fciwomenswrestling.com article - wikimedia commons photo
Female wrestlers give their all during matches so if you feel dehydrated, here are some suggestions as to what you can do.
You might be pleasantly surprised.
When female wrestlers agree to participate in fully competitive events, some of the major concerns are the spacing apart of the matches, how long each match will take and will breaks be allowed for conditioning. These are important questions to consider because if the event is a successful one, the competitors will also participate in private sessions which may involve mixed wrestling with men thus requiring additional intense physical exertion.
In addition to that, sometimes they wrestle in studios or rooms with no air conditioning during the summer.
If too much exertion occurs without sufficient water intake, this could lead to dehydration.
As defined at mayoclinic.org, dehydration occurs when you use or lose more fluid than you take in, and your body doesn’t have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions. If you don’t replace lost fluids, you will get dehydrated.
The educational information source Wikipedia explains the symptoms of dehydration include thirst, headache, general discomfort, loss of appetite, dry skin, decreased urine volume, confusion, unexplained tiredness, and irritability.
There is another side effect of dehydration that might be easily overlooked especially since it affects men and women differently.
The respected scientific news, health and information site scientificamerican.com shares, “Two recent studies find that dehydration not only affects your body but your mood as well.
Researchers evaluated 51 healthy men and women three times in three months. All the subjects walked on a treadmill to induce dehydration. The researchers then tested the subjects’ alertness, concentration, reaction time, learning, memory, reasoning and mood level.
They found that dehydration in men caused difficulty in memory and alertness. In women dehydration caused little reduction in cognitive ability, but did cause significant fatigue, tension and anxiety. Such changes in mood occurred regardless if the subject was exercising or at rest.
The results of the study with male participants were published in the British Journal of Nutrition and the women’s results were in the Journal of Nutrition, an American publication.”
The site healthylife-articles.blogspot.com takes a closer look at the gender differences. “Compared with men, women were more vulnerable to negative effects of dehydration, especially in the decline in cognitive ability and mood.”
A world renowned expert on hydration, Harris R. Lieberman, a specialist in neuro-cognition, mentions dehydration by 1.5 percent in men will cause a drop in concentration and memory, fatigue and tension. Meanwhile, the woman was already felt the negative effects of dehydration as 1.3 percent.
So if you are a female wrestler at a private shoot or larger event and you sense you are feeling the effects of dehydration, what can you do to improve your condition?
The simplest answer is to slowly ingest water but research indicates there are a number of creative, tasty and more effective drinks that can save the day while hitting the spot. You might be surprised at what they are.
In an eye opening article published by womenshealthmag.com, the writer Esther Crain reports, “Coffee can also serve as a solid recovery drink, replenishing your system with fluid lost via sweat while jolting your post-gym energy levels so you don’t feel tired and nod off at work or during dinner, says Clark. One 12-16 ounce coffee before or after your workout is all you need to get the energy and hydration benefits.”
She continues, “Instead of leeching water from your system and making you feel dehydrated and dragged, it actually hydrates and energizes you. In fact, coffee is as hydrating as water. And that applies when coffee is consumed before or after a gym session, too, says Boston-based sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, MS, RD, author of Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook.
In fact, coffee has an edge over those other performance drinks. The caffeine it naturally contains kick-starts your central nervous system, cranking your energy higher than if you drank plain water or another sports drink.”
Now you are in for another possible surprise.
The respected female information site food.allwomenstalk.com adds another alternative to hydration recovery. “Fresh coconut water is absolutely one of the best workout recovery drinks there is. It is rich in potassium (an electrolyte) and has about five times more than the artificial, store-bought alternative! Also, it contains some sodium which is lost during the hardest of workouts. These two key ingredients are naturally occurring in coconut water, and are not natural in man-made sports drinks. Although fresh from a young coconut is best, boxed coconut water is still amazing and is relatively cheap as well. The boxed varieties come in so many delicious flavors: mango, pineapple, pink guava, and even chocolate!”
This is starting to sound so good it could make a person wish they were thirsty.
The site continues, “There has been a lot of research done lately about the benefits of consuming tart cherry juice after your workout. It is beneficial because tart cherry juice is rich in anti-inflammatory flavonoids and antioxidants. It can dramatically help reduce muscle soreness, so I highly recommend this after a tough session. Tart cherry juice thus creates a quicker recovery, and a quicker recovery means that you can work out more often and with more intensity. Who can complain about that?”
The well written article lists seven drinks but for our purposes here, let’s focus on two more.
“If you choose the right ingredients for a smoothie, it can be the perfect post-workout recovery drink. So what ingredients are the ‘right’ ones? Well, I always include a protein source, fruit, liquid, and vegetables. For protein you can use protein powder or raw nuts; either one will help replenish the protein your body craves after a workout. Fruit such as pineapple or papaya contain natural anti-inflammatory enzymes that help with the inflammation caused by exercise. Any liquid you use is fine, and leafy greens like romaine and spinach contain an abundant of vitamins and antioxidants to help prevent damage from the stress of exercise.
Chocolate milk has been receiving attention recently as a great workout recovery drink, and for a good reason: it contains just what your body needs after a workout – protein and carbohydrates. This is needed to replenish glycogen stores in our muscles, which are depleted after working out. What’s so important about the chocolate part? Chocolate milk generally has a lot more carbohydrates and protein than regular milk, which means a quicker recovery for you. Depending on the duration of your workout, one or two cups should do the trick”
It’s great for a female wrestler to give her all during the match. Her opponent respects it, her fans expect it and the audience greatly appreciates it. The balance during the performance is to maintain moderate fluid intake. That being understood, if you do find yourself a little dehydrated it’s great to know from the above information that you have many tasty drinks available that can not only help you recover but enjoy the journey as well.
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Sources: brainyquote.com, Wikimedia, mayoclinic.org, healthylife-articles.blogspot.com, womenshealthmag.com, food.allwomenstalk.com, thank you for exceptional photos Wikimedia commons.
