Your body needs water, water and MORE water!

You can buy all the cute workout clothes, be committed to working out each week, and picture your body and health once you achieve your goals. But if you don’t keep your body hydrated, it won’t function at its best. 

Without sufficient fluids, your body temperature and heart rate can rise because your body can’t properly regulate heat, you may feel more fatigue, “brain fade” can occur, and your body’s functions can slow down, including gastric emptying, making your stomach uncomfortable. On top of all that, dehydration can affect your performance in sports or exercise. 

The beautiful thing? There is a solution. Make fluid replacement a priority when you’re physically active. Drinking enough fluids will help to maintain your concentration and performance, increase your endurance, and prevent excessive fluctuations in heart rate and body temperature. It’s all about sufficient hydration.

Hydration depends on a range of factors, such as climatic conditions, your health, your clothing, your exercise intensity and duration. So, there is no one formula for everyone. Some people sweat more heavily than others. Some have medical conditions that require different levels of hydration due to medications that act as diuretics. And some of us have high concentrations of sodium in our sweat or a body size that requires more hydration than those smaller than us. And then there is the environment and activities.

Thirst is not always a good indicator of your body’s need for fluids.  A good test of dehydration is to study the color of your urine. Pale and clear it means you’re well hydrated. Dark or murky, and you need more fluids. So you think you’re superior because you rarely sweat? Don’t. Another sign of dehydration is a lack of sweat during vigorous activity, when you expect to sweat. No sweating is a sign that you’re both dehydrated and probably suffering fro heat exhaustion.

Signs of dehydration include mood changes, slow reaction times, dry nasal passages, weakness, dry or cracked lips, confusion, and muscle cramps. Increasing hydration can help combat all of these. It’s not possible to train your body to handle dehydration, so don’t delay fluid replacement to ‘get used to dehydration’. When you need water, you need it.

You need to drink fluid during exercise to replace the fluids you lose when you sweat. You’ll avoid heat stress, maintain normal body function, and maintain performance levels. If you’re sweating, you need to be drinking fluids — period.

Water is the best, before, during and after exercise. It is chock-full of benefits. It’s natural, free, and readily available. While sports drinks can contain electrolytes and carbohydrates, which have concentrations that allow the body to refuel during exercise, they often can be high in sugar, so consume them only if necessary. And remember that fruit and vegetables contain a high proportion of water, so a fruit snack (such as oranges) can help your fluid replacement. What to avoid? Soft drinks and fruit juices, as they are usually high in carbohydrates and low in sodium. And avoid caffeine, which can act as a diuretic.

Here is a photo from our recent trip/trek, where Yolanda and I paced ourselves (and hydrated OFTEN) to make it to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls! See you at your workout!