Rowing in the heat: If you are rowing a lot  and do your sessions seriously, you have to balance the fluid loss. If this balance does not take place, it may be that your body shows symptoms of dehydration. On hot summer days, we recommend that athletes and coaches are constantly checking the water consumption of the crews.

Dry mouth and bad breath

Drinking and salvia liquid

The body saves saliva liquid: Saliva kills bacteria in the body. What that means is that your water levels in the body are so low, your salivary glands can’t produce enough saliva. While this might sound strange to you- this process keeps your mouth clean. It’s necessary for food digestion and for avoiding bacteria build-up — and finally avoids bad breath.

Dry skin while sweating in my boat?

Your skin loses water by sweating when it’s hot. Your blood volume decreases and thus the adequate supply of the body liquid. You also lose moisture through skin in cooler weather because the air is drier.

Am I dehydrated when having muscle pain and muscle cramps

“The hotter you get, the more likely you are to get muscle cramps, and that’s from a pure heat effect on the muscles. As the muscles work harder and harder, they can seize up from the heat itself. Changes in the electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium, can lead to muscle cramping as well,” says Higgins, MD , University of Texas. (Read more)  from . When your body loses enough fluid, it’s unable to cool itself off adequately, leading to heat illness, Even in cooler weather, dehydration is possible if you don’t drink enough fluids while working out. Higgins says symptoms may be milder or come on slower, but dehydration carries the same risks, regardless of temperature outside.

After Rowing: Food cravings for chocolate

While researching for this post I thought: That’s me: A person whose body misinterprets the feeling of thirst and feeling hungry. “When you’re dehydrated, it can be difficult for organs such as the liver, which uses water, to release glycogen and other components of your energy stores, so you can actually get cravings for food,” Higgins says. This is because your body may be experiencing difficulty breaking down glycogen to release glucose into the bloodstream to use as fuel, he says. The body works in reserve mode.

Headaches caused by dehydration.

Dehydration: effects on brain and mood

A common symptom of dehydration is headache. Our brain is embedded in a fluid bassin used as a buffer when banging your head. Dehydration reduces this waterbed. Also, improper hydration may physically alter your brain. Researchers have found that dehydration can affect the volume of brain structures, as well as shrinkage of brain tissue. To me this is very surprising, that forgetting my waterbottle at the doc might have such a enormous impact on my actual brain. Some scientists even report that noticable mood changes were found at dehydrated patients.

Dont forget your waterbottle: Urine color

The Urine Color is also a good indicater. Am I dehydrated? Check it our before you start your training. Double check after your sessions. Have a look at the table below. I found that in a marathon magazine. Ideally, you’ll want urine that’s a pale, almost transparent shade of yellow. If your urine is notably dark yellow it could mean you’re slightly dehydrated. Orange or maple-colored urine often mean you’re very dehydrated

When going to the bathroom, your body will try to tell you via the color of the liquid just how dehydrated you really are. A fluid loss of about 3% of your body weight can be recognized by the yellow color of your urine. At 5% dehydration, your urine is dark yellow in color. An orange color usually only occurs during a strong dehydration (over 5% of body weight). Do not take this symptom lightly. The less you urinate, the more toxins avoid being properly flushed out of the body.

More symptoms

• Nausea
• Constipation
• Vomiting

Measure your sweat rate

Britisch Rowing has suggestions on how to measure your sweat rate. Here is our post about this.

Seems that drinking is important  Drink enough water when doing your session: Water bottles do not have to be in the boat. You can also put them in drybags. It does not matter whether it’s our Swiss Wickelfisch or Rowtex products. Great Drybags are available in our shop.