Dehydration, Over-hydration, and electrolytes

The effects of dehydration:

Dehydration can simply mean that we’re not drinking enough water to go about our daily life activities.  Often it means means that we are losing more water than we are taking in.  

As the percent of body water loss increases, the consequences become more severe: 

0.5%: Increased strain on heart

1%: Reduced aerobic endurance

3%: Reduced muscular endurance

4%: Reduced muscle strength, reduced motor skills, heat cramps

5%; Heat exhaustion, cramping, fatigue, reduced mental capacity

6%: Physical exhaustion, heatstroke, coma

10-20%: Death

But why? Because your blood plasma is mostly water, when you sweat you lower your blood volume.  The lower the blood volume, the harder the heart has to work to move blood through the body.  As a result, heart rate increases to meet the demand. 

Symptoms of acute dehydration: 

Usually you don’t notice your thirst until you’ve lost about 1-2% of your body water.  Unfortunately as the numbers above indicate, you will have already started to suffer from a performance standpoint.  Beyond 2% you will start to notice more serious symptoms like:

• Headache

• Fatigue

• Low Blood Pressure

• Dizziness / Fainting

• Nausea

• Flushing

• Rapid heart rate

You may recognize a lot of these symptoms if you’ve ever suffered from a hangover!

Possible complications from chronic dehydration have been shown to lead to:

• Dispepsia

• Arthritis

• Migrane headaches

• High Blood Pressure

• High Cholesterol

• Increased susceptibility to stress and depression
  
  

The effects of overhydration (hyponatremia):

Hyponatremia means having too much water relative to sodium content.  Our body prefers to keep blood sodium (and all electrolytes) in a narrow range.  Athletes tend to be at risk for hyponatremia, the fears of dehydration sometimes spur athletes to drink too much by mistake.  While hydration is important, there IS too much of a good thing!  

Risk factors of hyponatremia: 

Athletes are more are risk for hyponatremia because of their fear of dehydration and over consumption of plain water instead of a balanced electrolyte drink.  

Other instances that are high risk for hyponatremia are water drinking contests and raves or other situations where people are taking Ecstasy 

Hyponatremia prevention:

While fluid replacement is crucial, avoid over-drinking or guzzling a lot of water at once.

Plain water is generally fine under normal exercise conditions are short and not very intense. 

When replacing a lot of fluid, consider an electrolyte solution instead of plain water. 

But what are electrolytes? 

Every process in our body depends on electrolytes.  We need them and we need them in the right balance.

Electrolytes are minerals such as potassium, sodium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium that carry an electrical charge when dissolved in water.  These charged ions conduct currents that let fluid pass through cellular membranes.  

If you are sweating a lot you need to replace both fluid and electrolytes.  

Situations when to consider electrolyte enhanced drinks:

Hot, dry, and or high altitude climates, which increase fluid needs and electrolyte losses

Repeated bouts of training (multiple training sessions in one day or tournament competition

• Endurance training

• High intensity training

• Professional and elite athletes

In Summary:

One of the biggest trends in health and fitness lately has focused on hydration and water consumption. This is no surprise since the human body is anywhere from 50-60 percent water.  Water forms the base of almost every cell in the human body.  It is essential for everything that takes place in the body.  Water is especially crucial in metabolism and energy production which is potentially one of the reasons the health and fitness world has pushed it so hard.

    Not drinking enough water can have serious health consequences. Mild dehydration can cause headaches, muscle cramps, dizziness, among others. Severe dehydration can cause rapid heartbeat, low blood pressure, loss of elasticity in skin, even confusion and delirium.  On top of these things, in a hot climate like Columbia, dehydration can easily lead to heat exhaustion, another dangerous situation you want to avoid. 

    Drinking too much water can also have negative consequences. In the body, almost all the water is mixed with electrolytes like sodium, potassium, magnesium, etc. The balance of these electrolytes in your cells is what is most important.  When you drink too much water without replacing the electrolytes, the electrolytes become diluted and the cells drown. While this is something that rarely happens, it is always a good idea to make sure that you are getting enough electrolytes with your water.  Adding some good quality salt, or magnesium like the one we have at the gym, to a big bottle of water will do wonders! 

Here we some tips we came up with  in our past hydration challenges:

• Take 10 big gulps everytime you grab your cup to drink some water. 

• Set milestone deadlines throughout the day, finish my first bottle by x time, second by x.

• Earn your glass of wine with a glass or water. Before you pull out the corkscrew, fill up and drain that glass of water.

• Don't like toting a water bottle around? Keep a separate bottle in the locations you frequent most often. Have a bottle for your house, one for your office, and an one for in transit that you use in the car, at the gym, at the movies, etc.

• Invest in a nice water bottle that you'll actually use.

• Class it up: Add some jazz to your water with a slice of lemon or lime or a sprig of mint.

• Earn your morning coffee with 8-16 ounces of water. Before you can take your first sip of your coffee, you've got to finish that glass of water.

• Make it a game: How can you incentivize your progress? For every day you hit your water intake goal, you get a point and when you accumulate 10 points you earn a ____________.

• Pour your daily intake into a large container like an old gallon jug and use that to refill your cup.

• Try switching it up with Seltzer water or club soda every once in a while, a can of La Croix can quickly 

• become your mid-afternoon 12-ounce indulgence!

• If you love apps, check out apps like Water Reminder or Water tracker. If you aren't into apps, try a 1 hour timer that you keep resetting to remind you to take a few sips of water.

• Bottoms-up! Use a dry erase marker on your reusable water bottle and on the bottom (or somewhere you won't rub it off) tally the amount of bottles it will take to meet today's water intake. Every time you drain your bottle, mark off one notch.

• Drink 8 ounces 20-30 minutes before each meal.