Can I drink water immediately after strenuous exercise?

We should all have had this experience: after strenuous exercise, we often feel thirsty because we sweat a lot. After exercise, friends and family often prepare some water or sports drinks for us to drink. But after strenuous exercise, can we drink water immediately? Will this harm the body? How should we drink water in a healthy way?

It is not advisable for people to drink water immediately after strenuous exercise, and sports drinks should not be consumed casually. Taking them when not needed may cause harm to the body. In addition to water, functional drinks also contain glucose, sodium and potassium, which 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.

After strenuous exercise, you should not drink a lot of water immediately, even sports drinks, because this will lead to an imbalance of electrolytes in the body. If you feel that your body is severely dehydrated, you can drink it in small sips, in small amounts, and in multiple times. This will be healthier.