Fitness Drink

Exercise is thirsty work!

Whenever you exercise you lose fluid, not only through sweating but also as water vapour in the air that you breathe out. The harder and longer you exercise, and the hotter and more humid the environment, the more fluid you will lose. If you don't get enough fluid into your body dehydration will follow. This will have an undesirable effect on your physical performance and health.

What are the dangers of dehydration?

An excessive loss of fluid impairs performance and has an undesirable effect on health. It places extra strain on the heart, lungs and circulation system, which means the heart, has to work harder to pump blood around the body. Exercise become much harder as blood volume decreases and body temperature rises. A loss in just 2% of your body weight will affect your ability to train. Ironically the more dehydrated you become the less able your body is to sweat.

When should I drink?

Beforehand

Obliviously, prevention is better than cure; make sure that you are well hydrated before you start to exercise (especially when it is hot and humid).

During exercise

As soon as you start exercising, you will start to lose fluid, so try to offset this by drinking at suitable intervals whenever possible. The more you sweat the more you need to drink. Aim for about 250ml every 15 minutes.

Afterwards

Drink freely after exercise to replace the fluids lost. Do not wait until you feel thirsty, as this means you are already dehydrated. Thirst is not a good indicator of body fluid levels.

Are sports drinks better than water?

For many years sport scientists have recommended drinking plain water. In 1984, for example, the American college of sport medicine stated that water is the best fluid. However since then many studies have shown that in some cases it can be more beneficial to drink fluids with added carbohydrate or minerals. This is because drinking serves three purposes :

1. It replace water lost through sweating

2. It can provide some carbohydrate to spare the body's reserves of glycogen and maintain blood glucose.

3. It can provide minerals to speed water absorption and maintain blood volume.

Do sport drinks improve performance?

Many studies show that sport drinks can indeed improve your performance. This is because sport drinks deliver water and glucose faster to the body than plain water. If however your exercise routine is less than a hour it wouldn't make a big difference.