Quantcast

Lead Stories: Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Q & A Will a cold drink improve my performance during hot-weather competition?

Posted March 19th, 2007 at 12:29 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Nutrition, Hydration

sports-drinks-athlete.jpgIt may. During hard exercise, particularly in hot weather, you sweat and lose a lot of water and salt. Your performance does not suffer until you lose a very large amount of fluid, about five percent of your body weight or more.

However, when you lose so much fluid that your performance suffers, you cannot catch up during that competition. That’s why you need to take in fluids during events that last more than 90 minutes. If your event lasts more than 2.5 hours, you also need to take in calories and salt.

According to a study from The University of Birmingham in England, cold drinks taste better so you will drink more (Experimental Physiology, September 2006). The researchers concluded that cold drinks also improve endurance during hot weather by acting as a heat sink, decreasing the rise in body temperature and therefore reducing the effects of heat stress.
Read the rest of this entry »


3 comments, add yours | Permalink


-->
Add to Google

Subscribe in NewsGator Online



What's this?

Or subscribe via email


Which currently declared candidate would most improve USATF if elected as President of the Board of Directors?
View Results