Some of the common signs of dehydration are decreased sweating, headaches, muscle craps and decreased urination. However, some nastier things start to manifest themselves when you deprive your body of its natural means of regulating temperature.
1) Connective tissue is comprised of 60 to 80% water by weight. It is water which helps keep tissue such as ligaments and tendons strong. Being dehydrated wont help you stabilize that knee during 20 rounds of Cindy!
2) Your performance depends on your ability to stay hydrated. Studies have show a loss of exercise performance on the order of 10-20% when dehydration is present. This is seen through the impairment of reaction time as well as concentration. In addition, the lack of blood flow throughout the body strains the cardiovascular system which increases the heart rate and further raises the core temperature of the body.
3) Freeradical damage effects your muscles after a hard workout, however, it also effects every tissue and organ in your body. Infact, the aging process is heavily impacted by cellular dehydration and the accompanying free-radical damage. When cells are dehydrated protein synthesis is impacted, vitamin and mineral uptake is limited, and you infect jump-start the aging process into hyper-speed. So if you want to look like Magda from “Something About Mary” then keep drinking the soda and red bull and stear clear of the H2o.
Soda”s and dehydration all facilitate free-radical damage…Drink the right stuff up!!!
So, the take away message is, duh, drink plenty of water. A good goal is to drink half your body weight in ounces per day. This will get you on track to look, feel, and perform better!