Four Step Of Hydration

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Hydration is extremely important when it comes to sports and exercising. However, the ideal time that someone hydrates by drinking water, Gatorade, etc. is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of hydrating after strenuous activity. The researchers took 31 young men through a series of four steps. The first step being an incremental test. This involved the subject running, jogging, and walking on a treadmill to determine their peak oxygen consumption. This number was found by analyzing their exhaled gases. The second step was the control which was without hydration. This consisted of ten minutes of rest, 90 minutes of treadmill exercise at 60% of their VO2Peak, and 60 minutes of recovery. There was no urine analysis during the recovery. …show more content…
The amount of water they were to ingest was based on the weight difference between the beginning of the control protocol and the end. The fourth and final step was similar to step three but this time they ingested isotonic solution, such as Gatorade. The heart rate of the subjects were recorded at different times during their recovery and the data was then analyzed. The results from the study showed that “the hydration protocols promoted a more efficient recovery with an earlier return of autonomic modulation and HR to baseline”. In other words, being hydrated helped with the subjects’ recovery and even made them recover sooner. There are many physiological effects that happen because of exercise and hydration such as how fast someone’s heart beats, intravascular volume, plasma hyperosmolarity, baroreflex control, and more. These results really reinforce how important it is to be hydrated before, during, and especially after exercise or strenuous