As runners, electrolyte balance is key for both successful training and optimal performance. When you have an imbalance of electrolytes, your body starts to remind you through stomach cramps, muscle cramps and spasms, side stitches and if it gets really extreme, dizziness, fatigue, nausea and more.

Sipping an electrolyte-rich beverage at some point during the day will allow you to stay refreshed and balanced, and avoid dehydration. Plus most people find it more appealing to reach for a flavored beverage than plain water all the time.

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How to Spot Signs of a Complicated Pregnancy. Do You Burn More Calories on Your Period? Skin with normal turgor is capable of snapping back immediately — whereas skin with poor turgor can take time to return to its normal state.

Or, if you wanted to determine your hydration through a different route, the colour of your pee can be an accurate measurement. If your pee is clear and smell-free, your water intake is right where it is supposed to be.

But if your pee is dark yellow, or has a strong odour, you may want to grab your water bottle. Coffee and tea can help you get to your daily goal, along with fruit juices, although coffee can also be dehydrating and fruit juices or smoothies can have tons of hidden sugars, so make sure you check the contents before you start guzzling.

According to the NHS, your combined intake of fluid from fruit juice, vegetable juice, or smoothies should not exceed more than ml a day, or a small glass. Water intoxication is a well-documented symptom of consuming too much water and can be deadly, with symptoms including nausea, vomiting, headaches, and in some cases, brain swelling, confusion, seizures, coma, and death.

To avoid any risks associated with water, and to keep your skin and pee healthy, stick to the recommended six to eight fluid glasses a day. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies.

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The test is important because it can potentially save your life, but besides mortality, it is also important for day to day activities, like sports and exercise.

You need to remain hydrated whilst exercising to remain concentrated, strong and energised. Symptoms of low salt and electrolytes levels can point to dehydration, and it can be easy to overlook dehydration as the cause of these abnormal electrolyte and mineral levels.

These can include:. A look at lifestyle, as well as personal health is a quick way to get to the bottom of the cause, and begin effective treatment.

We sweat to remain cool, so those who exercise, or are exposed to hot temperatures sweat often. Examining your urine is an easy method of dehydration testing. As a rule of thumb, the lighter and clearer your urine is, like the lighter, leftmost circle in the poster below, the more hydrated you are.

If your urine is a dark coloured, like the rightmost circle, with a strong odour emitting from it, it is an indication that you are dehydrated.

Performing a dehydration hand test is easy too. By pinching an area of skin, such as the back the hand, lift up the skin and then release. This is particularly common among the elderly. Blood tests for dehydration can be performed, and will search for low potassium and sodium levels in a blood sample.

Water loss is more rapid in warmer weather, or with excessive sweating hello hot sweaty summer long run. How Much Water? While this is generally good, as runners we may need even more fluid than that.

One of the easiest ways to test your hydration is through bathroom frequency and urine color. Your urine should be light yellow and you should be emptying your bladder on average times per day. Another way to determine hydration levels especially after a run is a sweat test. This will help you determine just how much fluid you need post workout.

To test:. How Electrolytes Can Help. These minerals, which dissolve in the fluids in our body and break into electrically charged ions, keep the body in balance. They work both independently and with each other performing roles such as helping to move glucose and other nutrients into your cells, and helping to remove waste products and extra water from your cells.

As runners, electrolyte balance is key for both successful training and optimal performance. When you have an imbalance of electrolytes, your body starts to remind you through stomach cramps, muscle cramps and spasms, side stitches and if it gets really extreme, dizziness, fatigue, nausea and more.

Sipping an electrolyte-rich beverage at some point during the day will allow you to stay refreshed and balanced, and avoid dehydration.

Plus most people find it more appealing to reach for a flavored beverage than plain water all the time. The Return of Molly Seidel. A Guide to Training During Your Menstrual Cycle. The Best Yoga Routine to Address Menstrual Cramps.

However, there are large differences between sport types. For example, sports like aquatics that train primarily indoors with minimal clothing tend to have lower average sweat rates in comparison to sports that train outdoors in all types of weather with lots of equipment, such as football.

Sweat rates are highly variable among athletic populations in general and are impacted by environmental conditions, acclimatization state, clothing, exercise intensity, fitness, baseline hydration, and individual differences.

Therefore, hydration assessment and education protocols should be individualized and adjusted throughout training and competition. There are primarily three practical field assessment methods used to assess hydration status in athletic populations: body weight change, urine color, and urine specific gravity USG.

In order to assess hydration status via body weight changes, normal baseline body weight must be known. This can be determined by measuring body weight for three consecutive days with daily variability of 0.

Best practices for this include standardized clothing, measuring on the same scale, and taking measurements at the same time of day. Urine color can also be used to monitor hydration status throughout the day.

A urine color chart for comparison has been developed and validated by Armstrong and colleagues Armstrong et al. Urine color should be assessed midstream and environmental lighting should also be taken into consideration when using urine color to assess hydration status.

It is also important to note that clear urine is not the goal for hydration as this may indicate overhydration, increasing the risk for hyponatremia which can have potentially fatal consequences. Urine-specific gravity is a less subjective method to quickly assess pre-exercise hydration status, however, a refractometer is required.

Refractometers are simple to use and some are somewhat inexpensive. The best practice is to test the first-morning urine when possible as it is the most accurate reflection of hydration status.

This may pose logistical obstacles such as early morning practice times, athletes voiding urine before arriving at facilities, or lack of resources and space to store urine samples during the measuring.

The goal of fluid intake before exercise is to start activity hydrated with normal electrolyte levels. For example, fluid intake of fl. Hydrating early should be another consideration to allow for urine output to return to normal before exercise.

However, hyperhydration, or over-hydrating, is not recommended due to unclear benefits and the risk of dilutional hyponatremia. Fluid needs during activity are highly individualized and dependent on sweat rates, exercise duration, and opportunities to drink. It is recommended to monitor body weight changes during training and competition to estimate sweat rates for fluid replacement.

As a starting guideline, fl. every minutes may be sufficient for some individuals. However, events with longer durations or different environmental conditions may necessitate different fluid replacement protocols. Therefore, fluid replacement during exercise should be determined on an individual basis.

After exercise, the goal is to correct any fluid deficits that occurred during activity. The additional 0.