Exercise and Water (Part 2)

Further to the strategies on water replenishment before, during and after exercise introduced in the previous issue of health information, we are now going to share the information on dehydration and body water assessment in this issue.

How much do you know about dehydration?

Although office exercises are relatively simple, water replenishment is still important regardless of the amount and intensity of the exercises. In case we fail to replenish right amount of water on time, we shall suffer from dehydration. Dehydration will not only affect sports performance, but also increase the risks of heat exhaustion and heatstroke.

The commonest symptoms of adult dehydration include: Thirst, dizziness, tiredness, nausea, headache, chills and muscle spasm.

Assessment of Body Water
Many people think that water drinking is only necessary when feeling thirsty. Actually, our body has already been hydrated for a while when we feel thirsty. In this connection, thirstiness is no way a desirable indicator for showing whether body water is sufficient:

Measuring body weight before and after exercise

When measuring body weight, we should wear as little clothing as possible without shoes. The time for the measurement should be as close as possible to the moment before we start doing exercise;
After doing exercise, we should completely wipe off our sweat before re-measurement of the body weight;
The weight lost is usually attributable to the water lost; and
Generally, 1 gram of body weight loss is equivalent to 1 gram of water loss.

Urine Colour Test

Compare urine colour with the colours in the urine colour chart:
Excretion of large amount of light coloured or light-yellow urine indicates that body water is sufficient; and
Dark yellow urine indicates dehydration. The darker the colour, the severer the dehydration.

We can make reference to the two methods above to see how much water we need. No matter where you do exercise and how intense your exercise is, you should always pay attention to your body condition and replenish right amount of water on time so as to ensure your body functions well.