We do seminars at colleges and schools to discuss various aspects of athletic health. In many of these group settings we are called on to address a football team, track team, cross country team, and sometimes trainers and coaches.
One of the questions we like to ask athletes is, "If you can take something that will make you faster, stronger, perform your personal best, and help your body repair faster, would you take it?" Now, maybe they're thinking Creatine, Proteins, Growth Hormones, or Anabolics, but they all raise their hands. Imagine the shock and surprise when we start talking about WATER!
When an athlete is participating in a sporting activity, three fourths of the energy used by the muscles is converted into heat. This heat has to be displaced or cooled since continued participation continues producing heat. Your body begins to perspire as a means to cool itself. The athlete has to have the water in his system prior to the event in order for this "cooling off mechanism" to work right. A good sign that you don't have enough water in your system is when to can see the salt stains on your dark colored jerseys.
As perspiration diminishes, and it will without adequate water, your body temperature rises, your heart rate will elevate, you'll perform more sluggish, and you'll begin to make mental mistakes. Drinking water during a competition helps but you've got to replesnish the reserves that your body has lost through competition.
Sports drinks such as Gatorade and others help rehydrate and replace electrolytes, however, in order to taste good other ingredients are added making the solution denser and more difficult to absorb. This explains the sloshing in the stomach after drinking these fluids. The key is that these should be diluted further with water to allow the fluid to be absorbed throgh the stomach lining alot quicker.
A short list of signs of dehydration are:
- Thirst
- Irritability
- Headache
- Weakness
- Dizziness
- Cramps
- Chills
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Head or neck heat sensations
- Decreased performance
- General discomfort
We advise our athlete patients to drink plenty of water always during their sport season. Game time, they should drink water as needed through the whole game and not wait till half time.
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