Hydrating, likediet, is extremely important in fitness and in sport in general. If the bodydoes not get enough calories during physical effort, it can take them from itsown ‘deposits’ of adipose tissue, or even from the muscular proteins; but whenwater is insufficient, things are much more complicated and there are biggerrisks for the body.
Water is involved in all the metabolic processes, so not providing the bodywith enough liquid can have as a consequence perturbation of the bio-chemicalreactions, which directly influences the effectiveness of the training and eventhe practitioner’s state of health.
Physical effort, especially the aerobic one, leads to dehydration throughperspiration (which regulates the temperature of the body, preventingover-heating). There is a very strict rule which imposes drinking water(liquid) before, during and after physical effort. Besides regulating the bodytemperature, correct hydrating helps eliminating the toxic substances resultedduring and after the training (urea, sodium, etc.) easier; hydration acts likea ‘means of transport’ through perspiration and urine. Thus, the metabolism ofblood sugar, lipids and proteins is developed in good conditions, ensuringcontraction force for short time and especially for resistance efforts.
There is also the opposite of dehydration – over hydration, due to excessiveconsume of water. In this situation, besides the inconvenient of very frequenturination, the blood vessels are overloaded and this leads to making the workof the heart, which must provide a much too big volume of pumping, moredifficult. As a consequence, the effectiveness of the training is hindered andthe sport performance does not get to the expected level. The sensation of‘heavy body’ can also appear for the practitioner of common fitness.
As for the type of liquids, the sportsman must supervise the level of effortwhich produces dehydration and melting of the glycogen reserves. Besides water,the practitioner can use isotonic drinks, (which have an electrolyticcomposition similar to the one of the body) or liquids containing sugar easyand quick to absorb by the body (fructose, glucose, dextrose, etc.). All ofthese can contribute to fast restore of the glycogen reserves of the body. Itis advisable to drink the liquids in small and frequent doses, so that the bodyassimilates them better and they do not briskly overload the body duringeffort.
Both in over hydrating and in dehydrating, there is the risk of ‘putting towork’ too much the renal excretory function. Over hydrating can have as aconsequence significant elimination of electrolytes, which are precious for thebody (potassium, sodium, iron, zinc, etc), and they need to be replaced fromsources as natural as possible (fruit, vegetables, mineral water, etc.). Incase of dehydrating, the volume of urine will be severely diminished becausethe body will try to retain mineral salts and vitamins. Besides unwanted deposits,renal lithiasis, gout, etc., a very severe consequence of this effort of thebody to retain liquid is renal blocking.
Correct hydrating involves a certain discipline, which means that liquids mustbe consumed repeatedly during the day, not only during physical effort. Aperson must not get to feel thirst. This is only a very late alarm, signalingthat the right quantity of water has been missing from the body for a couple ofhours. Except while eating and immediately after, in order not to perturb digestionby excessive diluting, a real prophylaxis of dehydrating and over hydrating canbe made through correct, constant and preventive consume of liquids.
