Episode #122 - Hydration For Athletes

Hydration for athletes is such an important topic and even though it's covered, I don't think people realise how important it is.

If your goal is to perform at your best then you need to know how much you need to drink to be hydrated.

The reason for this is when dehydration increases, there is a gradual reduction in physical and mental performance. There is an increase in heart rate and body temperature, and an increased perception of how hard the exercise feels, especially when exercising in the heat.

Studies show that loss of fluid equal to 2% of you body mass is enough to cause a noticeable decrease in performance (that’s a 1.4 kg loss in a 70 kg athlete).

Dehydration of greater than 2% loss of body weight (this would be 2.8kg if you're a 70kg person) increases the risk of nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and other gastrointestinal problems during exercise.

Dehydration reduces the rate of fluid absorption from the intestines, making it more difficult to reverse the fluid deficit. You may end up feeling bloated and sick if you delay fluid replacement. It is impossible to ‘train’ or ‘toughen’ your body to handle dehydration.

So in today's podcast you're going to learn how to avoid dehydration and learn how to hydrate properly.