Hydration, why so crucial

We all know without water the body will die, scientist have proven that with no fluid intake one would cease to exist after roughly 1 week. Which is interesting since we are said to be able to survive up to 3 weeks without food. When you body is lacking water in large quantities the cells begin to shrink, your organs will cease to function, and oxygen can no longer be transferred around the body. If we were to take a look at hydration on a less rash scale and see what happens to the body when simply we are not drinking enough water as we should on a day to day scale the results may surprise you.

Keeping your hydration levels up to optimum standards will benefit the follow:

  • Regulating body temperature through sweating
  • Aiding in digestion by forming saliva and breaking down food through the gut
  • Helping the brain make and use certain hormones
  • Moistening mucous membranes
  • Assisting the balance of pH in the body
  • Delivering oxygen throughout the body
  • Lubricating joints and the spinal cord
  • Transport toxins out of the cells
  • Eliminating waste through urine

Keeping these points in mind before your next gym workout, we should all stop and think, “how much water have I consumed today”? This could be the difference from making that extra kilometre on the treadmill or busting out that extra rep during your weights. How so?

When it comes to cardiovascular training it is important to remember water helps deliver oxygen through your body, therefore the less water you drink the more challenging it will be for you to exercise.

Also, water helps maintain your body temperature and when preforming intense cardio vascular exercises the body must produce sweat to lower your body temperature. You may have seen professional athletes in sporting games faint or pass out, the most common cause of this is due to dehydration. The body can only produce so much sweat before there is not enough liquid in the body.

During resistance training your body contracts your muscles to preform a movement, if your muscles are dehydrated your ability to lift the weight will become increasingly difficult. Not only does insufficient water stores in the body create power to the muscles, it also reduces the brains ability to control the amount of force exhorted, therefore telling you to “stop”.

Plan ahead or prepare to fail. The day before your next workout, start hydrating your body and increasing your fluid intake. Your best and healthiest option is water of course, the purest form of liquid available to mankind. Although there is a lot of supplements on the market that claim to increase your hydration status, planning ahead and increasing your water load eliminates the need to need to resort to chemically adapted substances.