High quality H20
The importance of staying hydration during cannot be understated.
Simply being dehydrated by just 2% can impair performance in tasks that require attention, psychomotor skills, and immediate memory skills, as well as assessment of the subjective state. In contrast, the performance of long-term and working memory tasks and executive functions is more preserved, especially if the cause of dehydration is moderate physical exercise.
You can also lower the risk of negative health related illnesses exacerbated by dehydration such as headache and urolithiasis (kidney stones).
There are many ways to ensure we stay hydrated, we absorb water from our diet and through fruits and vegetables, juices and other food healthy food sources that contain moisture.
While exercising it is good practice to drink between 1-1.5 litres per day, the exact amount required is up for debate as environmental factors such as heat humidity, level of exertion and duration of activity are just some of the influential factors on water loss through perspiration.
Despite these being variable guidelines, adhering to these estimates will help to ensure we maintain healthy practices and habits.
Remember to replenish your water content after exercise, your body has a slight delay in its response which can mean that by the time you actually feel thirsty, dehydration has already begun.
Your body depends on water to survive. Every cell, tissue, and organ in your body needs water to work correctly and to remain in homeostasis.
For example, your body uses water to maintain its temperature, remove waste, and lubricate joints, water is as essential for good health as it is for life.
For every pound of sweat you lose, you should try to replenish around a pint of water.
Warning signs that may indicate could be dehydrated
Not sweating during vigorous physical activity can indicate that you maybe dehydrated, dry mouth, head ache, tiredness.
Are Isotonic Drinks better than water for hydration?
The food and drinks industry makes upwards of £222.5 Billion pounds in revenue each year and continues to grow, fuelled by our lustful appetite. As the food industry fights for a place on our shelves it has become ever more initiative and creative catering for an ever growing diverse population.
Millions of pounds are spent on research from everything from physiological evaluation of shopping habits, patterns of shoppers to increase our spending habits, scientists have even developed methods of tricking our senses into believing food and drink tastes better is healthier for us, simply changing the colour water or drinks of the same solution has been proven to give the illusion of altered taste.
With the competition greater than ever and a seemingly endless collection of drinks claiming to do everything from enhance your performance to hydrate you more effectively it is hard to gather the truth.
However despite the catchy marketing tricks that have been deployed in an ever creative way to get us to hand over our hard earned cash, one winner still remains, it seems there is no match for mother nature and when it comes to hydration water is best with milk a close second.
For most people who perform some kind of moderate to vigorous daily activity, water is the best thing to drink to stay hydrated.
If you intend to partake in long distance or endurance events then an isotonic drink maybe helpful in replacing lost sugars and salt, or you can create your own cost effective isotonic drink at home by adding a pinch of salt to a sugary based drink such as diluted squash or juice (50/50 water Juice).
Other sources of water also include foods, such fruits, and vegetables which contain a high percentage of water.
Sports drinks with electrolytes, may be useful for people doing high intensity, vigorous exercise in very hot weather, though they tend to be high in added sugars and calories so if weight management if your goal then be aware of the content of your sports drink.
Facts:
The average adult human body is 50-65% water, averaging around 57-60%.