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Monday, July 15, 2013

How much water should I drink after exercise?


Following up my previous post of Gout and Water , a male with gout should drink 3 litres or 12.5 glasses (2.16 litres or 9 glasses for female) of water each day. However, this target is for a person with normal workout.   How about if I do exercise/sports regularly?  As in my other post, sports could trigger gout attack as sweating could increase the uric acid concentration in blood.   Hence, we need to drink more water than the others.   So, how much water should I drink after exercise?   This is the question I used to have no definite answer.    "More" was the only answer.  However, it is very difficult to quantify "more".  


Fortunately, I had a chance to talk with my nutritionist.  "Six more glasses for each hour of exercise" , she said. "Just two glasses before the exercise, two during the exercise and two afterward".  How much water in one glass? "250 ml", she replied.  So, an hour of exercise needs 1.5 litre water. That’s 50%  more than a regular intake.  Her reply also corrected my misunderstanding of drinking water.  I used to think we need more water after exercise. The correct one is to drink before, during and after exercise.  


I further checked this topic on the web and found that there are even suggestions of exactly when to drink water.  The first is to drink water up to 15 minutes prior to the exercise.  Second is to drink water per 15-30 minutes while exercising.  However,  there is no exact time for drinking water after exercise.  The sites also suggest calculate the weight loss after exercise to replace the right amount of fluid. For 1-lb weight loss, 500-700ml of fluid is needed.


In short, here are 2 equations for your reference.


Equation 1 for no exercise:
12.5 glasses x 250ml  = 3, 000 ml = 3 litre per day
Equation 2 for 1 hour of exercise
12.5 glasses + 6 glasses = 18.5 glasses x  250ml  = 4500 ml = 4.5 litre per day


Of course, there are other factors affecting the dehydration.  External factors include  temperature and humidity.  Individual sweating rate and workout intensity also play their parts. Nevertheless, the above equations should give us an idea of how much to drink.  


Same as most people, I used to use “thirst” as an indicator for how much water I should drink after exercise.  Now, with the simple equations, I can easily plan my water intake.  For professional athletes, proper hydration can improve their performance.  As a person with gout, I just need to minimize the chance of  gout attack.  Hope this help!


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