It's time once again to talk about hydration!

Here at Nutrition Energy, we encourage everyone to hydrate all year long, but we up the conversation when the weather gets warmer. We know you know that the heat and humidity rising cause us to lose even more water than normal, so yes, you need to drink more water to stay hydrated and feeling your best over the next few months. But that's not all, especially for you athletes out there! We can't always rely on our thirst cues to stay hydrated since it is inadequate for our body's needs. According to the Department of Physiology in the University of California, San Francisco, thirst has evolved to become a motivated behavior, and in turn has a limit of effectiveness. In addition, when active - especially outdoors and in the hot sun - your body loses not only water, but also other important electrolytes, including sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, that are critical for your cells to function. While all of the electrolytes are important, the main one we're concerned about replacing during exercise is sodium, since it is lost at a higher concentration in your sweat. While water is a great hydrator for our all day drinking needs, we recommend adding sports drinks when your sweat rate is increased and electrolyte and fluid losses are high. Sports drinks replenish not only fluid/water, but also electrolytes (including sodium), and carbohydrates to make sure you are replenishing what you loose and to aid your GI tract in absorbing fluids adequately. By staying properly hydrated before, during, and after your workout, you can reduce the risk of dehydration, heat illness, muscle cramps, and improve performance during the physical activity. No one wants to deal with that!

 

How much and when should I hydrate?

 

You may have heard someone recommended that you drink "8 x 8" fluid oz glasses of water each day. However, everyone's body is different, and one recommendation will not adequately hydrate all. Needs vary based on body size and weight, environmental conditions and activity level. Therefore, your fluid requirements will be different from your neighbor's. So how much should you really be drinking? Here are some guidelines by the American College of Sports Medicine that you can use to tailor to your own body's needs:

 

Daily:

Note: This recommendation is NOT just water, but also the water contained in your food. Most people meet approximately 20% of their needs through food.

 

Before Exercise:

During Exercise:

After Exercise:

Tip: Consume salty snacks or foods including pretzels, tomato juice, soups, or jerky to replace the sodium losses. This will also stimulate your thirst increasing your drive to drink and helping you to rehydrate naturally.

 

Salt Can Help!

 

Salt often gets a bad reputation for its tendency to increase blood pressure and cause fluid retention/swelling. These claims are true when your salt consumption is too high, especially when your produce and fluid intake are inadequate. However, when engaging in physical activity/exercise for over two hours, at high-intensity and/or sweating excessively, it is easy for your sodium levels to become diluted if you drink only plain water. Don't worry, you're in luck, salt supplements are there to help! The below products are just a few examples of the many you can find to help you replace lost sodium and depending on the brand, many contain other electrolytes too. Keep in mind, though, the supplements must be taken with an adequate amount of water to avoid a concentrated saline solution in your gut, which would increase more water loss and we don't want that!

 

Tip: For a tablet that has 180mg sodium, consume with 8 fluid oz water.

            

Salt stick includes sodium, chloride, and potassium. Take o ne capsule -which contains 250mg of sodium -before your 90+ minute workouts in the heat. Wash it down with 10-12 fluid oz of water!

 

Thermotabs provide sodium, chloride and potassium. Since each tablet contains 180mg of sodium, take it with 8 fluid oz of water. You can try taking one with your pre-workout meal, or may need one every 30-45 minutes during long duration sweat sessions in the heat (think marathoners, long course triathletes, all day tournament soccer and tennis players etc)

 

This hydration mix from a brand called Skratch includes sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, carbohydrates, and vitamin C. It comes in several flavors and is free from artificial sweeteners, coloring and synthetic flavoring agents. One serving provides 360mg of sodium, and 21 grams of carbohydrates, so should be mixed with 16 fluid oz of water and consumed just prior to and/or during long duration exercise.

 

Gatorlytes by Gatorade contains 780mg of sodium and 400mg of potassium. You'll want to mix this into a sports drink, since the sodium content is high. We recommend mixing this powder with 20-24 fluid oz of the Gatorade thirst quencher. This product is great for those who sweat a lot and participate in rigorous, long duration activities.