Gym instructor Ingrid Cullen on the importance of rehydrating when you exercise
Hope everyone is over their Sleaze or long weekend celebrations. You should be ready and rearing to get fit after trying on your first skimpy outfit after winter - or after seeing all those beautiful bodies at the various parties. With the hot weather arriving early I hope everyone is paying particular attention to avoiding dehydration. It is amazing how easily you can become quite sick and feel flat just because you have slipped into bad habits during the cooler weather.
Some causes of dehydration
Many of you will be aware of the extra precautions needed because you take medications that make you prone to dehydration. If you have diarrhoea from meds, leaky gut syndrome or food intolerances, again you need to be aware of the symptoms of dehydration. Even just eating lots of salty food, or drinking too much coffee or Coke, can lead to dehydration, if you then try to exercise or be more active than usual.
What about taking recreational drugs, smoking and alcohol? These all make you more likely to become dehydrated. Having any illness, or simply being positive, puts extra strain on your body and when organs are working harder you dehydrate or over heat more quickly.
This is not a definitive list of causes of dehydration by any means; there are many reasons why you may be more likely to experience problems with dehydration. The previous list of causes is simply to get you thinking and make you check how you feel every now and then.
Some effects or symptoms of dehydration
When you add exercise to the equation you need to take into account any of the things mentioned that could make you susceptible to dehydration. If you lose a kilo of weight it will reduce your performance in the gym or on the field by about 10%. If you continue to exercise you may experience weakness, tiredness, irritability, headaches, disorientation and dizziness. The list goes on. Eventually you will faint or collapse and end up at the doctor’s or in casualty. This is to be avoided at all costs. There are plenty of chronic conditions and illnesses that can be made worse or bought on by dehydration as well, kidney stones, stroke, high blood pressure, constipation, hemorrhoids, diarrhoea and over-heating to name a few.
If you suspect your gym or exercise performance is below par, check you are urinating regularly and that it is light yellow in color. If it is dark yellow you need to drink more unless it is first thing in the morning. If you are not urinating much at all, and it is not related to any medication you take, then again you are probably not drinking enough and could be dehydrated.
What can you do?
To avoid drying out and putting your body under strain we all know it is important to drink plenty of water. Sometimes this is all it takes. Keep a bottle of water handy and make sure you drink it, but sometimes this is not enough. Sports drinks or electrolyte drinks etc. can rehydrate you more quickly than plain water. Cordial and diluted fruit juices can also be useful but if dehydration is proving a problem consult your chemist or doctor who will recommend a variety of people and organizations that can help with various drinks and supplements so you can avoid straining your body while you train. After all if you make the effort to exercise regularly you want to get the most from it.
Do you have any fitness questions for Ingrid? Email them to: editor@plwha.org.au [5] or write to “Ask Ingrid” PO Box 831 Darlinghurst 1300