How to Hydrate
Hydration has become a bit of a comical concept to me. Cramping? Hydrate. Tired? Hydrate. Running slowly? Hydrate. What’s next? Want to be a millionaire? HYDRATE!!! Hydration has become the duct tape of sports medicine. Coaches (especially high school football coaches) love to yell, “WATER! WATER! WATER!” during every timeout and at the end of every quarter. While I agree that hydration is important, there is a lot of misunderstanding about how water works in the human body and how it can/cannot improve athletic performance.
I first began to question the legitimacy of the hydration craze while I was in undergrad watching an episode of Adam Ruins Everything. I hadn’t yet developed the skill of expressing unique thought and so I just went around regurgitating the key points I heard in the show. As an arrogant adolescent, of course I thought I was a genius for telling everybody to, “just drink when you’re thirsty”. To supplement this argument, I would use exercise associated hyponatremia (a fancy medical term for having too little sodium in the blood, due to drinking excess water) as a caution to stop forcing athletes to chug water. While this condition is real and does kill people, I have recently modified my advice on hydration.
In congruence with the 1% better everyday rule, I challenged myself to stop accepting my ‘drink when thirsty’ prescription. Rather, I wanted to learn how to optimize hydration. Even if it only makes athletes 1% better, it could make a big difference. So, I recommend athletes hydrate according to the Galpin Equation. This equation was created by Dr. Andy Galpin and was widely distributed via the Huberman Lab Podcast. The principles for hydration are as follows:
Aim to drink half of your bodyweight in ounces everyday. If you weigh 200 pounds, aim to drink 100 ounces of water per day.
During exercise, this fluid consumption needs to increase to match the sweat lost. This is especially true in hot and humid environments. In addition to the daily hydration volume, during exercise, aim to consume your bodyweight divided by 30 every 15 minutes. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds and play a football game, every quarter, you should consume ~7 ounces of water (half of a standard 16-oz bottle). This would equate to drinking 2 16-oz bottles per game.
Follow the W.U.T. system to monitor your hydration status.
W: weigh yourself first thing in the morning daily to determine fluid weight fluctuations. Additionally, you can weigh yourself pre-exercise and post-exercise to determine weight lost in sweat. Aim to replace this weight to prevent chronic dehydration.
U: monitor your urine color. See the chart below for comparison purposes. Note that completely transparent urine is not a sign of ‘good’ hydration. It is likely overhydration.
T: ask yourself, are you thirsty? Thirst is an amazing indicator of dehydration. If you feel thirsty, hydrate.
For a more thorough summary of the hydration process, check out Dr. Andy Galpin’s YouTube video here. He breaks down all of these concepts at length and explains them in a straightforward manner that is easy to understand. Additionally, he breaks down different hydration methods (Gatorade, Powerade, Pedialyte, LMNT, etc…) and why some are better than others for hydrating. I truly can’t say enough good things about Dr. Galpin’s work. He produces amazing content that is relevant and helpful to athletes and non-athletes alike.
