Unfortunately, many active people pay too little attention to including adequate fluids in their sports diet. They suffer needless fatigue and perform suboptimally. The following tips may help keep you well hydrated.

Preventing dehydration during training
On a daily basis, make sure that you drink adequate fluids. You can easily determine if you have had enough to drink by monitoring the amount and color of your urine.

1. You should urinate every 2 to 4 hours throughout the day. The urine should be a dear, lemonade color, and in significant quantity. If the urine is dark, concentrated and scanty, you need to consume more water, juice and other fluids. Note: If you take vitamin pills, your urine may be dark colored. Monitor hydration by the quantity of urine and darkness of color.

2. To increase awareness of your sweat losses during exercise, weigh yourself before and after a hard workout. Each pound lost represents one pound (16 oz) of sweat. During training, practice replacing it accordingly, and try to lose less than 2% of your weight.

3. You don't have to drink only water for fluids. Juice, sports drinks, soft drinks, and watery foods such as yogurt, oranges, lettuce, and melon all have a high water content that contributes to your overall fluid balance.

4. Be aware that coffee, tea, beer, and alcohol have a dehydrating effect; they cause you to urinate and lose fluids. Hence, if you choose to drink beverages with alcohol or caffeine, do so after having first quenched your thirst with other fluids. That is, drink two large glasses of water, then have a beer, if desired.

Fluids before hard endurance exercise
1. The day before, drink extra water, juice and other fluids to be sure your body is well hydrated.

2. The morning of the event, drink at least 16 ounces of fluids up to two hours prior to the start. Because the kidneys require 45 to 90 minutes to process liquids, two hours allows adequate time to empty your bladder before the start of the event.

3. Five or ten minutes before start-time, "tank up" on another 8 to 16 ounces of water or sports drink.

Fluids during hard exercise
1. Drink as much water, sports drink, or diluted juice as you can tolerate, ideally 8 to 10 ounces every 20 minutes. Because you may be sweating off three times this amount, you may still have a fluid deficit.

2. Prevent dehydration by drinking adequate fluids early in the event. Drink before you get thirsty! By the time your brain signals ihirst, you will have lost 1% of your body weight (1.5 lbs or 3 cups of sweat for a 150 pound person). By 296 dehydration (3 lbs. sweat loss), you have reduced work capacity by 10 to 15%.

Fluids after exercise
1. Drink to quench your thirst, and then drink even more. Because the thirst mechanism inadequately indicates whether or not you've taken enough fluids, you'll have to tell by monitoring your urine. If several hours pass without your having to urinate, you are still dehydrated. Keep drinking!

2. Juices (such as orange, apple, cranberry) replace not only fluid but also offer more carbohydrates than you'd get from a sports drink. Drinking 16 to 24 ounces within one hour postexercise can help you quickly recover from a hard workout.

Water vs. Sports Drinks
For the recreational athlete, water is always appropriate. Water is convenient, familiar, and satisfies your body's needs. For highly competitive athletes who exercise intensely for an hour, and for endur ance athletes who expend large amounts of energy for more than 60 to 90 minutes, a sports drink, dilute . . or soft drink that contains 50 to 80 calories per 8 ounces offers an energy advantage. Taken during exercise, they can enhance stamina and endurance. Be sure to experiment during training to learn which fluids settle best in your stomach.

Sodium Replacement
Sweat contains not only water but also small amounts of sodium (and other electrolytes) that keep your body in fluid balance. You lose small amounts of sodium when you sweat, but you do not deplete your body's stores, except possibly under extreme circumstances such as exercising for more than 4 to 6 hours in the heat. Hence, you can easily replace the losses after exercise by eating pretzels, yogurt, pizza, and other standard foods. Commercial fluid replacement drinks are generally weak sources of sodium compared to what you get in your recovery meal. The sodium is added to enhance fluid absorption and retention, not to replace losses.

Copyright: Nancy Clark, MS, RD SportsMedicine Brookline, Brookline, MA 02167 Reprint permission granted with proper credit.