Hydration is to do with the water levels inside a human or an animal, plant etc.

, so for humans hydration is when we have the correct levels of hydration within us to sustain a healthy lifestyle and good sporting performance, or even an everyday performance, we need to stay hydrated to stay alive, because if we were constantly de-hydrated our system would dry up and wed have no energy to do anything, wed have no energy because wed be quite ill from lack of hydration. So when youre de-hydrated it means you are in lack of water supply. Water is a good drink to replenish you and re-hydrate you, the only down side to drinking water is it that it produces no actual energy and produces no carbohydrates, proteins, or fats, so water is good for just having a drink after short bursts of activity, but isnt good before long strenuous activities, another dis-advantage is that it doesnt produce any ions, water also makes you bloated. Ways to calculate your own personal hydration: Record your naked body weight immediately before and after a number of training sessions, along with details of distance/duration, clothing and weather conditions Add the amount of fluid taken during the session to the amount of weight lost - 1 kilogram (kg) is roughly equivalent to 1 litre of fluid (1lb approx. 0.5 litre) After a few weeks you should begin to see some patterns emerging and can calculate your sweat rate per hour Once you know what your sweat losses are likely to be in any given set of environmental conditions, you can plan your drinking strategy for any particular event. Hydration is important to an athlete because they are expected to lose more sweat from doing exercise so they are going to need fluids more so than the average person.

Electrolytes are ions, and electrolyte is another word for salts basically, so electrolytes help rehydrate the body because they give you back your sodium levels, The term electrolyte means that particular ions are electrically-charged and move to either a negative or positive electrode. The electrolytes in salt (sodium chloride) are sodium and chlorine. The other main Ions within our body are: Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Bicarbonate, Phosphate, Sulphate . Electrolytes are important because they are what your cells (especially nerve, heart, muscle) use to carry electrical impulses (nerve impulses, muscle contractions) across themselves and to other cells. Your kidneys work to keep the electrolyte concentrations in your blood constant despite changes in your body. For example, when you exercise heavily, you lose electrolytes in your sweat, particularly sodium and potassium. These electrolytes must be replaced to keep the electrolyte concentrations of your body fluids constant. Last year Powerade launched a campaign on there new and improved drink which replenishes four of the Ions lost in sweat, these four were Potassium, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. The reasons above are why they are important to an athlete! Because an athlete exercises more they will need their system to be replenished more frequently.

De-hydration:
de-hydration is when youre bodily fluids are not quite under control and you dont have enough ions in your system or enough water/drinks that provide energy within your system, surprisingly tea is the drink that replenishes your hydration system most effectively. De-hydration can affect your performance in many ways, the main way being it can cause fatigue and tiredness, therefore meaning this will limit prolonged exercise, this can lead to circulatory collapse and heat stroke. Here is how much body weight is lost in de-hydration. 2% impaired performance, 4% Capacity for muscular work declines, 5% Heat exhaustion, 7% Hallucinations, 10% Circulatory collapse and heat stroke.

Fluid intake strategies:

Gastric emptying:
gastric emptying is the speed that food and drink leaves the body, meals that are high in fat and protein take longer to digest and therefore shouldnt be eaten before exercising. There are several factors that affect gastric emptying: 1. The amount of food eaten 2. The energy concentration 3. Exercise intensity 4. The Ph of the food (which is wear food of high alkali or acid levels take longer to digest) 5. Stress (psychological stress leads to slower gastric emptying) when planning a hydration routine we need to consider the rate of gastric emptying before, during and after exercise.

drinking, what an athlete should drink before a performance are drinks like, powerade, lucozade, protein shakes, and water. Powerade and lucozade for energy, protein shakes for energy and strength to improve your muscular condition, and water to help keep you hydrated after short bursts of exercise. The three major types of hydration drink for sportsman are isotonic, hypotonic, and hypertonic. Isotonic drinks produce fluid, electrolytes and 6-8% carbohydrates hypotonic produce electrolytes and a low level of carbohydrates hypertonic produce high level of carbohydrates. Those would also be the advantages.