Dehydration and rehydration in competative sport
Open accessAbstract
Dehydration, if sufficiently severe, impairs both physical and mental performance, and performance decrements are greater in hot environments and in long‐lasting exercise. Athletes should begin exercise well hydrated and should drink during exercise to limit water and salt deficits. Many athletes are dehydrated to some degree when they begin exercise. During exercise, most drink less than their sweat losses, some drink too much and a few develop hyponatraemia. Athletes should learn to assess their hydration needs and develop a personalized hydration strategy that takes account of exercise, environment and individual needs. Pre‐exercise hydration status can be assessed from urine frequency and volume, with additional information from urine color, specific gravity or osmolality. Changes in hydration status during exercise can be estimated from the change in body mass: sweat rate can be estimated if fluid intake and urinary losses are also measured. Sweat salt losses can be determined by collection and analysis of sweat samples. An appropriate, individualized drinking strategy will take account of pre‐exercise hydration status and of fluid, electrolyte and substrate needs before, during and after a period of exercise.
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Exercising in a dehydrated state negatively affects both performance and health.
“Exercising in a dehydrated state is well-established to negatively affect both performance and health [97, 98].”
From Nutritional Strategies to Improve Post-exercise Recovery and Subsequent Exercise Performance: A Narrative Review (2025) · cites this paper as [98]
The Summary (page not supplied) says dehydration can impair performance and pose a health risk, especially during or after exercise in warm climates. It qualifies this finding: dehydration must be sufficiently severe, and low levels are well tolerated in cool environments. The citing sentence omits those limits. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Maughan, R. J., & Shirreffs, S. M.
- Affiliations
- Loughborough University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Maughan, R. J.
- Venue
- Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-10
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- s3
- Pages
- 40-47
- ISSN
- 0905-7188 (ISSN-L)
- 1600-0838
- OpenAlex
- W1559770252
- Cited by
- 167
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 0.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Thermoregulation and physiological responses
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Exercise and Physiological Responses
- Keywords
- dehydration, rehydration, competitive sports, exercise performance, heat stress, fluid intake, hyponatremia, sweat loss, urine osmolality, sweat rate, electrolyte balance
- MeSH terms
- Competitive Behavior, Dehydration, Fluid Therapy, Humans, Oxygen Consumption, Sports, Sweat, Water-Electrolyte Balance, Exercise, Exercise Tolerance
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