Get your own Free Home PageWhen you body gets even a little low on fluids, physical performance and brain power can hit the skids. It's possible to lose as much as two quarts of water before you feel thirsty. Meanwhile, your body is producing symptoms like fatigue, dizziness, headache, and flushed skin. All of these conditions are caused by increased body temperature.
Frequent or long-term dehydration can really leave you high and dry, causing an irregular heartbeat, an unsteady gait, difficulty swallowing, and shortness of breath. Extreme cases of dehydration can produce shriveled skin and lips.
Dehydration can sneak up on you. You could be dangerously dry and not even know it. Keep an eye out for these danger signals.
A skater can sweat away two quarts an hour during a hard practice. That�s why skaters need to pay attention to their fluid needs. Keep these tips in mind.
Drink before, during, and after. Drink 8 to 16 ounces of water an hour before practice or a workout. Body size and the temperature of where you will be working out affects the amount of water that you should drink. The larger you are and the hotter it will be, the more you need. So an off-ice workout may require you to drink more water than on-ice practice. However, don�t overdose on water; this will result in poor performance. Symptoms on too much water intake include an uncomfortable bloated feeling and stomach cramps. As you exercise try to drink up to 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water every ten minutes. Afterward, drink as much as you need to stave your thirst.
Hop on a scale. How much should you drink after exercise? If you weigh yourself before and after exercise, you�ll find out how much water you lose. For every half pound you lose, drink eight fluid ounces.
Go beyond thirst. Even if your immediate thirst feels quenched, your body�s fluid reserves may not be adequately refilled. Play it safe and take a few additional slurps. A few minutes later drink some more, and so on, for about an hour afterward.
Cool it. Cool water will lower your body temperature faster than warmer water. It�s also dispersed much faster to the parched tissues of the body.
Adjust to your environment. If you come out of an air-conditioned building on a hot day and immediately try jogging five miles, the shock to your system will draw more water from your body than if you slowly accustom yourself to the outdoor heat.
Use sport drinks sparingly. Sports drinks, which are rich in electrolytes we lose when we exercise, are often touted for their replenishing abilities, and many of them do make excellent fluid sources. But you certainly don�t need a sports drink for every workout. The only time these drinks have an advantage over water is if you have just come off an extremely draining workout, such as a marathon or two hours of tennis in the hot sun. Then you might need an immediate electrolyte boost.
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