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A dehydrated swimmer

Dehydration


There's a new-to-me vocabulary: osmolality, which means measures of dehydration that trainers and coaches regularly check among their athletes along with gravity.

Ever heard of a dehydrated swimmer? A blind optometrist just whisked through. Samuel Taylor Coleridge too. "Water, water everywhere... and not a drop to drink."

Swimming is a sport reported to be more likely to put athletes in danger of dehydration. Yes, the awareness exists: swimmers are in the midst of water or where else could they be. But I had that somewhat ironic how. Then the sense: swimmers can't grab a sip while performing thus they are more at risk for dehydration than other athletes. Indeed!

Christine Gerbstadt, a registered dietician and anesthesiologist explains that "if an athlete's event is an hour long or less, they shouldn't drink water during the competition. If it's more than an hour, the amount of water they should drink depends on the temperature, humidity and how much they actually perspire." She also warns that 'athletes should not go overboard on fluids.' "It's actually better to be under-hydrating than taking in too much fluid."

A note from experts for non-athletes: you may not experience the same athletic demands for Olympians but here's a tip for those who exercise. Weigh yourself before and after your workout. "The decrease in weight will represent the amount of lost fluid." A pound lost needs to be replaced with 24 ounces of fluid if you want to perform well.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia
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Comments

  1. Coincidence? I cannot stop but to comment here as soon as I've seen the photo in your post and said to myself that I think I've seen it already. You can check it out the link though. lol

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  2. Good share, i never knew about the swimmer not allowed to drink for a certain period .

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  3. It's a Wiki photo. Chances that it's going to be borrowed and credited by many are well... many. lol

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  4. Just enough fluids is good for me. :)

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  5. I'm no swimmer nor an athlete, but I've always found myself dehydrated :( I've recently aimed to turn things around though so I make sure to always take in 8 glasses of water, or even more.. :)

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  6. ooh, i really lack water on my daily diet. I think i need to be consistent about it because water is really important in our body. thanks for this ideas.

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  7. It's true with the swimming, I used to train competitively and even though we're in the water, we still get thirsty, I believe more so than being on land.

    “Water, water everywhere… and not a drop to drink.” I had this thought when our house got flooded. There was water everywhere but thoure dogs can't drink them because its dirty, or they try to but I stop them. Hehehe.

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  8. Proper hydration is very important in any sport and if you have too much of it, you end up getting heavy and struggling.

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  9. This is interesting. I've been suffering from headache lately and my aunt said I might be dehydrated. Now I'm making sure to drink lots of water in a day. Thank you for this info! :)

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  10. Hubby and I always have a bottle of water whenever we go swimming.

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  11. I read somewhere that too much water can be risky too because it can dilute your body fluids so much.

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  12. "Weigh yourself before and after your workout. “The decrease in weight will represent the amount of lost fluid.” A pound lost needs to be replaced with 24 ounces of fluid if you want to perform well." - i did not know this, i'll keep this in mind from now on :)

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  13. i also didn't know this. most of us forget that swimming is just like an ordinary sport that the athlete also "perspire" and needs to be hydrated. thanks for this info. it was also read by my FB friend was also thankful. :)

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