Signs of dehydration
An Ultimate Transformation Moment
Today’s Ultimate Transformation Moment is directed towards parents and coaches.
We’re approaching football season, the beginning of school, and our children are participating in conditioning programs getting ready for their respective sports. Many of these activities are being done outside in the sun. As they participate in these practices, hydration is an important component that will enable youth athletes to have a positive experience.
One of the things that I want to make sure is understood is that water is the way the body supplies oxygen to the bloodstream and to muscles. That means when your child is hydrated, his or her performance is going to be better. In addition, they’re going to feel better while performing.
I want you to understand some of the signs of dehydration. The number one sign is headaches. If your child is coming home and has headaches, you probably need to start getting him or her hydrated.
Other common complaints related to dehydration are dizziness, nausea, and suffering from a lot of muscle cramps, especially in their lower extremities or in the back area. More than likely that means the kidney area is not functioning properly due to a lack of water, and a lack of oxygen.
To get them hydrated you need to: Have them drink between 8-12 ounces of water every 30 minutes the day before heavy exercise and activity. Two hours before the activity, make sure they take in a minimum of 16 ounces of water.
For coaches, if your athletes are participating in a strenuous workout, they should sip water every 15 minutes to ward off dehydration.
Aside from the steps we’ve outlined to hydrate them, there are times when more acute measures are necessary. For example, if they’re no longer sweating and they are starting to get dizzy and nauseous during their workout, you need to probably stop them from working out for that day.
Then spend the next 24 hours re-hydrating them, before they get back to the workout. This is the time where the sports drinks can help—the Gatorades, the Powerades.
Have them take that in, because the body will absorb it as food and take it in much quicker and differently than if it were water. It will also help them recover a lot quicker. But remember, water is definitely the only way you’re going to get the muscle system regenerated again. If any of these symptoms persist, please seek professional medical help. Remember, water is your friend.
The last piece to this is everyone who has a child participating in sports needs to make sure the youngster is eating enough fruits and vegetables along with the water. The carbohydrates and proteins in these foods also help the muscle system recover. So, if he or she is enduring a hard workout, these foods will help them to recover.
Back to hydration: Get the water in—16 ounces two hours before exercise; 10-12 ounces of water the night before, and they will have a positive experience in their exercise.
That’s our Ultimate Transformations Moment. Peace and be more.
Erich Nall is the owner and founder of Ultimate Transformations Training in Los Angeles, Calif. The certified trainer, nutritionist, motivational speaker, and dedicated life coach is a regular guest and commentator on KJLH 102.3 FM’s the Front Page with Dominique DiPrima.
This week’s Ultimate Transformation Moment is about a subject that I’ve rarely touched upon. It’s a primary topic, when we reflect on our personal growth, personal potential, and how we connect to the universe, people and families around us. The topic is love, or more specifically, self-love.
This week’s Ultimate Transformation Moment focuses on the recruitment of student athletes, and college selection. Parents, this one is for you and your college-bound child.
Parents, you and your child/student-athlete should establish some priorities and have some idea of the type of college environment that is preferable.
One of the most important things you must understand is that your child, the young athlete, is an unlimited being with unlimited talents. They are bringing their unlimited talents to the selected university.
Today’s Ultimate Transformation Moment seeks to educate people on a major component that can, over time, drain our human body systems. Today, we focus on sugar.
First of all, good sugar does provide energy to the body system. The body will take the sugar and use it as fuel. However, there are good and bad sugars.
Today’s Ultimate Transformation Moment is a message to parents. As the school year begins, and children start to participate in sports, now is the time for you to let them have fun, and you can sit back and watch them grow as young people.
Sport is a great learning tool for our youth. It teaches them many life lessons. Sport at its most fundamental level teaches our children how to compete. It teaches them how to challenge themselves to improve skills they have acquired and transfer them into play. They also learn to work together for a common goal.
We sometimes miss opportunities to fully become the person we want to be or enjoy the full riches of life, because we overlook the present moment. We yearn to be somewhere else. Shakespeare writes, “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we often might win by fearing to attempt.”
