guys,

i need at lease 2 bottles of pocari sweat during a 2 hours badminton training coz i sweat like a pig!
my question is that. is it harmful if i keep drinking that much during training or games?

thx

red

On the most humid of clubnights, I have drunk up to 5 litres of water -- and I live in England. And afterwards, my urine was yellow, which indicates that I was still dehydrated!

In Hong Kong, I'd say it would be dangerous not to drink multiple bottles of fluids.

Indeed, I was warned by two doctor friends that I might risk "water poisoning" by drinking so much over a short period (this occurs when body fluids are desalinated by excessive sweating and subsequent dilution from drinking, leading to cell rupture in extreme cases).

You are doing the right thing -- drinking plenty of sports drinks. You can, of course, make your own sports drinks, or you can substitute by eating food as well (bananas are good. Ever wondered why tennis players always eat them?).

sports drinks have quite a lot of sugar, and therefore you should only drink them sparingly - I drink 10% sports and 90% water

Pocari Sweat is relatively low in sugar, and it contains sodium and minerals. It is actually an excellent sports drink and not harmful. But normally plain water will do fine, unless you sweat heavily for several hours.

It's a pity you can't get Pocari Sweat here in Sweden. It was one of my favourite refreshers when I travelled in Japan, alongside Calpis (not a sports drink though!).

sugar! that's what i m worrying about!
what do u guys think? 1 litre of pocari sweat for 2 hours of training. is it too much?
water is no good for me! i can feel that it is rolling and rolling inside my stomach when i m running or smashing.

1 litre?? Is that all??

Water is difficult for me as well. In times of high humidity, there is a difference. In winter, drinking water only doesn't seem to be a problem for me. 5 litres of water seems quite a lot though :eek:

I tend to drink a slightly more dilute pocari. The "normal" concentration is a little strong for me. I add roughly about 1/5th water. Other people may have different preferences.

Drink about 250mls 15mins before starting a session. People lose sweat faster than can be replaced just by drinking during a session.

don't know anything about procari, but lucozade/hydro water in the UK contains a lot of sugar

...And afterwards, my urine was yellow, which indicates that I was still dehydrated!...In Hong Kong, I'd say it would be dangerous not to drink multiple bottles of fluids....

Are you sure that it means you are dehydrated? IMO I doubt it, as it obviously contains waste from the system and drinking water excessively dilutes it a lot. I beleive it is a problem when it smells very bad or appears very dark as it is concentrated with a high toxicity content. It might even sting. Dancing in a club/playing badminton generates a lot of these toxins, especially with any other toxic substances (not suggesting anything personal) present, like grog.

I live in the tropics (Darwin, AUS), which is also warm and humid during the 'wet' season, sometimes up to 35-36 degrees C and 80-100% humidity during the monsoonal 'build up'. It is during these times you really have to be careful. The 'dry' (ending now) is rather pleasant most of the time, it's 28.5C and 70% right now which is a little humid. I suppose I drink several litres of water in a 2.5hr stint at badminton.

When I was in Junior National Athletic Squad, we were told not to drink much during training but advised to take a few little sip just to moisten the lips, tongue and throat. Until now whenever I play badminton or other sports that is what I do. One hour before game/training I would drink 100plus or Isports (both are Isotonic water) and only until I finished my session that is when my stomach feels really hungry then I drink a glass or a small bottle of water slowly and eat fruit. I read somewhere in a article that when heavy sweating and high body temperature, drinking to much water is not good, I don't remember why but it's more dangerous than dehydration.

Drinking too much fluid can be dangerous to cause electrolites imbalance and in some serious cases you can collapse. A good way to see if you drink excessive fluid is to weigh yourself before the game/training and weigh yourself again after the game/training. If you find yourself weigh more after the game/training (more than 2lb), you have drank too much fluid. Usually, you should lose some water weight after game/training, however, if you are at least 4 to 5 lb lighter than you started the game. You are in serious dehydration. However, I think drinking 2-3 bottles of drink is very normal during an 2-3 hours session in a humid condition. Try it and see if you have drink too much or not enough. Here is my 2 cents!

pocari sweat -- that stuff's good... i prefer it over gatorade because i think it has less sugar <not too sure>... definitely not because of its name (pocari SWEAT?.. first time i heard of it i was like :eek: haha)

yes, bananas are good for physical activity... they help reduce muscle cramps/pulls/stitches/whatever you wanna call them =)... gotta love those electolytes~

Are you sure that it means you are dehydrated? IMO I doubt it, as it obviously contains waste from the system and drinking water excessively dilutes it a lot.

Yes, I am sure :)

Urine colour is a crude but reliable indicator of hydration.


Clear (or very nearly clear) = hydrated
Slightly yellow = slightly dehydrated
Dark yellow = dehydrated


Most people think that yellow is the normal colour for urine, but most people are slightly dehydrated most of the time. This is because they only drink when they feel thirsty. Thirst is a late sign from the body: the best time to drink is well before you feel thirsty!

Dehydration has a number of temporary detrimental effects, including reduced physical performance, fatigue, and reduced mental capability.

I find it helpful to keep a jug of water by my desk, so that I will drink regularly throughout the day.

Whilst you don't want to have gallons of water sloshing around in your stomach during badminton, bear in mind that it will be absorbed very quickly by your body when it is needed. Drink frequently to reduce the sloshing and to avoid a dip in fluid levels, and aim to drink quite a lot over the course of a clubnight. The actual amount to drink varies massively depending on the intensity of your play and the weather conditions, but at least one litre.

Note that water alone does not rehydrate you. You need water plus certain chemicals that are important for your blood's chemical balance: electrolytes, salt, potassium, etc. Look at a packet of oral rehydration powder (eg. dioralyte or rehidrat) to see what you need.

Normally we get plenty of these from our food, but during intense activity we need to replace them more rapidly (for example, you lose lots of salt through sweating).

Methods of replacing them:


Food, such as bananas
Sports drinks
Homemade sports drinks
Oral rehydration solution (dioralyte, rehidrat)


So for proper hydration, you need both water AND these chemicals.

some pedantic hair-splitting

Dehydration has a number of temporary detrimental effects, including reduced physical performance, fatigue, and reduced mental capability.
your use of the word "temporary" implies that the effects will go away without you having to do anything.


and some seriousness


Whilst you don't want to have gallons of water sloshing around in your stomach during badminton, bear in mind that it will be absorbed very quickly by your body when it is needed.
As I understand it, drinking during exercise is less effectual than when not exercising. This is because the gastrointenstinal (GI) tract partly shuts down because blood supply is diverted to the muscles.
I've read that during exercise the maximum amount of fluid the GI tract can process is 800ml per hour. Whereas 1500 - 2000 ml of fluid can be lost through sweating per hour.

So hydration before exercise is very important.
As you say, by the time you feel thirsty, it's too late.

Interesting points, Neil.

How long a break do you think is needed before the GI tract can absorb water at a more normal rate? Is the break inbetween games at a clubnight long enough?

Some more information about this would be useful for planning good hydration -- if the changes in the body happen quickly enough, then it would be effective to rehydrate between games. Otherwise, we must accept a certain amount of dehydration.

Dunno.

Depends on your club night. Breaks between games at my clubs tend to be less then 5 minutes. Very rarely more than 10 minutes.

As a guess, I would expect you would have to wait at least until your pulse rate returns to near normal (as a crude and don't-know-how-reliable indicator).

some net trawling found The Athlete and the GI Tract (http://www.cptips.com/smexphy.htm)

"splanchnic blood flow is inversely proportional to the intensity of exercise or %VO2max"
if you accept pulse rate as an indicator of %VO2max, then you have an indirect indicator of GI blood flow.

but also
"One careful study done at 70% VO2 max on a treadmill demonstrated no change in small bowel (where most absorption takes place) water/glucose/electrolyte solution absorption."

70% might be too low for to be relevant to badminton though
(it certainly is for the way I play singles)

This thread may be interesting:

http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9873&highlight=isotonic+drinks

The quantity and type of fluid you take will depend on both the temperature of the surrounding air in the hall and the workload of your exercise/sport. If the hall temperature exceeds your skin temperature, then fluid intake may save you your life. A person exercising in such an environment may sweat 2-3 litres of body water in 1 hour. Sweating itself does not cool the body; it is evaporation of your sweat that cools your body. Pls note this. Your sweat on your skin is your life-saver. So wicking, cool fit shirts are not ideal for such environment. You need to leave the sweat on your skin to give you nature's airconditioning. Players in hot and humid countries like Sigapore, Malaysia, etc. who play in non-aircoditioned halls, should at all times keep some sweat on their skin. Stay away from wicking shirts, unless you play in airconditioned halls.

From drinks we venture into polyester apparel!!! That's a big jump.

Not that big a jump. It's still related to dehydration.
If your sweat is inneffective at cooling your body, you sweat more, and you get more dehydrated. Sweat that drips off the body (or is wicked away from the body) has no cooling effect. This is also known as "futile sweat".

The Yonex Very Cool clothing is supposed to work.
I have no experience with it, but there's a whole other thread on it somewhere.

In hot and humid conditions without airconditioning, when the air temperature is at, or exceeds, your skin temperature, evaporation of your sweat becomes the predominant means of heat dissipation. Evaporative heat loss can occur only when your shirt is thoroughly wet and sweat can vaporize. Towelling away your sweat, dry cool wicking shirts, changing to new dry shirts will hinder evaporation. Towelling and changing to new dry shirts may make you look smart but they hinder evaporative heat loss. Under such conditions think of heat transfer-only a thoroughly wet body or shirt will do this most efficiently.
However, if the ambient air temperature in the hall is lower than your skin temperature, then other means of heat dissipation come to the aid of evaporation. These include heat loss from the body by conduction, convection, and radiation. Under such conditions you can then wear your sexy dry cool wicking shirts, or change to new dry shirts, or towel off all your sweat.