Water Facts, Water & Exercise

Water is extremely important when it comes to sports and exercise.
Athletic performance can drop by as much as 20 – 30% if you lose as little as 4% of your body’s water during exercise. Concentration and endurance begin to waver, muscle cramps set in prematurely and other dehydration-induced injuries may follow. Sports medicine experts recommend drinking 18 Oz of water and least 1-˝ hours before exercise, and then 6 – 12 Oz of water every 15 minutes to make up for water lost through perspiration.

Sports drinks are useful when consumed after or during vigorous and prolonged exercise in high heat. But most experts agree that water works better than carbohydrates or sugared beverages for moderate exercise. For instance, if you drink 12 Oz of plain water, your body will absorb 8 ounces of it within 15 minutes. If you drink 12 Oz of a 10% sugar solution, less than 1 ounce will be absorbed in the same period. The typical soft drink is a 10 to 12% sugar solution. A bottle of water has become an in-car essential for the independent modern woman and as the educational process of the rehydration message took hold, men gradually have followed suit.
Women - and men - now take water into gyms and leisure centers, nightclubs and out shopping. As avid label readers and analysts of beverage content, women were the first to realize the benefits of drinking water over carbonated soft drinks. Most importantly, as a recently developed product, bottled water holds particular appeal for the young, with its inherent health qualities, has a desirable and youthful image. Excepted from "Women and Water" by Claire Phoenix.