Exercising is associated with various health benefits. It can help reduce blood pressure, keep your weight in check, have strong bones, and support your heart and lungs to function more efficiently. However, dehydration in athletes is a common occurrence in sports and exercises. It diminishes your body’s ability to eliminate the heat you produce while exercising and can impair your exercise performance.
What is dehydration?
Dehydration happens when you lose more fluid than you take in. Dehydration mostly occurs after intense workouts or exercises. When you don’t drink enough fluids, the level of water in your body decreases, making it unable to perform its normal functions.
To drink more throughout the day, you should have a constant supply of clean water. And you can achieve this when you have the best water filter. Although there are many water filters online, according to Brad Kelly, editor of RO-Guide.com, a reverse osmosis water filter is the best. It eliminates all impurities, and this ensures a better exercising experience.
What causes dehydration?
Dehydration happens when your body lacks enough water to function optimally. It results from the inability to drink adequate fluids, vomiting, diarrhea, high fever, burns, and sweating. Sweating is a reaction to intense activities, and there’s not much you can do about it. But, you have control over how much water you drink.
What are the effects of dehydration?
Dehydration can negatively affect your memory mood, attention, or motor coordination. Other dehydration symptoms are nausea, dizziness, and in case of severe dehydration cases, kidney failure, or death. Continued loss of water concentrates your blood more, which prompts your kidneys to retain more water, making you urinate less. When your blood becomes more concentrated, the functioning of your cardiovascular system diminishes, and this increases your risk of exhaustion or collapse.
How can you prevent dehydration during your exercise routine?
1. Allow your body to adapt early
Give your body time to acclimate to the heat before initiating a rigorous workout routine. Also, build up your workouts steadily, and this lessens the risk of getting dehydrated or fainting due to heat exposure. Once your body adjusts to the heat, you can now begin regular exercises without straining much.
2. Schedule your time wisely
It’s advisable to exercise during morning hours or later in the evening. During this time, the heat from the sun is less severe, and it’s wise to opt for indoor exercises. If you must train in the sun, do so in short bursts to allow your body to adapt to the extreme heat.
3. Up your water intake
Drinking lots of fluids is presumably a distinct way of preventing dehydration in athletes. Drink water before commencing workouts and keep sipping as you exercise. This way, you’ll stay hydrated and also help you to maintain the right internal body temperature.
Be keen on your environment; you’re likely to get dehydrated while exercising in summer than in an air-conditioned gym. For this reason, your surroundings should determine the type of exercise as well as their duration.
4. Respond to thirst immediately
Feeling thirst is one of the common signs of dehydration. It’s easy to get occupied with the day’s activities and forget to drink water. But, thirst cues are a way of notifying you that your body needs more fluids. Keep a water pitcher nearby as you exercise and sip when thirsty. Refill your bottle throughout the day and drink regularly.
5. Eat hydrating foods in plenty
Athlete hydration is very critical. So, prevent dehydration by consuming a balanced diet consisting of fruits and vegetables with high water content like grapes, melons, berries, and lettuce.
6. Monitor fluid loss
Although you may sweat during the first few minutes of your workout, you’re likely to sweat later on. You might also continue losing water in other ways. For instance, if you’re frequently spitting, are taking many bathroom breaks or breathing heavily, this may be a sign that you’re losing more fluids. The best way to prevent dehydration is to drink more fluids, especially when exercising in the sun. Check the amount of fluid lost through sweat and keep up by drinking more.
7. Avoid caffeinated beverages
Caffeine is known to have a mild diuretic effect. Drinking high quantities of caffeinated drinks like sodas or coffee increases your urine output, and this can cause dehydration.
8. Monitor your weight
There’s a relationship between dehydration and weight. Water suppresses appetite, making you eat less. As such, you’re likely to burn unwanted calories, and fats hence lose weight. On the other hand, dehydration slows down your metabolism, making you unable to burn calories, and this can result in weight gain. So, it’s vital to check your weight before and after exercising.
Final thoughts
Nowadays, dehydration in athletes is a common occurrence. Luckily, all is not lost; there are various things you can do to prevent dehydration. So, drink enough water, monitor your weight, beware of fluid loss, avoid caffeinated drinks, and avoid exercising when it’s too hot.