We all know what it’s like to feel dehydrated. The lip curling, dry mouth, light stomach pains after your workout. Chances are around this time you’ve already lost about 2 to 5% of your bodyweight.
Great I’ve lost weight, or wait…. Is it?

Well let’s look at some of the facts; your body is made up of almost 75% of water.  So when you become dehydrated, it can effective everything from your training, health, and diet regimen.

How so?

Overall water makes your body work on all levels, without it you can’t function properly. Water is in your digestive system, it’s in your blood and it helps to keep your body cool. When we get overheated we sweat as a measure to cool our bodies down. Without the proper hydration we can’t sweat leaving us building up harmful toxins.  

So what the heck causes dehydration?

Unless you were born under a rock and kept in a bubble room, chances are you already somewhat know what causes dehydration. But for those of you that still don’t, here are a few reasons what cause it.

Vomiting,, diarrhea, blood loss, malnutrition, and the most common is failure to replenish your body with liquids after sweating and urinating. Most of the time the cause of the last 2 are because of a workout, extreme heat, or simply not drinking enough water after a long day’s work.

Why is it important to stay hydrated?

Obviously, if you don’t stay hydrated your putting yourself in harm’s way.  If your body isn’t functioning at a 100%, then you won’t get the results you’re looking for, and you’re also risking the chance of getting hurt in the process.

I personally drink a lot of water when I’m in the gym; I sweat a ton as well. Some people in the gym don’t like to drink water because they complain of the bloating it gives them. I’m usually like, “seriously, get your ass to the water fountain and stop making excuses”.

To put it in simple terms think of this. Why do you think when you go to the doctor, he/she always tells you to drink plenty of water? Water flushes out the toxins, therefore it helps keep you clean and healthy.

Here are some of the symptoms of dehydration at certain levels…
2% water loss
Skin flushed
Urine has dark color and bubbly
Mouth is dry
Dry skin
Fatigue
Chills
Head rushes
Lightheadedness
Water loss at 5%
Heart rate increase
Trouble breathing
Less urination
Extreme fatigue
Muscle cramps and tingling
Water loss at 10%
Muscle spasms
Seizures
Extreme dizziness
Vomiting
Confusion
Chest pain
Could potentially lead to DEATH!

How much water should I drink?

So to start off, you should know a few things first. We lose about 3 liters of water every day through normal activity. So if you don’t work out all you have to do is replenish what you lost, fair enough right?

But, if you work out, you’re going to lose much more than that, it’s time to refill those workout bottles. It’s been said that you can lose up to as much as 2 liters per workout hour, depending on how strenuous your workout is. That’s a ton of water that we need to be replacing if you think about it. How many of you actually do this?

If you're going to work out, bring at least a good 1 liter bottle with you. If you FEEL thirsty then drink some water. Your body will tell you when it needs to be replenished with some good quality h20.

Too much water can be bad for you; do you know that you can die from drinking too much water? Yes it’s true, it’s a condition called hyponatremia. It's an electrolyte disturbance/imbalance, resulting from a problem with the sodium-potassium balance in your body.

 It is usually caused by over hydration. So a word too the wise, watch your water intake. If you're drinking a lot of water, keep notice of how much you have taken in, and how it’s making you feel.

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