Heat|The color chart in the toilet of the Olympic training center helps to interpret the body’s fluid balance.
Brave from the main entrance when you walk in and to the right, you will find the toilets. When delivering the item, you can’t help but notice the note pasted on the wall of the toilet stall.
“Athlete! Are you drinking enough?”, the note asks.
The label is very timely, especially in this heat. The effect of fluid balance on an athlete’s performance is obvious.
Is monitoring urine a good measure for monitoring fluid balance Urhea’s doctor in charge Katja Mjösund?
“It’s a really good, cheap and easy way.”
Do you know how the note ended up in the toilet?
“I know, it was put there by our nutritionists. It’s been there for a long time, at least since last summer.”
In the lap three different colors and duration of urination are distinguished. According to Mjösund, the matter can be simplified like this: the darker the urine, the stronger it is.
“If an ordinary exerciser looks in the pot and sees dark urine, then he has drunk too little.”
Such a note can be found in the restroom of Urhea’s main lobby.
People pee in different amounts at once, and often in the morning, for example, the urine can be stronger. The number of toilet trips can also be related to fluid balance.
“If you are a healthy person and have healthy kidneys, the liquid comes out when you pee. If you drink a lot, you also have to poop a lot in the toilet. If you haven’t gone to pee all day, then you’ve had too little to drink. It’s obviously worth keeping an eye on it when it’s this hot.”
“As a rule of thumb, you can say that as long as there is enough pee and it is light in color, it’s an easy metric.”
There are other signs of body dehydration, but they are not so easy to follow.
“Thirsty, of course, but then you’ve already lost fluid. Fatigue, headache and poor coping are common symptoms, but in the heat, just the heat can cause similar symptoms.”
How much should the exerciser drink fluids? According to Mjösund, there is no unequivocal formula for the matter.
“It depends on the person, the species, the person’s adaptation to the heat. You can’t say that you have to drink like this and this much.”
One way to get a clue is to study how much fluid is lost during exercise. According to Mjösund, weighing is a good way.
“The amount of sweating can be measured by weighing yourself before and after sports performance. The separation is fluid. When you want to replace the lost liquid, you should drink 1.5 times it back. And of course not in one fell swoop, but little by little.”
Competitors tried to cool down at the Stockholm Marathon in early June.
Fluid balance it is good to take care, because the body needs fluid for normal functioning. The result of fluid deficit is, for example, fatigue and weakness.
In addition to reasons related to basic health, fluid deficit quickly affects an athlete’s performance.
“In endurance sports, performance deteriorates after a two percent fluid deficit, i.e. quite quickly in the heat.”
The goal is to prevent a decline in performance by drinking enough and regularly. But you can’t refuel too much in advance.
“Over-drinking is not beneficial, in fact it can be harmful. I have sometimes seen instructions where it has been suggested to prepare for a running race by refueling a week before. That refueling has already been peed on many times before the race.”
Liquid should also be absorbed for it to have an effect. Does a person need extra salt in the heat?
“Yes, the liquid is absorbed without salt. In elite sports, we think about these separately, but for an ordinary athlete, it is enough to eat a little saltier food. The Western diet is usually so salty that there is no shortage of salt.”
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