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Hydration In Athletes

Decent Essays

Levi Mauldin
Suzanne Shumock
Composition 1
3rd October 2014

To Hydrate or not to Hydrate
All throughout an athletes life they are told to drink plenty of water, and replace their fluids. Athletes are told this enough to the point where it makes numbs them since they heard it so many times to the point where they forget the extreme importance of proper hydration, proper hydration. Proper hydration is not only key to optimum health, but also to great performance. Athletes are told to drink plenty of water, but do they really know why? It is this writer’s opinion that a greater understanding of proper hydration can lead to better health and performance for athletes and help spread awareness for dehydration and over hydration.
Why should people …show more content…

“The body loses moisture through perspiration as well as through respiration. Both of these processes speed up during exercise as the body works to cool itself down with sweat, which evaporates from the skin, taking heat with it, and by breathing harder to get extra oxygen to the muscles”(How Much Water Weight Can a Player Lose During a Game?). But you can replace all that lost water in surprising ways. “You can get some fluid through the foods you eat. For example, broth soups and other foods that are 85% to 95% water such as celery, tomatoes, oranges, and melons (Water: Meeting Your Daily Fluid Needs). Foods like fruits, vegetables, and soups combine to make up over 20%, on average, of your water intake every day (How to Increase Water Consumption If You Hate Water).With that being said it’s very important to keep hydrated or risk obtaining very serious medical issues. In an interview with Kevin Mauldin, a highly respected and award winning athletic trainer, he stated. “Hydration in athletes is the most important thing an athlete can do before a game. Hydration will keep the player cool and energized so that he can compete. If a player doesn’t hydrate enough, the risk of heat related symptoms become very likely” …show more content…

Heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and heat cramps are problems that coaches try and prevent every day at practice by taking water breaks, resting muscles, and taking off equipment so the players can cool off. One of the best ways a player can cool off is by sweating. Without water players can not sweat normally and therefore they can not cool off effectively. When a player is dehydrated that means that the player has lost a substantial amount of fluid in his system that makes the player unable to sweat. Not being able to sweat leads numerous amounts of heat related problems. Heat related illnesses and dehydration go hand in hand, but like most dehydration problems it is simply a matter of drinking more water to be able to regulate your body temperature

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