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To Hydrate or Not to Hydrate

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DirkRocks
DirkRocks Posts: 34 Member
in Debate Club
I've heard that it is just big business telling us to hydrate all the time so they can make a buck, when all that is really needed is to just follow your body's que and just drink when thirsty. Any thoughts?
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Replies

  • DirkRocks
    DirkRocks Posts: 34 Member
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    Thanks for your feed back
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,135 Member
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    I drink when I'm thirsty and I drink soda pop when I need to relieve gas pressure.
  • Raptor2763
    Raptor2763 Posts: 387 Member
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    I TRY and drink half my body weight in ounces of water. I use an infuser bottle and put fruit (eg blueberries, peaches, whatever) to cut the boring taste of plain water.
  • chrmad
    chrmad Posts: 8 Member
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    Unless it's hot and you are doing a lot of moving around you can listen to your body and be fine.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Your piss should be clear to pale yellow if you're hydrated...

    "A happy mountaineer voids clear."
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Drink when thirsty, look at your pee if you are not sure about your ability to tell. (I don't understand the idea that we need rules about drinking water. Drinking when thirsty is a basic survival skill. Maybe when working out on a hot day some don't think about it enough.)

    Oh, and tap is probably fine and I doubt anyone is getting rich off it. I drink tap.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    As our field doc famously stated - "Your urine should be gin clear".
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    stevencloser wrote: »
    Big Water?

    Follow the money!
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
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    dirkrocks wrote: »
    I've heard that it is just big business telling us to hydrate all the time so they can make a buck, when all that is really needed is to just follow your body's que and just drink when thirsty. Any thoughts?

    I'm never thirsty. Ever. However, I've had terrible kidney problems throughout my life due to not drinking enough water. Definitely thinking that hydration is the better option, doesn't matter if your body tells you it's thirsty or not. Totally different than food.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    I think you may be conflating the ads for sports drinks (hydrate and replace electrolytes) with the recommendations for staying hydrated.

    Yes, the places that sell sports drinks and electrolyte replacement drinks are making money from people thinking that if you sweat at all, you should be replacing electrolytes frequently - and that their products are necessary. The commercials are often geared to give that impression.

    There is no need to drink sports drinks like Gatorade. Mostly, people aren't exercising hard enough or long enough to really need that kind of regular electrolyte replacement. And for those who are, a pinch of electrolytes in water will do the trick just as well and be a lot cheaper.
  • DirkRocks
    DirkRocks Posts: 34 Member
    edited September 2016
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    Thanks for all the info. Sorry I was not specific, I ment to refer to Sports Hydration Drinks...
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    I have a short bike loop I do after work when I have other stuff to spend my time on. It's 7 miles and takes about 30 minutes. That burns about 200 calories - this is measured with a power meter, not estimated. During heat waves, I sweat enough to need electrolytes in my water.

    A bottle of Gatoraide is about 200 calories. That undoes all weight maintenance for the whole ride. A Nuun tab is about 5 calories, and has the same benefit, but without the weird taste.

    7528278_0340_0340.jpg
  • jessiferrrb
    jessiferrrb Posts: 1,758 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    There's a lot of woo around hydration when it's really very simple.
    We have a perfectly good (for most people) mechanism for telling us when to drink - thirst.

    As @cwolfman13 says you also have a very good indicator of hydration levels. Unless you are drinking beetroot juice or silly levels of vitamin C.

    There was an interesting Australian study into exercise and hydration levels that concluded it's not as vital to exercise performance as we have been led to believe. They used IV drips to hydrate (or not) to exclude the placebo effect.

    Some elite cyclists deliberately train and compete slightly dehydrated to improve power to weight ratios.
    I sometimes weigh before/after a particularly long and hot ride to get an idea of how much fluid I've lost as I'm an elite level sweater when exercising in hot conditions. A 2lb loss in a few hours doesn't affect my riding, just makes me a bit unpleasant to be around. :wink:



    i do this too after running sometimes, i think i'm a sweat class below you because i usually only lose 1.5 pounds of sweat. lol
  • born_of_fire74
    born_of_fire74 Posts: 776 Member
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    Stick with water IMHO. Unless you are a high performance athlete, you will rarely need to specifically replenish your electrolytes. Meanwhile, sports drinks contain either artificial sweeteners, which I avoid for the nasty taste, or 40-50g of high fructose corn syrup to the tune of 200 or so calories and I do not find it worthwhile to drink calories these days.

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