Water does far more than quench your thirst. Proper hydration can improve physical performance, support mental focus, aid fat loss efforts, reduce the risk of muscle cramps, and help maintain overall health. Whether you're exercising in the gym, playing sports outdoors, or simply trying to feel your best each day, drinking enough water is one of the simplest and most effective habits you can develop.
Dehydration
Dehydration is defined as a loss of water that equals to 1% or more of your body weight. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, sweating out 1.5 pounds of water will put you in dehydration mode. Therefore, if you sweat when you work out or play sports, you may become easily dehydrated if you are not properly hydrated.
Most people wake up slightly dehydrated after going several hours without drinking fluids during sleep. When we wake up, our urine may be a dark yellow and smelly. That is not a good thing but fortunately you can start correcting that with a tall glass of water. Keep drinking water until your urine is odorless and a pale yellow to almost clear. I start every morning with water followed by a delicious protein coffee. Then I continue drinking water until dinner time. The most important thing is you start getting hydrated as soon as possible.
Burning Fat
Your body can burn fat more efficiently when you are properly hydrated. Thornton (2016) noted that properly hydrated subjects lost more fat than dehydrated subjects. He hypothesized that this weight loss occurred with two mechanisms: (1) increased hydration suppressed appetites, and (2) increased hydration increased lipolysis.
With properly hydrated cells, your body burns energy more efficiently, which is to say it draws more energy from fat instead of carbs and protein. More fat loss, and less muscle loss, is also great for your metabolism because muscle burns more calories than fat. Besides drinking more water, there are several more things you can do to boost your metabolismlike adding resistance training to your routine.
Physical Performance
If you're working out, you're going to want to stay hydrated. Many studies have shown that dehydration will impair your ability to perform at your best. Performance levels start to decline immediately, but, there's a drastic drop at 2% dehydration. Kleiner (1999) reviewed many studies in which subjects experienced a 20% drop in performance after a 2% drop in water weight. This drop in performance could be during a sporting event or during a routine workout at your gym. Either way, you'll want to stay hydrated to make sure you don't have a decline in performance.
Mental Performance
Furthermore, the decline in mental performance has also been documented by several studies. Gopinathan et al. (1988) showed a decrease in brain power begins to happen almost immediately, but takes a significant drop at 2% dehydration level. The subjects in the study had trouble with simple math, short-term memory, and visual tracing after just 2% dehydration. Things got even worse as their dehydration levels continued to worsen. This lapse in mental performance could be crucial in a late game situation when good decisions are pertinent to a good outcome. Stay hydrated to perform at your best!
Disease and Kidney Stones
Moreover, the review by Kleiner (1999) showed a decreased incidence in certain cancers such as bladder, prostate, and kidney, for those subjects that stayed hydrated most of the time. The review also showed a decrease in kidney stones for properly hydrated subjects.
Therefore, even if you don't exercise much, staying hydrated will keep you healthier than those that don't drink enough water. Some people will aim for a gallon per day. You'll even see those people carrying around gallon jugs. At the very least, you should aim for 3 liters per day. However, if you exercise, especially outdoors, you may need more water. Remember the urine test: no odor and almost no color.
Furthermore, you don't have to get all your water from liquid. There are plenty of fruits that can help with water consumption. One of my favorites, especially in the summer, is watermelon. Watermelon can also be a great pre-workout snack because it may cause vasodilation which can improve oxygen delivery to your working muscles. Therefore, drink a tall glass of water, eat a slice of watermelon, and get moving!
Muscle Cramps
When and why do they happen? Muscle cramps come at the worse time and we're not exactly sure what causes them. But, we are certain that being properly hydrated can prevent, or at least delay the onset of exercise induced muscle cramping. A study by Jung et al. (2005) showed that muscle cramping could be delayed with the consumption of water and electrolytes during exercise. In the study, the subjects who drank water and electrolytes, delayed or prevented cramps, while the dehydrated subjects cramped much earlier. If you are working out, especially in the heat, make sure you remain properly hydrated.
As a reminder, sports drinks are a combination of water, sugar, and electrolytes. In case you are wondering, electrolytes is just a fancy word for salt. I would recommend sports drinks after 30 to 60 minutes of hard exercise, especially if you are sweating excessively.
When I work out, I usually have a sports drink ready to go. I will sip on a sports drink when I play golf, perform high intensity intervals, or even when I work out hard in the gym.
Sweating
So if staying hydrated is so important, then you may be wondering why our bodies sweat so much. Basically, our bodies try to maintain a constant temperature of about 98.6 degrees. When we get too hot, our bodies try to cool down by removing heat through sweat. The longer you work out, the more your body will continue to cool down by sweating.
Unfortunately, losing a lot of water through sweat does NOT mean we are losing weight properly. Wearing a sweatsuit and refusing to drink water is NOT a good idea. Your workouts will suffer and your weight loss will only be water loss. Instead, drink plenty of water and work out hard, so that your body will burn more fat throughout the day. I always say, work out as hard as you can for one hour. The best method of losing weight is a healthy diet and structured exercise. Gimmicks are NOT good for long term weight loss and improved health.
How Much Water?
The answer depends on you. Most adults should aim for roughly 3 liters of fluids daily, though individual needs vary based on body size, activity level, climate, and sweat rate. If you work or exercise outside, that number can approach up to 10 liters, especially in the hot summer sun. A scientific method would be to weigh yourself after sweating. You should replenish lost water at a rate of 1 pint per loss pound. So on your next workout, drink plenty of water, work hard, and replenish any lost water as quickly as possible.
Sources:
Kleiner, Susan M. Water: An Essential but Overlooked Nutrient. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Volume 99: Number 2. 1999.
Gopinathan, PM; G. Pichan; V.M. Sharma. Role of Dehydration in heat stress-induced variations in mental performance. Archives of Environmental Health. 1988; 43:15-17.
Jung, Alan P.; Phillip A. Bishop; Ali Al-Nawwas; R. Barry Dale. Influence of Hydration and Electrolyte Supplementation on Incidence and Time to Onset of Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps. Journal of Athletic Training (National Athletic Trainers’ Association). Apr-Jun2005, Vol. 40 Issue 2, p71-75.
Thornton, SN. Increased Hydration Can Be Associated with Weight Loss. Frontiers In Nutrition. 2016 Jun 10; Vol. 3, pp. 18.