are you drinking enough water?

[jubei33]

:deadhorse I’m pretty sure this is beating a dead horse, but are you? Last week while I was at work I almost feinted after standing up (orthostatic hypotension; see 1), something that had previously not happened to me before. After my head cleared I was worried that the cause might be something serious. I ran through the symptoms in my head trying to find a specific culprit. “Do I have high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, —Addison’s disease!?” I thought. My training regiment hadn’t changed, but a thought occurred to me: my diet had. Recently, I had increased my protein consumption by drinking a whey shake after my workouts. Nothing strange or wrong with that, but what I didn’t realize at the time was that I had to also increase my intake of water as well to compensate for the extra protein. It is estimated that for every k/cal of food you eat you must obtain 1ml of water to replace your water lost. <2> Thus, a diet of 2500 k/cal suggests about 2.5 L of water from both food and drink (most of your dietary water comes from the food you eat).

Another important thing to note is its also what you drink and eat that’s important. ‘Salted’ drinks like soda require more water to deal with the excess salt. This goes double for caffeinated drinks like coffee and tea and those redbull-esque energy drinks as caffeine is a diuretic. Alcohol also has similar effects by inhibiting the production of vasopressin, a hormone used to conserve body water. The importance of reading labels and being aware of what’s inside goes without saying. For example, in coke products there is usually around 50mg of sodium as well as a small amount of caffeine. <3> Energy drinks usually are infused with as much caffeine as a cup of coffee (some in Japan have more).

In my case, dehydration snuck up on me before I realized it. I work at a school, so this permits only early morning and evening workout times. The night before I had a three-hour workout during which I drank about 1.5-2L of water. I ate a light dinner that consisted of rice, fish, pickled vegetables and my protein shake (21g). The next day I had my usual breakfast of oats, yoghurt, chopped fruit and another protein shake. On the way to work I also had a small coffee and milk. The combination of the protein, coffee and good workout the night before caused my situation to degrade before I realized it. High protein diets especially have a higher requirement for water than their ordinary counterparts. This is primarily because while the excess protein is converted to either fat or sugar by the body, the extra urea produced by this conversion requires more water to excrete it as urine. A recent study done at the University of Connecticut found that hydration needs increased as the amount of dietary protein increased. What’s more is that the participants in the study did not realize they were any thirstier than with their previous diet. <4 & 5> For me, the 2L or so of water was fine before, but the extra protein I added in my diet changed my needs enough to create a potentially bad situation. I hope this was helpful for someone.


1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthostatic_hypotension
2. http://www.water.org.uk/home/water-f...k-about/adults
3. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/4...on.html---coke
4. http://advance.uconn.edu/2002/020429/02042904.htm
5. http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/s...indehydrat.htm

[supercrap]

Yes dude... Drinking enough water is soooo important and not enough people do it.

It also makes a difference to me in daily life... If I drink a few litres of water one day, the next day I can get up early and feel good. If I don't drink enough water, the next day is always a drag to get out of bed and I'm sluggish.

Drinking enough water also stops your sweat from smelling like ammonia. (It can happen, trust me--and it sucks. I found out if you are don't take in enough carbs or water before a workout, your body produces ammonia as a side effect to something or other, and it comes out in your sweat, making you smell like horse piss.)

In conclusion, drink lots of water.

[Asriel]

My sweat always smells like that, am I doing something wrong?

[Hannibal]

Drink about 1 to 1.5 litres of water per day. Most importantly as soon as you get up in the morning, head to the kitchen and have 2 glasses of water. Best thing ever.

[jubei33]

Drinking enough water also stops your sweat from smelling like ammonia. (It can happen, trust me--and it sucks. I found out if you are don't take in enough carbs or water before a workout, your body produces ammonia as a side effect to something or other, and it comes out in your sweat, making you smell like horse piss.)

yeah thats a good point too. The idea is to have muscles fueled by simple carbs rather than protein during a workout. With the ammonia smell, It doesnt necessarily mean that youre cannabalizing muscle, but there is that chance.

"why yes that is me, Do you like my new scent?"

[Seraphim]

Ancient Romans use to have a big glup of water for breakfest before they went to work.


So um..yeah. Drink Plenty of water.

[Judah Maccabee]

The diuretic effect from drinking tea is negligible.

[hl1978]

I like many of you drink lots of water. What I have noitced while in japan on numerous occasions is that people don't seem to drink nearly the volume of water. Given the supposed healthiness of the japanese diet, I wonder the effects of the limited liquid consumption. When you order food, you don't recieve much water at all, while vending machines and convenence stores are ubiquitious (yet you don't see many people drinking those beverages in public, i believe it is a cultural thing).

[RedGonzo]

Good thread.

Another issue associated with dehydration is muscle cramps.

Here's a link:

http://www.medicinenet.com/muscle_cramps/page2.htm

[jubei33]

The diuretic effect from drinking tea is negligible.

Thats a good point, I should have made the distinction. That is true with some teas like green tea, but also some black teas have more caffiene in them than a cup of coffee. Things like chai (which I like alot) have enough caffiene to make it an issue.

What I have noitced while in japan on numerous occasions is that people don't seem to drink nearly the volume of water. Given the supposed healthiness of the japanese diet, I wonder the effects of the limited liquid consumption. When you order food, you don't recieve much water at all.

Yeah I noticed that too. They look at me like I'm crazy at school when I have my 2L on my desk. I get lots of comments about it being too hot for foreigners and such. A lot of times they tend to replace a cup of water with a soup like miso soup or if they eat udon they wont drink anything at all. Im guessing that rice actually has a lot of water in it and that that might replace some of their liquid water need (strictly for ordinary joe).