Hydration 101 – the importance of water

Hydration People! The importance of water.

Even though the warmer months are behind us in sunny North Queensland, it is important to always maintain hydration while exercising. Try to remember the forgotten essential nutrient – WATER! Water escapes your body with every breath, every drop of sweat. This loss increases during exercise. This in turn will lead to dehydration, sapping your energy and making you tired. When you are tired and lacking energy during exercise your risk of injury increases. So, you need to replace water in your body regularly. While using caffeine based drinks or soft drink to help with your workout is common and also a quick fix, a lot of people are unaware of the amount of sugar they contain. On average most soft drinks contain eight and a half teaspoons of sugar. Also caffeine is a diuretic, which means it increases the excretion of water from our bodies. So, you just have to ingest more to stay hydrated. Some people experience a sense of being hungry after exercise. Often this is a sign that you are dehydrated. Your body cannot produce water on its own. We need to ingest water to help maintain our own body’s needs. The amount of water in the human body ranges from 50-75%. Body composition varies according to gender and fitness level, because fatty tissue contains less water than lean tissue. The average adult male is about 60% water. The average adult woman is about 55% water because women naturally have more fatty tissue than men. Overweight men and women have more water, as a percent, than their leaner counterparts. The percent of water depends on your hydration level. People feel thirsty when they have already lost around 2-3% of their body’s water. Mental performance and physical coordination start to become impaired before thirst kicks in, typically around 1% dehydration. Robert Physiotherapist at Strive Health