With the hot summer months approaching it’s important to think about staying properly hydrated. Whether you’re a serious athlete, recreational exerciser or you enjoy spending a lot of time outside, it’s important to make sure you get the right amount of water. With exercise your focus should be before, during and after exercising. Water regulates your body temperature, lubricates joints and helps transport nutrients for energy and health. If you’re not properly hydrated, your body will be unable to perform at its highest level, and you may experience fatigue, muscle cramps, dizziness or more serious symptoms.
So the question we ask ourselves, how much water should we drink? There are no set guidelines for water intake while exercising because everyone is different. Sweat rate, heat, humidity, exercise intensity and duration are just some of the factors that must be considered. A simple way to make sure you’re staying properly hydrated is to check your urine. If your urine is consistently colorless or light yellow, you are most likely staying well hydrated. Dark yellow or amber-colored urine is a sign of dehydration.
Follow the basic water intake guidelines below for people doing moderate- to high-intensity exercise:
· Drink 17 to 20 ounces of water 2 to 3 hours before you start exercising
· Drink 8 ounces of water 20 to 30 minutes before you start exercising
· Drink 7 to 10 ounces of water every 10 to 20 minutes during exercise
· Drink 8 ounces of water no more than 30 minutes after you exercise
For the very active athlete heading to football, soccer or marathon running outside, you may consider another form of measurement. You can measure your actual sweat loss to determine how much water you should be drinking. To do this, weigh yourself on a digital scale before and after you exercise on a few different days, and then average any weight loss. Any weight loss you experience is most likely from fluid loss and needs to be replaced with water. Record this number and use it as a guide for how much you need to be drinking while you exercise. Drink 16 to 24 ounces of water for every pound of body weight you lost after you exercised. (Helpful hint: a gallon weighs about 8 pounds, a quart weighs about 2 pounds, and a pint weighs about 1 pound.) Again, this approach to estimating water needs is especially useful for high-performance athletes, such as people who run marathons or several hours out door in the heat and sun.
Michigan Sports & Spine Center is a committed, comprehensive practice dedicated to overall health improvement, as well as injury rehabilitation and prevention. We believe in a non-surgical approach. We will do everything in our power to prevent you from surgery but when it is necessary, we’ll make sure you get to the right surgeon. With patients ranging from high-profile athletes to everyday people, we are confident that we can not only relieve, but also resolve your pain. For more information visit our website at http://www.michigansportsandspine.com or call 248.680.9000.
Core Sports Fitness is an athletic training facility where any athlete can come to develop and strengthen the core skills necessary for success in all sports. Located inside the Troy Sports Center, CORE was founded in order to allow all athletes’ access to the best training staff and equipment possible in order to achieve their personal athletic goals. CORE is co-owned by Michigan Sports and Spine Center Medical Director, Jeff S. Pierce, D.O., and Detroit Red Wing Kris Draper.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2011