We haverepeated many times how important it is to
keeping hydrated
and give the
proper fluid intake
and mineral salts to our bodies, especially with a view to being able to run at our maximum capacity and not to go into distress in hot weather. Losing 2 percent of fluids during a physical activity can lead to serious acute and chronic problems, so it is critically important to keep this in mind. There is also to say-or rather to reiterate-that each of us has a personalized water intake and reacts differently to the stimuli that come from physical exertion or high temperatures, however the advice to drink at least two liters of water a day to keep us in a safe range for that famous 2%, is adaptable to any of us, an amount that goes up if we sweat a lot and so it is good to pay attention to these things:
Check your pee
I know, it’s not the nicest thing you can think of, yet our urine-especially our early morning urine-gives us so many clues if we pay attention to it. Dark, dense urine, for example, is a symptom of dehydration; normally it should be almost transparent or at most tending to straw yellow. If it happens once in a while it may simply be related to what we ate the night before (e.g., pizza or carbonara, since carbohydrates retain more water in the intestines and therefore less gets to the bladder), but if you notice it frequently, perhaps you are not drinking enough. Eh, and it’s also important how often you do it! Four or five a day is a good number.
Pinch your arms
Let me explain: take a bit of forearm skin with the thumb and forefinger of one hand, lift it up, and see how long it takes to come back into place. Under normal conditions, it should do so almost instantaneously. If you are able to see the movement of the skin repositioning, you may need to drink. Dry skin that slowly returns to its original position is a sign of dehydration.
Monitors heartbeats
If you have a Garmin or any other watch or instrument on your wrist that lets you know your heart rates more or less in real time, try to keep track of them by looking at daily reports and noting when you have low beats and when you have high beats. A consistent change in heart rates for no apparent reason could be related to insufficient water intake. Usually, beats increase and blood pressure drops, especially in hot weather and especially in women.
Cramps
We notice these mainly during physical activity, when we have started to sweat and fatigue. Cramps are the chief manifestation of dehydration, and they often go hand in hand with improper mineral salt replenishment. In addition to slowing down or stopping us, cramps should immediately make us think we have drunk an insufficient amount of water, and it is good to recover as soon as possible.
You are thirsty
It is said that during physical activity, by the time you feel thirsty, you are past the right time to drink. This is partly true, because if we feel the need to slow down or even stop to drink, it is clear that all the supplies our body could use have been used, and the water or drink you ingest will only be used in part to resume activity, because the body needs to replenish the supplies it has already used. If under normal conditions we are advised to drink 50 or 100 ml every four or five kilometers, when it is very hot these amounts should be doubled, and if we have reached the point of being thirsty, in addition to drinking, we should necessarily slow down, to give our body time to restart properly.
Technology can also help us stay hydrated, especially if we are a little distracted and happen to forget to drink. There are dozens of apps that act as timed reminders and can tell us when to drink, both for
iOS
and for
Android
, but also for the
Garmin
. They take up little space and do their job, so if you have trouble remembering to drink, try one of these allies.