Fluids
And Athletic Performance
Riddle: What can help
you play soccer better, give you strength, lower your risk of many kinds
of cancer, and is nearly free? Give up? One more clue - it is fun to swim
in. Water is the answer. As a physician trying to keep people healthy
so they don't have to take medicine, I have learned that the simplest
things are the most important. These habits are so obvious that every
one knows about them, but they are so simple most people don't bother.
Drinking enough of the right kind of fluid helps you compete, and research
shows it can even help prevent many diseases.
We know that losing as little as 2% of your body weight (e.g. 2 pounds
if you weigh 100) ensures that you simply can't play as well as you can
otherwise. We also know that adult players frequently lose 8-10 pounds
during a game. Weight loss during competition is almost entirely fluid
loss. As very few soccer players weigh 400 to 500 pounds, we know that
there are a lot of soccer players out there who need to work on replacing
the fluids they lose during games. By the way, an eight-pound weight loss
equals ONE GALLON of fluid! How big is your water bottle?
Tournaments are especially challenging for a couple of reasons. The weather
is often warm, so players lose a lot of fluid. Playing games close together
means that it is very easy for players not to catch up before their second
game. Last summer I decided to experiment to see how much fluid competitive
youth players really lost in a tournament. The team I tested was an under
eleven Class I team at a summer tournament that had unusually cool weather.
Despite the cool weather and encouragements to drink, many of the players
lost more than 2% of their weight, and a couple did not regain that weight
before the next game.
What should you drink? There is so much research on this one that I just
bought a new medical book entirely on sports drinks. Unfortunately, there
are still as many questions as there are answers.
What do we know?
The drink should:
- contain 5 - 9%
carbohydrate by weight to speed absorption
- Sodium is good
- usually 50 - 125 mg/8 oz (higher if your sweat is salty and burns
your eyes)
- be cool as the
body absorbs it faster (not so important when the weather is cold)
If it is sweeter (like
fruit juice or soda), your body will not absorb it as well. We don't know
about other electrolytes like potassium and magnesium yet (magnesium upsets
your stomach, so be careful). Plain water is not as good and can even be
dangerous if you have lost a lot of fluid. You need the electrolytes.
How do you know if you are drinking enough? One of my coaching friends,
Karen Stanley, former NSCAA National Coach of the year, tells her Santa
Rosa Junior College teams at the start of the season that the secret to
their success will be C.U. What's "C.U.?" Well I'll give you a hint that
the easiest way to know if you are drinking enough is to see how Clear your
U_ _ _ _ is when you go to the bathroom. Gross, I know, but true. Actually
pale yellow is fine. I guess looking is another sacrifice we have to make
to be strong and healthy.
So remember:
- Fluids are REALLY
important.
- Thirst is NOT a
reliable indicator of fluid need.
- Water is not always
adequate.
- Children are more
vulnerable to fluid problems than adults.
- Drink 8-16 oz of
water or sport drink 1-2 hours before competition.
- Drink 4 - 8 oz
of fluid every 15 minutes during competition.
- Drink right after
the game, because your body absorbs fluids best then.
- To really do it
right, drink 16 oz for every pound lost.
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