Drink up, friends! Keeping hydrated is so important to your overall health and to making your workouts the most beneficial. Water cushions your joints and being dehydrated impacts your joint health. Inadequate hydration can also lead to mood and cognitive reductions, causing difficulty focusing and concentrating. Hydration is also important to elimination of waste, and supporting the health of your internal organs. To sum up, keeping hydrated helps you feel good, think well, and move well. So how can you make sure that you’re keeping well hydrated?
Drink Early
Start your day with a drink of water. If you start working on your hydration goals early in the day, it will be easier to stay on top of it all day. If you start your day with coffee, drink a cup of water first. While caffeine is a diuretic (meaning it increases urine production, which will use water from your body), drinking coffee doesn’t cause dehydration. However, water still provides benefits that coffee doesn’t, so drink a bit of water before your morning coffee.
Focus on Water
While other drinks are tasty, water is your best bet for keeping your hydration levels up. The best way to tell if you’re hydrated enough is keeping an eye on the color of your pee. Urine should be pale straw colored, so if it looks darker than that, drink more water. There are many different recommendations out there for how much water to drink in a day, but the reality is that needs vary a lot depending on body size and composition, medications, temperature and humidity in the environment, how much you sweat, and more. Rather than trying to give you a flat number that may not be accurate to your circumstances, pay attention to your urine color and that will give you the information you need on hydration.
Make it Convenient
Keep a drink of water close at hand at all times. Make it a container you will enjoy drinking from. For many people, a straw helps you to drink more. Straws promote bigger sips and faster consumption, so this can be a small but helpful change to get yourself drinking more. If you love a specific goal, get a large cup with time markers on it. If adding some flavor to your water will help you drink more, consider lemon, mint, or berries to give your water a little flavor boost.
Is a sports drink necessary?
Most sports drinks contain sugar (like glucose or another simple carbohydrate), and electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium). Some also contain vitamins intended to support energy levels (but not caffeine). The general rule of thumb is that a sports drink is not necessary until after about an hour of vigorous exercise. A sports drink might add unnecessary sugar to your diet. There are lower sugar sports drink options. Again, this is highly variable depending on how much you sweat, and the composition of your sweat. If you see salt rings on your clothing after intense activity, you probably should add something to replenish your sodium and other electrolytes. If you find that you feel good drinking plain water, that is probably adequate to meet your needs.
Drink During Rest Breaks
In the gym, sip on water during your rest breaks between sets. Getting into this habit will help you to keep hydrated during your workout. Sipping between sets will help to sustain energy and recovery throughout your workout. This will add up to minimize dehydration from your workout. Instead of taking a little scroll on the ‘gram, try a sip of water!
At the end of the day, staying hydrated is one of the simplest but most powerful things you can do for your health and performance. From sharper focus and better mood to healthier joints and stronger training sessions, water really does make a difference. The trick is finding the small daily habits that make hydration easy and sustainable for you. If you’d like some extra support, our nutrition coach can help you build a personalized plan that fits your lifestyle. Schedule a free No-Sweat Intro, and let’s chat about how we can make hydration work for your goals, whether that’s lifting heavier, feeling better, or just moving through your day with more energy!
