 pint 
(16 ounces) of water.

"Don't be fooled into thinking that weight lost during exercise is fat weight - 
fat weight is lost gradually and won't show on the scales for several days," 
cautions Maureen Plombon, past president of the Virginia Dietetic Association 
and a nutrition consultant. Nearly all of the weight lost during exercise is 
lost water.

Dehydration can come on fairly quickly; but it can also be built up over several 
days of exercising without drinking enough fluids. Athletes who exercise intensely 
every day or twice a day; especially in hot or humid conditions, may need to drink 
as much as 1.5 pints (24 fluid ounces) for every pound weight lost to restore their 
water balance.

Monitor vour water loss by using the For these reasons athletes need to  following 
formula:

Pre-exercise weight minus post exercise weight divided by pre-exercise weight, 
times 100 = percent weight loss.

You should have a zero percentage weight loss every day. In other words, your 
weight should not change after exercise. Even a 2 percent weight loss can cause 
a decrease in performance and indicate mild dehydration.

For many purposes, an intake of water alone is sufficient to overcome temporary 
dehydration and water loss, but some athletes, in addidion to water, need to 
replace the electrolytes - sodium and potassium - lost in sweat.

This is especially true during exercise lastong more than an hour. Many 
proprietory sports drinks contain electrolytes.

[Copyright (c) 2000 Watermarks]