Can I drink water immediately after exercise?

Many people will feel very thirsty after doing physical exercise, so they will want to drink some water at this time. This is also a common problem for many of us. In fact, you cannot drink water immediately after exercise, otherwise it will have a very big impact on our heart. So you must be careful not to drink water immediately. Let us briefly understand this issue together.

After strenuous exercise, people often sweat a lot to remove heat, and sweat also removes some of the salt in the blood. If you drink a lot of water right away, it will increase sweat excretion, causing more salt loss, and increase blood circulation, thereby increasing the burden on the heart. Therefore, people should not drink water immediately after strenuous exercise.

Sports drinks should not be consumed casually. Taking them when they are not needed may cause harm to the body. In addition to water, functional drinks also contain glucose, sodium, and potassium. These substances only need to be replenished after a large amount of loss. If exercise does not cause the loss of solutes such as sodium and potassium, drinking a large amount of functional drinks will increase the sodium and potassium content, which may affect the balance of water and electrolytes.

Hydration during exercise is very important. Exercise intensity, duration, weather conditions, etc. all have an impact. The easiest way is to judge based on weight. Since dehydration is the main reason for weight loss after exercise, you can calculate the proportion of dehydration to body weight based on the method of "pre-exercise weight minus post-exercise weight divided by pre-exercise weight". When the amount of dehydration is less than 1% of your body weight, you will feel slightly thirsty and only need to drink ordinary water. When the amount of dehydration is 2%-3% of your body weight, taking a 50 kg body weight as an example, if your weight drops by 1-1.5 kg after exercise, you need to drink salt water with a concentration below 0.9%. Only when the amount of dehydration is greater than 4% of your body weight, you need to drink sports drinks. At this time, exercise consumes a lot of water, and substances such as electrolytes, sodium and potassium are also lost in large quantities. Supplementing with sports drinks can help restore body functions.

If you are really thirsty, you can drink a moderate amount, but not too much. If you drink too much, it will easily cause impact on your heart. You cannot sit down immediately after exercise. It is recommended to walk on the spot and sit down after about ten minutes. This is the safest way. Be sure to pay attention!