HJBR May/Jun 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE  I  MAY / JUN 2023 59 ounce per pound of body weight. That is without any activity whatsoever. Think of it as basal daily needs, not including any sweating/evaporating of fluids through exercise, sauna, or mowing the lawn on a hot summer day. So, if your body weight is 200 pounds, you need roughly 100 ounces of water per day, minimum. In order to calculate what you need during a workout, the easiest method is to simply weigh in before and after a work- out (with a dry body in both instances). Whatever body weight loss you experience through sweating, you would want to drink 125% to 150% to replenish. So, if you lost 2 pounds (32 ounces) of fluid, you would want to drink 2.5 pounds (40 ounces) of water or sports drink post workout. What should we do following a stren- uous workout — guzzle the proposed 40 ounces, or sip slowly over a period of an hour or two?An important fact to embrace is that sipping is more replenishing than guzzling. When we guzzle, our bodies can- not absorb the fluid at the rate we are in- gesting it, and we will automatically flush excess water through the urine. The aforementioned Galpin suggests a formula that he derived from studies fo- cused on how much fluid should be con- sumed during a strenuous workout. Take your body weight in pounds, divide by 30, and the dividend would give you a target starting point for consuming fluids during your workout. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, divide by 30, you would get 6.66. This is the amount in ounces you should ingest every 15 minutes while you are exercising. It is not a perfect science, but it’s a good general assessment for maintaining focus, maximizing muscle performance, and keeping blood volume in a safe range. After following this proto- col, you would still weigh in post workout, and however much body weight you’ve lost, you would still drink the proposed 125% to replenish. The assumption is you would have lost less weight by sipping during your workout, as opposed to drink- ing nothing at all. To summarize all of this information: • Begin your workout hydrated (based on your basal daily needs). • Continue to hydrate during your workout (using the formula suggest- ed). • Maintain replenishing fluids post workout (based on the amount of body weight lost during exercise). I did not address electrolytes versus plain water, but, optimally, we would most benefit from ingesting some measure of electrolytes into our systems to provide our cells with premium performance-en- hancing conditions. That said, it is an en- tirely individual approach that should be discussed with one’s physician before be- ginning. I hope this helps with your goals of en- hanced performance and overall health benefits! n Jerry Fontenot Special Correspondent We know that a body weight reduction of 2% from fluid loss can cause a signifi- cant reduction in performance, as was indicated in a study of basketball play- ers who experienced a significant drop in performance while shooting free throws. What also occurs at this level is percep- tion of difficulty of the exercise being per- formed. The effect of dehydration at a level of 5-6% body weight loss makes our blood more viscous, leading our hearts to work much harder to pump blood through our bodies, possibly producing “brain fog” (a lack of ability to focus and/or to assess conditions accurately). Along with performance being nega- tively affected by dehydration, there is a loss of accuracy, total endurance perfor- mance, and reductions in speed and pow- er. When I reminisce about the days I was with the New Orleans Saints and we had training camp in Thibodaux, Louisiana, I wonder how we survived without more serious consequences. It was not uncom- mon for me, at 300 pounds, to lose 10-12 pounds during practice, which is a loss of approximately 4% body weight. Now that we know some of the neg- ative consequences associated with de- hydration, what are some guidelines we can follow to ensure operating in a safe zone of hydration? Andy Galpin, PhD, of Cal State, Fullerton, suggests that a safe starting point for assessing your daily re- quirement for water consumption is 1/2