You Should Have Water on Your Mind

March 22 is World Water Day, an international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.

On the day of WWD’s 26th anniversary, people who like to work up a sweat should have proper hydration practices on their mind.  A recent review in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found strong evidence that athletes who lose more than2% of their body weight in fluids, which is extremely common in prolonged bouts of sweating it out, suffer noticeable declines in mental performance.  The review noted declines in attention, motor coordination and the executive functioning your brain needs to focus, organize and remember details.

This makes all kinds of sense if you think about it (and water can help you to do that).  According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry 158, up to 60% of the human adult body is water, but the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%. 

Dehydration can be particularly detrimental to people in sports like tennis and mountain biking, because these kinds of physical activities also need a certain level of brain power and coordination, so forgoing the H2O can leave yourself open to injury while out on the court or trail.  And think about that sweaty spin class you took this morning.  Did you adequately hydrate before and after?  Or did you take a quick shower, slug some java (also dehydrating) and drive to work?  Your body may be kickin’, but it’s hard to get on those projects and try to meet deadlines when your brain is on super slo-mo.

So stop starving your brain and celebrate World Water Day by establishing some sound hydration practices with your workouts!

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