Monday Fitness Fun Fact - Kind of long but GREAT article

Hydration strategies for ultimate energy: how water helps keep you afloat  Hunger gets all the glory. Large parts of your day are set aside to appease it. The lunch hour has reached near Constitutional inviolability. Chefs don't want their own restaurants anymore, they want their own TV series. Flip on the Food Network, and Emeril will show you how to make corned beef-and-cabbage strudel with a grain-mustard sauce.

But thirst, that's something different. You drink with your meal, not the other way around. While hunger growls to get your attention, thirst merely broods. It's unassuming, playing the supporting role while hunger takes all the curtain calls. Hunger is Penn; thirst is Teller. It's the other one.

But sometimes it's the quiet ones who cause all the trouble. And if you don't pay attention to thirst, you're courting trouble. You can survive a month without food, but you may not last a week withou****er. "Hydration is critical," says Steven Masley, medical director of the Pritikin Longevity Center in Aventura, Fla. "If you don't hydrate, you're going to feel tired."

Water constitutes about 75 percent of your body, so even a slight shortage puts a serious deficit in your horsepower. An insufficient amount of water in your system causes a reduction in blood volume, which means less oxygen gets to your working muscles. (A 2 percent loss in the water surrounding your cells can mean a 20 percent decrease in energy levels, according to Charlie Ryrie in his book The Healing Energies of Water.) In fact, some experts even contend that staying well-hydrated contributes to long-term high energy by helping to relieve enervating conditions such as arthritis, body aches, constipation, indigestion, ulcers and stress.

GETTING WET

You can avoid dehydration--and the accompanying drop in energy--by taking steps to protect yourself ahead of time. Follow these tips to keep your fluid intake above water:

* Drink two glasses of water first thing in the morning to help cleanse the kidneys and detoxify your system, says certified nutritionist Sherry Dell, Ph.D.

* While the traditional recommendation is to drink a minimum of eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day, better you should drink at least half your body weight in ounces daily, according to Fereydon Batmanghelidj, M.D., author of Your Body's Many Cries for Water. If you weigh 160 pounds, your daily intake should measure at least 80 ounces. That's 10 eight-ounce glasses a day (if you don't have a glass, one gulp equals about one ounce).

* Drink during exercise. You should consume six to eight ounces of water every 15 to 20 minutes while working out, especially if you are doing cardiovascular training in a warm climate.

* Avoid caffeinated sodas, tea and coffee, which actually leach fluid from your body with their diuretic effects. If you must have caffeine, follow it up with a water chaser just to stay in balance.

* Unless you're gearing up for an endurance event lasting more than 60 minutes or you're exercising in very warm weather, you won't need an energy drink to keep your electrolytes. Water will do the trick--and will allow you to save your calories for a hunger-vanquishing meal.

* Don't confuse hunger with thirst. How can you tell the two apart? Easy--drink a glass of water if you think you're hungry. If that satisfies you, it was thirst. As a preventative measure, reach for water before snacks and about half an hour before meals. You'll likely drop some extra weight as an added benefit.

* Cut back at the bar--alcohol can dehydrate you. Limit drinks to one or two beers or glasses of wine, and before turning in for the night, consume one glass of water for every glass of alcohol.

SUMMERTIME TIPS

When the mercury rises above about 80 degrees or the humidity is excessive, you need to take extra precautions.

* "If you're really going to be exerting yourself in a very hot climate, the risks of dehydration and hypovolemia [a decrease in blood volume] are magnified," says Jeffrey Lautman, M.D., chief of medicine at Euclid Hospital and director of dialysis at Euclid Dialysis Center in Cleveland, Ohio. "In dry climates, where your sweat evaporates quickly, you may not recognize that you are losing salt as well as water. In advance of your activity, you might want to consider taking a salt tablet along with liquids or an electrolyte-enriched drink."

* If your stomach rebels with vomiting or diarrhea, you're losing liquid plus minerals and electrolytes. "You better hit electrolyte-rich Gatorade and Tang in a big way," Lautman advises. "Whatever you think you need to drink, double it. The harm will come if you don't drink. In 15 years, I've never admitted anyone to the hospital with an overdose of Tang."

* To help prevent muscle cramps that accompany dehydration, Lautman recommends potassium and magnesium. He suggests taking a magnesium supplement called Slo-Mag (try two tablets before working out). Munch on potassium-rich baked potatoes (with the skin), prunes, dates and avocados.

THE SODIUM CONNECTION

Don't make a point of increasing your sodium intake to combat dehydration--unless you're an endurance athlete or training under the extreme conditions cited above. "In America, most people eat too much sodium," Lautman says. "I recommend everyone go as salt-free as possible, because they will still get plenty of salt hidden in the basic American diet."

A word of caution: If you lose your senses, or maybe a bet, and decide to run a marathon, you'll want to take steps to prevent hyponatremia, which can lead to death. This condition is caused by drinking too much water and consuming too little salt at times when urination is avoided (for example, during a running race). Excess water in the bloodstream and not enough water in excreted urine causes low blood sodium; symptoms include nausea, dizziness and fatigue.

Recommendations (from Lewis Maharam, M.D., medical director of the New York City Marathon) include:

* Drink one cup of water every 15 to 20 minutes along the course.

* Avoid nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory pain relievers (such as ibuprofen) that increase the risk of hyponatremia by decreasing blood flow to the kidneys and interfering with prostaglandin, a hormone whose functions include helping the kidneys maintain homeostasis (a balance of salt and water).

* Eat salty pretzels and salted bagels before a race.

LITTLE-KNOWN WATER BENEFITS

Like a miracle cure, water helps the body flush out toxins, improving its performance. Water also charges up joints and promotes longevity by boosting your overall health. Studies show good hydration helps prevent exercise-induced asthma and reduces the risk of kidney stones, bladder cancer, heart attacks and even strokes.

Like any fine-tuned machine, when you're well-lubed you can function at your peak, mentally as well as physically. At least three-quarters of your brain is water. Shorten the supply and you dull your senses--literally. So not only do your muscles need water, your brain does too. Sufficient hydration helps keep your cognitive thinking clear and your reflexes fast.

When you hydrate properly, you stand to enhance performance in yet one more important arena: the love chamber. Drinking lots of water, herbal teas and other non-diuretic fluids increases circulation and blood flow throughout the body, including the penis. "Dehydration decreases erectile performance," says Steven Masley, with the Pritikin Longevity Center in Aventura, Fla. "Water is nature's answer to Viagra."

SIGNS OF DEHYDRATION

How do you know if you're fluid-deprived? Symptoms of dehydration include clammy hands, headache, nausea and fatigue. You may also feel light-headed or dizzy, especially when moving from a lying or sitting position to standing up.

The classic signs of hydration--frequent urination and a pale-yellow flow--aren't necessarily reliable indicators of whether you need fluids, according to Jeffrey Lautman, M.D., director of dialysis at Euclid Dialysis Center in Cleveland, Ohio. How often a person pees is individual, says Lautman, and such things as B vitamins, caffeine, antibiotics and recreational drugs can affect the color of urine.

When your volume of urine decreases, that's a sign you're dehydrated (a healthy daily output would be enough to fill up a two-liter bottle). But measuring volume isn't an ideal way to check your hydration status, because, well, it's not easy to do.

Follow the guidelines given here for staying hydrated, and if you get tired of keeping track of how many ounces you've downed, just follow your thirst, says Lautman. "Forget the formulas. Drink plenty and your kidneys will sort it out. What you need, the body will absorb." Lisa Alcalay Klug