Hydration and sports: 5 tips against dehydration
Good hydration is essential, especially during exercise. Everyone knows by now that drinking is an important element. How much and what exactly you should drink is often less clear. It is difficult to give a general drinking guideline that suits every athlete. After all, fluid loss depends on the athlete. Some sweat more than others and have to compensate for a greater fluid loss during exercise. Dehydration or insufficient fluid intake will cause dehydration with unpleasant symptoms such as headaches, muscle cramps and reduced sports performance. To get the best out of yourself, it is important to prevent dehydration. Below you can read five tips against dehydration. Let's go!
1. Drink enough before exercising
Don't wait to drink until you're thirsty, then it's often too late. Thirst is the very first sign of dehydration. Drinking enough can sometimes be difficult. We forget it quite easily. If you have trouble drinking enough, it can help to choose fixed moments to drink. What is "drinking enough"? In general, we say about 1.5 - 2 liters of water for an adult per day, excluding sports efforts. You can check whether your fluid balance is in order by means of the color of your urine. If your urine is clear in color, then you have drunk enough. If your urine is rather dark, then this may indicate dehydration and you have not drunk enough. Drinking some more is the message. Are you a salty sweater or are you going to exercise intensively? Then it might be wise to drink 500ml of electrolytes before your effort by means of 3Action Hydration tabs . These do not contain any calories or carbohydrates and are suitable for any athlete who wants to exercise well hydrated.
2. Drink enough during exercise
During an intensive effort you need about 150-200ml extra fluid per 15 minutes. For an effort of less than an hour you will have enough with water, with or without electrolytes such as 3Action Hydration tabs. However, for a longer effort or when sweating a lot it is wise to use an isotonic sports drink e.g. 3Action Sports Drink . In addition to the necessary carbohydrates, electrolytes such as salts and minerals have also been added to replenish your losses. This is very important. During exercise, our body sweats to regulate our body temperature. The fluid we lose must be compensated to restore our fluid balance. If we do not do this, it will have a negative effect on our efforts.
3.Salt and electrolytes
When you sweat a lot or in warm weather you lose a lot of salt. The losses can quickly increase in extreme weather. During such moments it is important to replenish this in time. This can be done through food or sports supplements such as e.g. 3Action Sports Drink or 3Action Hydration tabs . When athletes only drink water during their efforts where they sweat a lot, their electrolytes are not sufficiently replenished with negative effects on sports performance as a result.
4.Magnesium and potassium
Magnesium and potassium are both minerals that are important in our fluid balance. A deficiency in these nutrients can worsen dehydration. With a healthy, varied diet you will get enough of these minerals. In addition, sports nutrition such as 3Action Sports Drink and 3Action Hydration Tabs are enriched with these minerals. Do you still want to supplement these? Then you can always do this via the 3Action Multivitamins .
5.Avoid bright sunlight and alcohol
Heat and bright sunlight during exercise can contribute to dehydration. Try to seek shade where possible and drink enough. Also apply a good sunscreen. Are you still dehydrated? Drinking water, with or without electrolytes is the message. Also avoid alcohol. This disrupts the fluid balance. Alcohol has a diuretic effect and increases urine production, which can worsen dehydration.
Michaline Lon, sports nutritionist
