The Importance Of Hydration..
Hydration is important to not only improve performance, but keep young athlete's safe while playing sport. Youths are commonly dehydrated during physical activity and therefore this needs to be taken into consideration by parents and coaches.
Studies have shown that dehydration of as little as 2% can have a significant performance reduction (1). So the key question is how do we keep youths well hydrated?
We need to consider 3 main stages around performance:
Before exercise
During exercise
After exercise
Prior to exercise is a prime opportunity to fuel the body correctly in order to maximise performance. Firstly it's important to educate children on how to monitor their urine colour, as this is an indicator of hydration levels. Clear to pale yellow urine is a great indicator of a well hydrated state, whereas darker urine closer to the colour of apple juice suggests they are very dehydrated and therefore need to consume more liquids.
Other things to consider include energy levels through the consumption of carbohydrates. You can read about this in our nutrition article by clicking here.
During exercise we also need to replace any fluids lost through sweat. Sometimes this can be difficult during exercise, however this needs to be optimised as much as possible.
It has been shown that during a youth team sport match fluid loss through sweat ranged from 850-1150 ml (1), therefore fluids need to be regularly consumed during exercise to keep these hydration levels topped up.
Post exercise is also another important fuelling time. This is important to continue replacing any fluid loss which was not able to be replaced during exercise, and also refuel with carbohydrates and protein in order to help the body replenish energy stores and help muscles repair. You can read about this in our nutrition article.
A strategy which can be employed to monitor fluid loss includes weighing the athlete before exercise, and then again after to work out the difference. If their weight is reduced post exercise, they still need to consume more fluids, and vice versa if their weight has increased they have over consumed fluids.
Sports drinks which include water, electrolytes and carbohydrates can be a good addition for during and after exercise to aid in the replacement of fluid. Sports drinks are also flavoured and contain sodium which enhances palatability and therefore improves fluid consumption. Research has shown that the consumption of these drinks also aids young athletes in maintaining their performance over 90 minutes (2).
Here are some tips to help keep young athletes well hydrated:
Eating food containing water before exercise helps ingest carbohydrate and fluid at the same time.
Encourage drinking throughout sessions rather than at specific times, although this may be necessary if youths don't make the conscious decision themselves.
Think about the environment, if it's warm and/or the intensity of the session is high, more fluids need to be consumed.
Within 30 minutes post exercise consume a drink containing protein and carbohydrate to replenish energy stores and help repair the body. This will also help to rehydrate.
The American College of Sports Medicine (3) provide some more detailed guidelines on fluid replacement before, during, and after exercise:
Before – Drink 2-2.5 cups of water within 2 hours of commencing exercise.
During – Drink 0.5-1 cup of fluid every 15-20 minutes.
After – Drink 3 cups for every 0.45 kg of body weight lost during exercise.
References
DOUGHERTY, Kelly A, BAKER, Lindsay B, KENNEY, Larry W, and CHOW, Mosuk (2006). Two percent dehydration impairs and six percent carbohydrate drink improves boys basketball skills. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 38 (9), 1650-1658.
RIDDELL, Michael C, BAR-OR, O, WILK, B, Parolin, M L, and HEIGENHAUSER G J F (2001). Substrate utilization during exercise with glucose and glucose plus fructose ingestion in boys ages 10-14 yr. Journal of Applied Physiology, 90 (3), 903-911.
SAWKA, Michael N, BURKE, Louise M, EICHNER, Randy E, MAUGHAN, Ronald J, MONTAIN, Scott J, and STACHENFELD, Nina S (2007). American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exercise and fluid replacement. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 39 (2), 377-390.
