“Drink when I’m thirsty, right?”
WRONG!
If you wait until you feel thirsty and then start to drink, it’s too late. Thirst is a symptom of dehydration, and dehydration decreases blood volume. With less blood getting to the skin, the systems that control heat dissipation fail. Once this happens, an athlete overheats even more quickly.
Performance levels drop, and things can get dangerous. Symptoms of dehydration include muscle cramping, excessive sweating, dark urine or infrequent urination, weakness, nausea, rapid heart rate, headache, light-headedness, increased body core temperature, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. In extreme cases, the consequences of dehydration can be fatal. It makes no difference whether you are working out in cold or hot weather, inside or outside, in arid or humid climates, on a ski slope or in a swimming pool—hydration is vitally important.
You should plan to hydrate before, during, and after your workout. Plain (filtered) water is good, but some athletes prefer “sports drinks”—beverages that hydrate, replace electrolytes lost in sweating, and contain carbohydrates such as glucose, sucrose, fructose, and glucose polymers. Some experts believe it is best to drink water before your workout for hydration.
If you wait until you feel thirsty and then start to drink, it’s too late. Thirst is a symptom of dehydration, and dehydration decreases blood volume. With less blood getting to the skin, the systems that control heat dissipation fail. Once this happens, an athlete overheats even more quickly.
Performance levels drop, and things can get dangerous. Symptoms of dehydration include muscle cramping, excessive sweating, dark urine or infrequent urination, weakness, nausea, rapid heart rate, headache, light-headedness, increased body core temperature, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. In extreme cases, the consequences of dehydration can be fatal. It makes no difference whether you are working out in cold or hot weather, inside or outside, in arid or humid climates, on a ski slope or in a swimming pool—hydration is vitally important.
You should plan to hydrate before, during, and after your workout. Plain (filtered) water is good, but some athletes prefer “sports drinks”—beverages that hydrate, replace electrolytes lost in sweating, and contain carbohydrates such as glucose, sucrose, fructose, and glucose polymers. Some experts believe it is best to drink water before your workout for hydration.