Staying hydrated is essential
for young athletes to maintain their health and
performance. Human bodies are about 60 percent water.
If young athletes don’t get enough water to replace what
is lost through perspiration, they face the risk of dehydration
and other serious heat-related illnesses in addition to a loss
of focus and energy. Thirst is the first sign of dehydration, but
young athletes often make the mistake of waiting until they are
thirsty to get a drink.
Cinthia Piva, a registered
dietitian with the Sports Medicine
program at Children’s, says the first step to remaining
sufficiently hydrated during exercise is developing a drink-break
schedule.
"Do not wait until a child shows he is thirsty to make
him hydrate during exercise," Piva says. "If they are working out
and sweating – indoors or outdoors – then they should
be on a schedule of trying to drink at 10- to 30-minute intervals
depending on their sweat rate." The American Academy of Pediatrics
recommends drinking every 20 minutes.
Knowing when
to hydrate and how much
Piva recommends that young
athletes begin hydrating themselves two hours before exercising by
having 1 ounce of liquid for every 10 pounds of their body weight.
Then, if profuse sweating is expected, they should start the routine
of drinking 0.6 ounces for every 10 pounds of body weight 20
minutes prior to exercise, and continue to drink the same amount in
20-minute intervals. For example, a 60-pound child should drink about
6 fluid ounces two hours before exercise and about 3.5 fluid
ounces every 20 minutes during exercise, beginning 20 minutes before
exercise.
A helpful way to figure out how much to drink
after exercise is to weigh before and after workouts. The weight
lost during exercise is typically all water weight. Young athletes
should drink 16 to 24 ounces for every pound they lose during
exercise. If they weigh more after exercise, they drank more than they
needed. The goal is to maintain the same weight before and after
physical activity.
Water or sports drinks?
While sports drinks, juices and even sodas all provide some degree
of hydration, water is generally the healthiest option because it
lacks the calories and additives of the other drinks. However,
Piva advises sports drinks over water for workouts lasting longer
than 60 to 90 minutes in order to replace electrolytes lost from
intense sweating.
"Drinking lots of water without
replenishing electrolytes while exercising for several hours could lead to
hyponatremia (low sodium in the blood)," says Piva. "We
don’t want to go from one extreme of not having enough water to the
other extreme of having too much water."
Signs of
dehydration:
- Dark urine
- Dry lips and
mouth
- Decrease in reaction time
- Decrease in
physical
performance
- Irritability
- Nausea
- Headache
- Apathy
- Disorientation
Children with any of these signs should be allowed to rest and given
water or sports drinks. If, after several hours, the child feels
dizzy or faint, or has not had much urine output, the child should
be seen by a doctor. Disorientation, inability to drink or pale
skin indicates a serious condition that should be treated as a
medical emergency.
More information
For more
information on keeping your child healthy while playing sports,
visit www.childrens.com/sportsmedicine. The Sports Medicine Program at Children’s offers the only
comprehensive, integrated program in North Texas specifically
designed for young and growing athletes.
