Preventing Dehydration while Exercising Regularly

Regular exercise does not mean that you will only think about staying fit, losing weight, and watching on your food consumption but you should also pay attention to what you drink and the amount of your fluid intake. Exercise does not only burn calories but it also promotes water loss; thus, it is important to stay hydrated while you are exercising.

Our body is comprised mostly of water. Water has a lot of uses in our body such as maintaining normal body temperature, cushioning of joints, and transportation of nutrients as well as waste products. If you don’t drink enough water, you will become dehydrated. Dehydration will affect your performance. You will feel tired easily and you’ll experience dry mouth, light-headedness, headaches, and even constipation.

Some of the electrolytes in the body are sodium, chloride, and potassium, which helps in the body’s normal functioning. When you exercise, you sweat. Sweating causes loss of fluid and electrolytes and this loss is increased if you exercise during a hot weather. If there is too much loss and is not replaced, you will feel weak and dizzy. In worst cases, heat stroke can possibly occur and this requires immediate medical attention.

Thus, because of these side effects, experts always advise that drinking water should be done before, during, and after workouts.  Keep in mind that the amount of water that you need depends on different factors such as:

• Age

• Body structure

• Weather

• Intensity of workouts

Prior to exercise, it is important to drink water in order to promote a normal fluid and electrolyte balance.

During exercise, it is good to drink water; however, it will be much better to drink a sports drink that contains electrolytes especially if your workouts are very intensive.

After exercising, the main goal is to replenish the lost fluids and electrolytes; thus, drinking water is very essential.