Having a sweat patch test done during training helps to accurately analyze your total sweat and sodium losses so you know how much and what type of drinks you need to consume to stay fully hydrated to maximize performance.

Water is important for hydration but you can have too much of a good thing, meaning that drinking too much water can be detrimental to sports performance. Drinking too much water can create an imbalance between the amount of water and sodium in your body, which can lead to Hyponatremia.

Athletes will be okay only drinking water for shorter training sessions, typically 1 hour or less. Dehydration causes: 1 Premature fatigue 2 increased heart rate 3 impaired thermoregulation 4 reduced concentration and cognitive function 5 greater reliance on muscle glycogen for energy 6 higher RPE 7 joint stiffness.

Sweat is made up of water but also contains vital electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, and chloride. Consuming drinks or supplements that contain these electrolytes helps to rehydrate better than water alone.

Water is irreplaceable. Sports drinks can be beneficial if you use them to complement water instead of using them to substitute water. The main ingredient of sports drinks is water, but the addition of electrolytes and carbohydrates make them a good energy drink during intense training sessions.

Drinking enough fluids to ensure your urine is a clear color and you are well hydrated before training is key. A good rule of thumb is to drink ml two hours before exercise. So long as you are well hydrated before you start training, you can drink to thirst for sessions less than 2 hours long.

On the other hand, some sports like cycling and triathlon that require strategic hydration strategies for their events will need to practice these during training to match their measured sweat rates. Measuring the changes in your body weight during training will give you a good idea of how much to drink to rehydrate.

Weighing yourself before and after training to calculate your weight loss e. This will be different for everyone based on their body weight and activity levels, but a good daily target is to consume 30ml per kg of body mass, plus an extra ml-1L per hour of exercise.

When playing sport it is important to stay well hydrated. Hydration is ensuring the body has sufficient water to do its basic everyday functions properly i. transport blood around the body. Sports drinks contain electrolytes like sodium which can help the body to better retain water when exercise lasts longer than 90 minutes.

Athletes should aim to drink approx 0. Being hydrated helps the body to cool down more effectively. It also lubricates joints, supports brain function and aids the transport of oxygen and nutrients to the working muscles, all of which are impaired in a dehydrated state.

Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Chat with Danny to learn how you can improve your nutrition to take your performance to the next level!

Skip to content. Do athletes need to care more about hydration than normal people? How do you measure hydration status? Which drinks can cause dehydration? How reliable is the urine color test to analyze the hydration status? Should every athlete measure sweat rates during exercise?

Will drinking too much water affect sports performance? How does dehydration affect performance? What are the best drinks for hydration besides water? Should athletes replace water with sports drinks? How much should I drink before training? How much should I drink during training?

Carry your water bottle or stop by the water fountain between classes. Do not drink a large volume of fluid right before an event or physical activity. This may not fully hydrate or rehydrate the athlete.

This may cause stomach discomfort or a trip to the restroom during the event. Drink plenty of fluids during and after the event. Learn what works for different activities. How Much Fluid Does My Athlete Need? Hydration Strategy for Sports Having a plan for staying hydrated is essential for young athletes playing sports or doing other physical activities.

After puberty, an athlete may sweat more, so replacing electrolytes becomes more important. Some salty snack ideas are sports drinks with six to eight percent carbohydrate, pretzels or salty crackers, cheese, pickles, or broth-based soup or vegetable juice.

A sports drink or salty snack may be needed for the following: High intensity activities lasting longer than an hour Tournaments and back-to-back events Hot conditions, indoors or outdoors Having salt on the skin or clothes after activity. Signs and Symptoms of Dehydration If your young athlete is experiencing any of the following signs and symptoms, he or she may be dehydrated, and a hydration strategy may be needed.

If your child is especially lethargic, a call to your medical provider may be in order. Signs and Symptoms of Heat Illness Heat illness is a preventable condition, and dehydration is an early sign of heat illness.

Respond quickly if you notice any of the following signs of heat illness: Weakness Vomiting Excessive thirst Headache Fatigue Sweating Nausea Light-headedness Confusion or disorientation If your child is exhibiting one or more of the signs of heat illness, immediately call your medical provider for assistance to determine if treatment is needed.

It is important that your young athlete knows these signs and symptoms so that they can recognize heat illness if they experience it. Additional Support With practice, a young athlete should learn what hydration strategy works best for training and competition.

Other examples include the High Carb vs Low Carb diet debate and Cushioned, Supportive running shoes vs Barefoot Running. We struggle with grey areas, even though that tends to be where the answers to complicated questions often reside! He uncovered a growing number of cases of hyponatremia - a sometimes fatal condition characterised by low blood sodium levels - in an increasing number of endurance athletes who had seemingly followed advice to drink as much as they could.

In this he suggests that hyponatremia has become a significant problem largely because of the marketing efforts of the sports drink industry. He makes the tragic point that there have been a number of preventable deaths from over-drinking and that these could have been avoided with more balanced messaging.

Image credit: Press and Journal ©. Because there is considerable variability in sweating rates and sweat electrolyte content between individuals, customized fluid replacement programs are recommended. He argues, quite compellingly, that the human body is designed to optimize its own hydration levels so, if you drink to thirst, that is basically all you need to know about hydration.

End of story. This approach has merit in many circumstances. This is most likely to be the case during ultra-distance events, where total sweat losses can be significant over a long period of time, especially in the heat. Maybe because of the human tendency towards tribalism, there are currently two opposing camps in hydration science.

At the sharp end, it seems that opinion is moving towards a view that, whilst drinking to thirst is a sensible approach for shorter or lighter activities, during very long events in the heat, when total sweat and electrolyte losses are high, replenishment might need to be approached more proactively than would be the case in shorter bouts of activity.

Examples of the efficacy of this approach include this study by researchers in Spain, which showed faster racing times for athletes given salt supplements during a middle distance triathlon compared to a control group given placebos.

Drinking to thirst is likely to be a good approach in day to day life, or endurance training completed at a very low intensity. far more than I replace after my thirst response has kicked in, and so inevitably have to slow my speed as my blood volume continues to decline.

When drinking to thirst, I can lose Perhaps there are athletes whose thirst response provides a more reliable guide, but in my experience with both coaching and racing, drinking to a schedule, particularly in the first half of events, leads to vastly better performance outcomes.

Image credit: Dale Travers ©.