Fluids And Hydration :: essays research papers

How important are fluids? Fluid replacement is probably the most important nutritionalconcern for athletes. Approximately 60% of your torso weight iswater. As you exercise, fluid is lost through your skin as sweat andthrough your lungs when you breathe. If this fluid is not replacedat regular intervals during exercise, you can get going dehydrated. When you are dehydrated, you have a smaller volume of bloodcirculating through your body. Consequently, the amount of bloodyour heart pumps with each beat decreases and your exercisingmuscles do not receive enough oxygen from your blood. Soonexhaustion sets in and your athletic performance suffers. If you have lost as little as 2% of your body weight due todehydration, it can adversely affect your athletic performance. Forexample, if you are a 150-pound athlete and you lose 3 poundsduring a workout, your performance ordain start to suffer unless youreplace the fluid you have lost. Proper fluid replacement is the keyto preventing dehydr ation and reducing the risk of heat injuryduring genteelness and competition. How can I prevent dehydration? The best way to prevent dehydration is to maintain body fluidlevels by drinking plenty of fluids before, during, and by and by aworkout or race. Often athletes are not aware that they are losingbody fluid or that their performance is being impacted bydehydration. If you are not sure how much fluid to drink, you can monitor yourhydration using one of these methods. 1.Weight Weigh yourself before practice and again after practice.For all(prenominal) pound you lose during the workout you will need todrink 2 cups of fluid to rehydrate your body. 2.Urine falsify Check the color of your urine. If it is a dark gold colorlike apple juice, you are dehydrated. If you are well hydrated, thecolor of your urine will look like pale lemonade. Thirst is not an accurate indication of how much fluid you have lost.If you wait until you are thirsty to replenish body fluids, then youare alre ady dehydrated. Most people do not become thirsty untilthey have lost more than 2% of their body weight. And if you onlydrink enough to quench your thirst, you may still be dehydrated. declare a water bottle available when working out and drink as oftenas you want, ideally every 15 to 30 minutes. high school and juniorhigh school athletes can bring a water bottle to school and drinkbetween classes and during breaks so they show up at workoutshydrated. What about sport drinks? Researchers have found that sports drinks containing between 6%