Can I drink water after exercise?

Many people become dehydrated after exercise due to excessive exercise. At this time, they drink a lot of water immediately because of thirst. In fact, it is wrong to drink water immediately after exercise. You must not drink water immediately after exercise. Today, the editor will explain to you in detail why you cannot drink water immediately after exercise. Let’s follow the editor to learn more about it!

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.

The editor reminds you not to drink too much water after exercise, and you must adhere to the principle of small amounts and multiple times. The above article is a detailed introduction compiled by the editor on why you cannot replenish water immediately after exercise. I hope that after reading the above introduction, you will have a certain understanding of the reasons why you cannot sleep immediately after exercise.