Hydration & Exercise
Staying well hydrated during exercise improves performance and safeguards health by defeating dehydration. Here is a list of hydration tips and facts that can benefit anyone who works up a sweat.
- When performance is at stake, or whenever you want to get the most out of your body, it’s always better to be well hydrated than dehydrated.
- To minimize dehydration and maintain cardiovascular and thermoregulatory function during vigorous exercise, fluid intake should be similar to (but not greater than) sweat rate.
- Maintaining hydration is more important during exercise in warm environments than in cooler environments.
- Sweat rates among people vary widely, even under similar conditions of exercise intensity and environment.
- During exercise, sweat loss typically ranges from 0 to 2 liters per hour depending upon a person’s genetic predisposition to sweating, their fitness, their acclimation to the heat, the exercise intensity, exercise duration, environmental temperature, relative humidity, and clothing/equipment worn.
- Some athletes can sweat at more than 3 L/h, making it nearly impossible to prevent significant dehydration during exercise.
- To remain well hydrated during exercise, drink enough to minimize loss of body weight, but don’t over-drink. When sweat loss is low (e.g., < 0.5 L/h), temperature is mild, and performance is not a concern, it is fine to wait until after exercise to rehydrate.
- Average sweat sodium loss is roughly 1 g/h (~43 mmol Na+/L). Ingesting sodium during exercise helps maintain the desire to drink, protects blood volume, and reduces urine production.
- Dehydration during exercise is more common than hyponatremia (low blood sodium). Hyponatremia typically occurs when people consume more fluid than can be lost in sweat and urine. That is, they gain weight during exercise. However, in long-duration events, hyponatremia can occur in dehydrated athletes.
- Caffeine from coffee, tea, and soft drinks usually has a mild diuretic effect and does not alter daily hydration status. However, athletes who have difficulty staying well hydrated during hot-weather or two-a-day training, should minimize caffeine intake during that part of the training season.
- In terms of improving performance, a well-formulated sports drink is always superior to water.
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