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Water for healthy body
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Drinking plenty of water during exercise is essential to avoid dehydration.
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COMPETITION SEASON is the driest time of the year for professional iron men. Thumb through any muscle magazine, and nearly every one of the athletes in the winning poses has sunken, glazed eyes. Muscle definition is everything, and professional bodybuilders do the craziest things to flush enough water from their systems so that every muscle cell stands out for the judges to see.
Diuretics, saunas, laxatives and simply giving up drinking water are all part of a near-suicidal regimen that musclemen depend on to bring in money and the crowds.
Heat strokes are common here, and a few minutes of posing under the hot arc lights leads to many of these iron men having intravenous fluids pumped into them to help them recover from competitions. And the Miss World and Miss Universe events get the raspberry for fostering the wrong ideas in impressionable young minds!
The situation is little better in the gym. Every athlete knows that one must drink plenty of fluids during a workout, but many simply don't bother to put it into practice.
Only one in 20 takes a water bottle to the gym, and most of those who do drink water in between sets take little more than a few sips. Some of this diffidence towards water drinking has its roots in ignorance about exactly what water does in our bodies.
To begin with, extra water is necessary for athletes who work out intensely not just because it replaces increased water losses in sweat and breath but also because the liquid is central to the process of fuel-burning in every cell. Dehydrate muscles lift less weight than hydrated muscle cells, and they take longer to recover from intense exercise and injury. Muscle cells produce lactate and other acidic metabolites when they are straining to the utmost, and the water makes it easier for the kidneys to handle the extra waste and salts.
Most water loss is not obvious when you are exercising hard, and the thirst mechanism is ineffectual as a dehydration preventative because it kicks in only when you are already dehydrated.
A few simple tips to make sure you are drinking enough:
* Make sure you drink at least 1.5 litres of water per workout session,
* Drink a glass or two of water every time you drink a cup of tea, coffee or a cola drink.
* Colas and tea and coffee are rich in caffeine, which is also a diuretic on top of being a pick-me-up.
* Same advice goes for alcohol too.
* One sign of dehydration is the passing of straw-coloured urine.
Rule of the thumb: the water you pass should be like water. So drink up and exercise safely.
RAJIV M
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