Riddle: What can help you play soccer better, give you strength, lower your risk of many kinds of cancer, and is nearly free? Give up? One more clue - it is fun to swim in. Water is the answer. As a physician trying to keep people healthy so they don't have to take medicine, I have learned that the simplest things are the most important. These habits are so obvious that every one knows about them, but they are so simple most people don't bother. Drinking enough of the right kind of fluid helps you compete, and research shows it can even help prevent many diseases.
We know that losing as little as 2% of your body weight (e.g. 2 pounds if you weigh 100) ensures that you simply can't play as well as you can otherwise. We also know that adult players frequently lose 8-10 pounds during a game. Weight loss during competition is almost entirely fluid loss. As very few soccer players weigh 400 to 500 pounds, we know that there are a lot of soccer players out there who need to work on replacing the fluids they lose during games. By the way, an eight-pound weight loss equals ONE GALLON of fluid! How big is your water bottle?
Tournaments are especially challenging for a couple of reasons. The weather is often warm, so players lose a lot of fluid. Playing games close together means that it is very easy for players not to catch up before their second game. Last summer I decided to experiment to see how much fluid competitive youth players really lost in a tournament. The team I tested was an under eleven Class I team at a summer tournament that had unusually cool weather. Despite the cool weather and encouragements to drink, many of the players lost more than 2% of their weight, and a couple did not regain that weight before the next game.
What should you drink? There is so much research on this one that I just bought a new medical book entirely on sports drinks. Unfortunately, there are still as many questions as there are answers. What do we know?
The drink should:
- contain 5 - 9% carbohydrate by weight to speed absorption
- Sodium is good - usually 50 - 125 mg/8 oz (higher if your sweat is salty and burns your eyes)
- be cool as the body absorbs it faster (not so important when the weather is cold)
If it is sweeter (like fruit juice or soda), your body will not absorb it as well. We don't know about other electrolytes like potassium and magnesium yet (magnesium upsets your stomach, so be careful). Plain water is not as good and can even be dangerous if you have lost a lot of fluid. You need the electrolytes.
How do you know if you are drinking enough? One of my coaching friends, Karen Stanley, former NSCAA National Coach of the year, tells her Santa Rosa Junior College teams at the start of the season that the secret to their success will be C.U. What's "C.U."? Well I'll give you a hint that the easiest way to know if you are drinking enough is to see how Clear your U_ _ _ _ is when you go to the bathroom. Gross, I know, but true. Actually pale yellow is fine. I guess looking is another sacrifice we have to make to be strong and healthy.
So remember:
- Fluids are REALLY important
- Thirst is NOT a reliable indicator of fluid need
- Water is not always adequate
- Children are more vulnerable to fluid problems than adults
- Dink 8-16 oz of water or sport drink 1-2 hours before competition
- Drink 4 - 8 oz of fluid every 15 minutes during competition
- Drink right after the game, because your body absorbs fluids best then
- To really do it right, drink 16 oz for every pound lost
