Sports Hydration

There are several ways to check a child or teenager's hydration status or a change in hydration status over time. A youth's hydration status before and after a sport practice and how their status change are particularly important.  MomsTeam's hydration expert, Dr. Susan Yeargin, suggests using the mnemonic WUT (Weight Loss, Darker Urine, and Thirst) as a way to remember the three main ways to tell if a young athlete is dehydrated.

 

With fall sports beginning around the country, often in dangerously hot weather conditions, Mobile Sports, Inc. (MSI) today announced the launch of iHydrate^TM, an innovative iPhone application giving athletes, parents of athletes, and coaches the tools and information they need to avoid dehydration and other, more serious heat-related illnesses.

According to a recent survey, almost 80 percent of U.S. adults believe they need to drink eight glasses of water each day to stay hydrated while 72 percent do not believe they get adequate amounts of water from their daily diets and typical drinking habits.

Between 50 and 75 percent of boys and girls attending summer sports camps are significantly dehydrated, according to three 2005 University of Connecticut studies. The studies found that 25 to 30 percent of the campers studied showed signs of serious dehydration, putting them at increased risk of heat-related illnesses

Between 1997 and 2001, eighteen student athletes died from heat stroke.In less than a two-week period this summer, football players in Indiana, Florida and Minnesota succumbed to the heat. It is imperative that, as parents, we recognize the signs of heat-related illness and take steps to prevent any more tragedies.

When the heat index is above 95 degrees, athletes, especially children, are at increased risk of heat-related illness. Cancelling or modifying practices and games, or taking others steps to reduce the risk of heat illness, should be taken.

When you are watching your favorite sports team on TV, have you ever noticed that the first thing the athletes do when they get to the sideline or dugout is get a drink? Whether on their own or from the hand of a trainer, they drink constantly every chance they get throughout the game. That is how important hydration is to athletic performance.

A number of studies in recent years have shown that sports drinks re-hydrate kids who are active in the heat better than water. Given a choice, kids will drink a lot more of a sports drink than of a glass of water. An oft-cited 1999 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology reported that drinking a properly formulated sports drink with carbohydrates and electrolytes (sodium and potassium) increased fluid intake by nearly one-third (32%) compared to water. Because they taste better than water, sports drinks encouraged kids to keep drinking until their fluid needs were met.