* It eliminates toxins and waste products. * It regulates body temperature.
* It is used for energy production.
There is not one system in the entire body that does not depend on water and require hydration! It is recommended that the average individual take in at least 8 glasses of water a day...that figure is raised to 10 glasses during hot days or in hot climates.
Sports and Hydration
I witnessed a disturbing incident a few years ago when a friend of mine collapsed on a hockey rink and started shaking uncontrollably. When the EMS unit arrived on the scene, they told us he was dehydrated. This was the cause for his collapse. Apparently he drank four sodas right before the game.
Beverages with caffeine, such as soft drinks, coffee, tea, act as diuretics and increase urination and this leads to dehydration. After four sodas, hard exercise, and ignoring the importance of hydration, his body just shut down. For best performance and for your safety, these beverages should be avoided.
What happens during exercise?
Heat is generated as a by-product of your working muscles. With intense, short duration events, the heat production can be greater than 100 times the production at rest. As body heat rises, body temperature and heart rate also rise. As the exercise continues, the body is limited in transferring heat from the muscles to the skin surface. The body will require hydration.
Exercising in hot, dry climates presents additional risks to dehydration. Body fluids will evaporate so rapidly so that you may not notice any symptoms. In humid climates, when your moisture increases, sweat decreases. When your sweating rate decreases, your body temperature rises and you will fatigue more easily and your risk of heat injury is greater.
What is heat injury?
Heat injuries include heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke.
Heat cramps are severe muscle spasms resulting from heavy sweating.
Heat exhaustion is severe fatigue resulting from excessive exposure to heat that can lead to collapse.
Heat stroke is a life threatening condition that develops rapidly and may not have any warning signs. It is the third leading cause of death among athletes.
There are three factors that contribute to heat injuries. They are increased body temperature, loss of body fluids and loss of electrolytes. Symptoms to look for include weakness, chills, goose pimples on your chest and upper arms, nausea, headache, faintness, disorientation, muscle cramping and cessation of sweating.
General heat related injuries cause 240 deaths per year! That is an awful lot of deaths that can be prevented with simple knowledge. To reduce the risk of heat injuries, adequate fluid replacement is essential before, during and after exercise.
What fluid is best for re-hydration?
Water is the appropriate drink before, during and after exercise. However, for exercise lasting longer than one hour and after exercise, it is important to replace electrolytes lost. Sodium replacement not only maintains blood concentration but also increases palatability, and therefore the desire to drink.
The addition of carbohydrates will delay the onset of fatigue and help to maintain blood glucose concentration. A sports drink with 4%-8% carbohydrate is recommended for replacement during exercise, especially with exercise bouts lasting longer than one hour. Gatorade, All Sport and PowerAde are all great choices.
So the next time you exercise, please be aware of the importance of hydration. It is a simple step that can save your life!
This is what drives athletes to prioritize their health and maintain a healthy lifestyle to be able to excel in their sport. How can you play your sport well if you do not have the energy nor do you have the muscle strength to run fast or to jump high?
However, there are certain factors that can prevent you from attaining that sports nutrition health that is deemed to appropriate for your status.
You, assuming that you are an athlete or thinking of becoming one, must, first and foremost, understand the principles of sports nutrition completely. What is the point of staying healthy when you do not even know what being healthy is all about?
You must also avoid engaging yourself in false beliefs and misconceptions. Myths are completely different from facts, and your sports nutrition health is indeed a fact so do not, under any circumstances, mix unreal and unproven principles with facts. Doing so will do a great deal in compromising your health, thus, your career as an athlete.
You must also take note of nutrition requirements that are related to your training program. Failure to recognize these said requirements would bring bad effects to your health status. Why? You might be taking carbohydrates all right but not in the right amount or in the amount that is appropriate for you. So there will either be an excess or a lack, and neither is helpful for your health status.
There is a fine line between having a good sports nutrition health and dieting to lose fat. In fact, it is not just a fine line but a huge line. Do not mistake them to be the same thing or else your health will be compromised.
You may have an extremely busy schedule, being an athlete and all, but you must still consume appropriate amount of food. So you must manage your time well to have an adequate time for eating. Time management is definitely the key.
For starters, you may not be financially stable right away, but that is how it always is when you are just beginning. However, this scarcity of finances might be a factor for you not to be able to attain adequate food supplies.
For those who are already making it big, your sports nutrition health should always come first. This means you have to manage your money efficiently so that you can have the appropriate supply of food, and still have enough to spend on those blings.
Frequent travelling might also be a factor to a faltering sports nutrition health. Aside from the fact that it is expensive, there is also a huge tendency that you will be taking your food on the road.
This will then minimize the selection of your food to those that are portable, which will leave out the food that are difficult for you to carry but important for your sports nutrition health. The time for eating should also not be modified.
Sports nutrition health experts break sports nutrition health down to what food is basically made up of, that would be protein, carbohydrates and fats. These components are very important but an excess would be a cause of a nutritional downfall.
Fats are the things that you should be more concerned about since these are the ones that "decide" what kind of figure to give your body.
You must not lose more than one half pound of fat in a week because if this happens, your body will individually think that you are undergoing a fasting, trying to starve yourself.
If this is the case, your metabolism slows down since there is a need to conserve calories that have been used and also since your muscles will be used as sources of energy.
So listen to these tips and you will be on your way to stardom as a successful athlete, but still keep your sports nutrition health very much intact. Why? It is because without proper sports nutrition health, you will not have a chance or an opportunity to be a successful athlete. An athlete yes, but a successful one? Think again.
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Colleen Palat has sinced written about articles on various topics from Brain, Common Cold and Dieting. Colleen is a health and fitness enthusiast who loves to pass on the latest information on health and wellness. Sign up for your free e-newsletter filled with cutting-edge information on health, nutrition, weight loss, and fitness. For your free e-newslett. Colleen Palat's top article generates over 2900 views. Bookmark Colleen Palat to your Favourites.
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