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Hydration Guidelines
Whether you are
exercising in hot, humid conditions or the year’s best
rainstorm, maintaining hydration levels is essential to
sustain performance levels, decrease muscle damage and
recover adequately from workout to workout. It has been
shown that fluid loss as little as 1% of body weight can
result in a 10% decrease in performance! Athlete's that
use thirst as a cue for fluid intake are among the worst
affected as fluid losses of around 2% are necessary to
even elicit a thirst response. Although you're often
fighting a losing battle when it comes to keeping
hydration levels at a maximum (especially during intense
exercise) it is important to do the very best you can to
drink regularly.
The body loses as
much as 98% of heat through the evaporation of sweat
from the skin. Evaporation refers the conversion of a
liquid to a vapour. As exercise intensity increases and
sweat rates also increase the evaporation process can no
longer keep up and sweat begins to pool, drip or run
off. At this point heat loss is no longer being
achieved. As the bodies core begins to heat up it
increases the blood flow to the skin capillaries, a
process known as 'shunting' designed to enhance heat
loss allowing cooled blood to return to the core. A
major effect of dehydration is the reduced amount of
fluid in blood, or ‘blood plasma’. As this decreases the
body is unable to shunt as much blood to the skin, thus
reducing heat loss and leading to further increases in
core temperature, perceived exertion and even fatigue.
The reduced plasma levels also place more demand on the
heart to pump thicker blood and oxygen to the muscles,
increasing heart-rate for the same performance level.
The recommendations
below are a guide only. Fluid requirements are highly
variable from person to person, and are affected
severely by the environmental conditions.
Recommendation: Approx 150-200ml every 15mins. Small and
regular intake is recommended for optimal clearance from
the stomach. Isotonic drink solutions such Cytomax aids
in fluid absorption, preservation of glycogen (energy)
stores and the replacement of electrolytes such as
sodium that are lost through sweat.
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