Although I have posted recent blogs on the positive benefits of SLEEP, RECOVERY and DIET, I feel compelled to follow up all the “scientific or technical” data that I have piled into each of the blogs in order TO SIMPLIFY the most important messages regarding improving performance.
As the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends, the best guide for proper hydration IS TO DRINK WATER WHEN YOU ARE THIRSTY. How simple can we make this? Let thirst be your invitation to drink fluids and, in most cases, just plain old water is best! Despite the massive marketing and advertising of Sports Drinks/ Energy Drinks, water is THE BEST in most cases.
Obviously there is a vast difference in the needs of triathletes competing over durations lasting from 2+ to over 12 hours and 10 year-olds playing an hour of soccer with a half-time break. The body can store enough glycogen in the muscles and liver to supply anywhere from 1.5 to 2+ hours of exercise, depending on intensity levels so games or exercise lasting and hour or less can rely on PLAIN OLD WATER to hydrate with THIRST being the guide for intake.
This is not just my personal opinion. That is why I urge you to read the articles I have attached to this post. I would love to bring up the fact that NO ATHLETE HAS EVER DIED OF DEHYDRATION. Some have died due to heat stroke, etc. which has to do with body core temperature rising too high, too fast. There has, however, BEEN NUMEROUS DEATHS RELATED TO OVERHYDRATION. I am bringing this up to encourage parents and young athletes to listen more to what doctors are recommending than to sports events, teams and competitions THAT ARE SPONSORED BY SPORTS DRINKS.
Proper pre-training or pre-competition meals and thirst driven hydration with simple water WILL benefit young athletes more so than eating pre-game meals AND pouring down “sugared” liquids before, during and after competitions with the idea that THEY ARE HYDRATING!!!
SLEEP, ALONG WITH DIET/HYDRATION is a major part of RECOVERY.
Recovery is 50% of ANY training program. Here is a quote that best sums up the importance of RECOVERY AND SLEEP from A LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS, which was written by MULTIPLE WORLD IRONMAN TRIATHLON CHAMPION Chrissie Wellington: “ I would go so far as to describe recovery as the fourth discipline of a triathlete. “I realize it is not the tactual sessions of swim, bike and run that make you fitter, IT IS THE PERIOD YOU SPEND RECOVERYING IN BETWEEN, DURING WHICH YOUR BODY ADAPTS AND REGENERATES.” “That’s why I say that I train 24.7---recovery IS training. It’s the most important part of it, in fact.
Since sleep loss or deprivation can have significant effects on performance, motivation, perception of effort and cognition (cognitive skills) as well as numerous other biological functions. Monitoring sleep-quality and quantity CAN BE USEFUL FOR EARLY DETECTION AND INTERVENTION BEFORE SIGNIFICANT PEFORMANCE AND HEALTH DECREMENTS ARE OBSERVED..
A SIMPLE method of monitoring internal loads that could detect the effects of sleep deficiency on health and performance in the classroom and athletic arena is the use of a DAILY DIARY. This Diary should be a record that indicates hours of sleep and perceived sleep quality. With the advancements in technology it is possible to use ACTIGRAPHY to monitor sleep.
Actigraphy involves a wrist watch device that provides data on bedtime, wake time, time taken to fall asleep (known as sleep on-set latency), wake during sleep, and sleep efficiency (estimate of sleep quality) in order to provide information on sleep routines and as a monitor for coaches and athletes to assess whether or not they are getting the proper ratio of sleep to training.
In my next Blog, I will introduce the importance of CHRONOTYPING to training and performance. NOW THAT IS NOT SO SIMPLE….until then, let thirst be your guide, reacquaint yourself to H2o and take those “power naps” to supplement nights of inadequate sleep.
PLEASE READ THE ARTICLES BELOW…hype, hydration or HAVE they become the same?
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Sickly-sweet deals at the Little League World Series [Commentary]
Some of the products sponsoring kids sports aren't health for children
August 18, 2014
The Little League World Series opened in
Williamsport, Penn., last week. This year, the vital statistics are about the
same as last year and the year before: 10 days, 30 games, 16 teams representing
the U.S. and eight countries around the globe. And this year, a rarity: A U.S.
team (from Philadelphia) whose star 13-year-old also happens to be a girl.There are more numbers, and though they probably won't be mentioned on ESPN, they matter, too. There are 21 "national sponsors" listed on the Little League Baseball website. These are corporations that pay sizable sums for the right to hitch their products to the wholesome Little League brand — products like Heinz ketchup, Subway sandwiches and Gatorade, the ubiquitous sports-drink brand.
Gatorade's deal is especially sweet. It supplies the drinks that will be served to players in the dugouts throughout the World Series. Talk about a sports marketer's dream: It's the ultimate product placement on the biggest stage in youth sports.
- Related
- The youth sports machine [Commentary]
- Protect children in youth sports [Commentary]
- High school football: a dangerous game [Commentary]
Too many kids in organized sports are consuming sports drinks.
Your child's pediatrician probably would offer that advice if you asked. In 2011, America's children's doctors actually put that opinion in writing, collectively weighing in on the side of water over sports drinks for most situations. The recommendation came from the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a clinical report titled "Sports Drinks and Energy Drinks for Children and Adolescents: Are they Appropriate?"
"For the average child engaged in routine physical activity, the use of sports drinks in place of water on the sports field or in the school lunchroom is generally unnecessary," the report noted. Water, it said, is "generally the appropriate first choice for hydration before, during and after most exercise regimens."
Sports drinks are more than just not needed. They can harm kids. According to the AAP report, many sports drinks contain high levels of sugar. If they are consumed too often in sports and with meals, they can lead to problems that plague a lot of kids: dental decay, weight control issues, even childhood obesity.
The AAP isn't anti-sports drink. It acknowledges that these beverages have their place. It's just highly limited. They're appropriate when kids are "engaged in prolonged vigorous sports activity — primarily to rehydrate and replenish carbohydrates, electrolytes and water lost during exercise." The routine stuff that happens most evenings and weekends at the neighborhood field or gym does not meet that standard. (Energy drinks such as Red Bull and Monster should never be used by children, the report states.)
It would be unfair to single out Little League for accepting dollars from the snack-food and sports-drink industrial complex. Many national youth-sports organizations are doing the same. USA Football, the governing body of youth football, has its own deal with Gatorade. (Gatorade is an advertiser on, of all things, USA Football's "Health and Safety" blog.)
In fact, the issue is much broader. With more than 40 millions kids playing in the U.S., lots of companies are throwing money at youth sports to lock up different sorts of real estate. (While Gatorade has the dugouts this week in Williamsport, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes actually has its name appended to the iconic world series itself.)
"The problem is that most of the food and beverages marketed and sold in these settings are not healthy for kids or their families," said Toben Nelson, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota who has studied the eating habits of youth athletes.
In the past, I've spoken several times with Steve Keener, Little League Baseball's CEO. The conversation hasn't varied too much on this issue. I ask whether Little League has qualms about taking money from companies that make stuff that might not be good for kids. Mr. Keener responds that he doesn't look at it that way, pretty much as he told the Harrisburg Patriot-News last month: "I will never apologize or be ashamed of generating revenue to support this organization. What I would be ashamed of is if we did not use it the right way."
We all agree that someone has to pay the bills for kids' sports. As we watch the home-run balls fly this week in Williamsport, let's think about who's picking up the tab now and at what cost to children.
Mark Hyman is an assistant professor of management at the George Washington University. He is the author of three books on the problematic state of youth sports. His email is mhyman@gwu.edu; Twitter: @gwsportsprof and @sportsparents.
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The following URL: is yet another source of information on the dangers of overhydrating that continues to go unheeded as the marketing emphasis on promoting “sports” and “energy” drinks continues to grow. http://www.amazon.com/Waterlogged-Serious-Problem-Overhydration-Endurance/dp/145042497X
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Georgia High School Football Player Dies after Overhydrating
News
Release: Associated Press
August 11, 2014
DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- A Georgia high
school football player is dead after drinking too much fluid during practice.August 11, 2014
Relatives of 17-year-old Zyrees Oliver had him removed from life support early Monday in a hospital in Marietta. He had no brain activity.
Oliver was declared dead a short time later.
Oliver played football at Douglas County High School west of Atlanta.
Relatives say the youth complained of cramping during football practice on Tuesday. Aunt Tammy Chavis says the teen drank two gallons of water and two more gallons of Gatorade.
Oliver's mother picked him up because he couldn't drive, and he later collapsed at home and was taken to the hospital by helicopter.
Relatives say doctors told them Oliver suffered massive swelling around the brain from over-hydration.
The coroner says an autopsy is planned.
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Drinking too much water can be fatal to athletes
September 2, 2014
Loyola University Health System
Summary:
The recent deaths of two high school football
players illustrate the dangers of drinking too much water. Exercise-associated
hyponatremia can cause muscle cramps, vomiting, seizures and unconsciousness.
The
recent deaths of two high school football players illustrate the dangers of
drinking too much water and sports drinks, according to Loyola University
Medical Center sports medicine physician Dr. James Winger.
Over-hydration by athletes is called
exercise-associated hyponatremia. It occurs when athletes drink even when they
are not thirsty. Drinking too much during exercise can overwhelm the body's
ability to remove water. The sodium content of blood is diluted to abnormally
low levels. Cells absorb excess water, which can cause swelling -- most
dangerously in the brain.Hyponatremia can cause muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting, seizures, unconsciousness, and, in rare cases, death.
Georgia football player Zyrees Oliver reportedly drank 2 gallons of water and 2 gallons of a sports drink. He collapsed at home after football practice, and died later at a hospital. In Mississippi, Walker Wilbank was taken to the hospital during the second half of a game after vomiting and complaining of a leg cramp. He had a seizure in the emergency room and later died. A doctor confirmed he had exercise-associated hyponatremia.
And in recent years, there have been more than a dozen documented and suspected runners' deaths from hyponatremia.
Winger said it's common for coaches to encourage athletes to drink profusely, before they get thirsty. But he noted that expert guidelines recommend athletes drink only when thirsty. Winger said athletes should not drink a predetermined amount, or try to get ahead of their thirst.
Drinking only when thirsty can cause mild dehydration. "However, the risks associated with dehydration are small," Winger said. "No one has died on sports fields from dehydration, and the adverse effects of mild dehydration are questionable. But athletes, on rare occasions, have died from over-hydration."
Winger is co-author of a 2011 study that found that nearly half of Chicago-area recreational runners surveyed may be drinking too much fluid during races. Winger and colleagues found that, contrary to expert guidelines, 36.5 percent of runners drink according to a present schedule or to maintain a certain body weight and 8.9 percent drink as much as possible.
"Many athletes hold unscientific views regarding the benefits of different hydration practices," Winger and colleagues concluded. Their study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
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