Proper hydration is important to keep the body functioning at its max
You can use your urine color to assess your hydration status
You need at least 1.5 L (51 oz or 6-8 cups) of water per day
Caffeinated drinks and Alcohol can dehydrate you as you drink
Dehydration during sports can lead to decreased mental and physical performance
Hydration is the key to life. We cannot last more than 3 days without water (1). This is because our body uses water to function every muscle, every organ, and every cell in our body properly and efficiently. If we do not stay hydrated, our bodies will shut down completely.
How do we assess hydration status? There are a lot of fancy ways to do this, but the easiest and cheapest way is based on urine colour (2). Gross, I know, but hear me out. It is super simple if you know what to look for, and a quick look in the toilet before you flush can tell you a lot about what is going on in your body. There is a urine colour scale that is ranked 1 to 8 with 1 being pale yellow, diluted urine, and 8 being dark brown, concentrated urine (2). Euhydration, meaning properly hydrated, is set at 4, the middle of the scale (2). This easy telltale sign has been around for years and can give you immediate feedback on your hydration status.
Now that we know how to tell if we are hydrated, the next question is how do we hydrate daily and after or during sports/activity to keep ourselves out of a dehydration state? The main drink everyone goes for is water, but how much water do we need to drink? It is found in the research that an average adult should drink about 1.5L of water per day (3). For my American friends, that is about 51 oz or 6-8 cups. This does not account for activity, just the bare minimum, so if you are an active individual, think about drinking some more! Since that is just a general rule of thumb, to make it more individual to you it has been found to “drink half your body weight in ounces (4). For example, if you are 180lb focus on drinking 90 oz of water per day! And don't forget about electrolytes! When we sweat we also lose sodium and potassium which is essential for nerve and muscle function so it is important to drink one serving of electrolytes per day, so mix it in with one of your many glasses of water.
Did you know there are certain fluids that can actually dehydrate us if we drink them too much? Any type of fluid that has caffeine in it should not count towards your daily hydration intake (4). That’s because caffeine is a diuretic, which means it pushes water into your kidneys making you go to the bathroom more. That means your coffee, caffeinated teas, energy drinks (bang, celsius, Monsters), and caffeinated pops (Pepsi, Coke, Moutain Dew). Alcohol also falls into this category as it is a very potent diuretic (4).
If you're still reading it means you are serious about your hydration, so I figured I’d give some reasons why hydration is so important. In relation to physical performance, it is noted that in mild conditions, athletes can lose up to 2% of their body weight in sweat, and can increase to 6-10% depending on the environment and the activity/sport being played (5). Under mild levels of dehydration, an athlete participating in rigorous activities will experience a decrease in endurance, an increase in fatigue, altered thermoregulatory capability (control of how hot you get), reduced motivation, and an increase in the effort to perform tasks of the sport (5). On the mental side of things, the brain can also be affected by dehydration. Mild dehydration and alter mood and cognitive function (5). What does that mean? It means that when you are dehydrated from poor hydration habits or participating in sports, it can alter concentration, alertness, short-term memory, perception, math skills, and tracking moving objects, to list a few (5). Bottom line, if you want to perform at your best physically and mentally, STAY HYDRATED!!
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325174#:~:text=As%20a%20general%20rule%20of,age
Baron, Stephanie, et al. "Assessment of hydration status in a large population." British Journal of Nutrition 113.1 (2015): 147-158.
Jéquier, Eric, and Florence Constant. "Water as an essential nutrient: the physiological basis of hydration." European journal of clinical nutrition 64.2 (2010): 115-123.
https://becomepowerful.com/how-to-hydrate-why-its-important/
Popkin, Barry, and Rosenberg, Irwin. "Water, Hydration and Health." Nutrition Reviews, vol. 68, no. 8, 2010, p. 439, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.2010.00304.x.
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