Written by Regin Smith

With the summer months upon us, hydration is more important than ever. It is especially important for our youth athletes going into summer sports to stay hydrated on a daily basis.

Hydration plays a critical role in youth athletes’ performance and safety, along with learning and setting yourself up for a healthy lifestyle beyond sports. 

Hydration Habits

When it comes to hydration, it is important to establish habits early on. Making it a priority to drink 1-2 glasses of water at every meal or drinking water 30 minutes to an hour before activity, are great habits that will help to set you up to live a healthy lifestyle as an adult. 

Safety and Sport Performance

As for during sports, adequate hydration supports one’s cardiovascular capacity, thermoregulation, and exercise-heat tolerance in a wide range of environmental conditions.1  Your hydration levels significantly impact your sports performance, especially when playing in hotter conditions than normal. This is why it is so important to make sure you stay hydrated when playing outside during the summer months. 

Making adjustments depending on the intensity and duration of activity, frequency and duration of breaks, cooling interventions, and recovery time are all important when it comes to staying hydrated. Adolescent athletes’ sweat rates can exceed 1.0 liter per hour during sport, so making sure to hydrate to supplement water lost is very important. As a general rule, you should be consuming at least 2-3 cups of water within the hour after exercise.2 

As for athletes wearing protective gear or uniforms that aren’t as breathable, it’s important to take into consideration the excess sweat that will be lost from the addition of these uniforms. 

Sports Drinks

Sports drinks are commonly the first thing people go to when they think of hydration for sports. However, they are not always the first thing you should reach for. These drinks should primarily be used for physical activity lasting longer than an hour. Sports drinks such as Gatorade and BodyArmor contain carbohydrates and electrolytes as an immediate source of energy for prolonged activity. However, these are not necessarily needed for youth athletes. 

If you are considering a sports drink over water, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First of all, you should consider the duration and level of your training. If you are exercising vigorously for 60 minutes or more, it may be more beneficial to drink a sports drink during or after your training in order to replenish glucose and electrolytes lost. However, if you are just participating in routine or play-based exercise, such as walking or playing on the playground, these sports drinks are typically unnecessary.3

There is a big misconception between sports drinks and energy drinks. While energy drinks can be used to give the body energy temporarily, they do not replenish nutrients lost during exercise as sports drinks do. There are a few things you should look for in a sports drink that are not included in energy drinks. Sports drinks, such as Gatorade and Powerade, contain electrolytes, carbohydrates, and sometimes vitamins and minerals needed to help the body replenish what is lost in sweat during exercise. 

On the other hand, energy drinks like Celcius and Red Bull typically contain anywhere from 100-200 mg of caffeine, the recommendation for adolescents ages 12 to 18 is less than 100mg/day.4 In addition to caffeine, they also contain ingredients such as guarana, sugars, taurine, ginseng, B vitamins, glucuronolactone, yohimbe, and carnitine.5 These drinks can actually contribute to dehydration, and the caffeine in them promotes sodium loss, one of the things we are trying to replenish with sports drinks.6

Recommendations

Always maintain hydration in and out of sport. It is not only important for athletes to hydrate themselves during activity, but also before and after.

Drink 1-2 cups of water at each meal. Drinking 1-2 cups of water at each meal is an easy way to make sure you’re staying hydrated throughout the day.

Drink 2-3 cups of water within an hour after exercise. As we stated before, it’s important that we replenish the water lost throughout a game or practice. 

Drink 3-8 ounces of water every 15 to 20 minutes of exercise.7  It’s important to keep hydrated during a game or practice too!

Make it fun! There are lots of fruits and vegetables with a high water content that can also help to keep you hydrated and supplement your water intake!

Work with a sports dietitian to find your individual needs and how to meet them best!

References 

1. Bergeron M. THE HEALTHY YOUTH ATHLETE – REINFORCING THE ROLE OF HYDRATION. Gatorade Sports Science Institute. Published online January 2024. Accessed June 3, 2024. https://www.gssiweb.org/en/sports-science-exchange/Article/the-healthy-youth-athlete-reinforcing-the-role-of-hydration#articleTopic_5 
2. Hydration Tips for Young Athletes. https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/content-public/pdf/sports-hydration-tips-stanford-childrens.pdf
3. Sports Drinks. The Nutrition Source. Published September 23, 2019. https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/sports-drinks/ 
4. AACAP. Caffeine and Children. http://www.aacap.org. Published July 2020. https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Caffeine_and_Children-131.aspx 
5. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Energy Drinks. NCCIH. Published July 2018. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/energy-drinks 
6. Alsunni AA. Energy Drink Consumption: Beneficial and Adverse Health Effects. Int J Health Sci (Qassim). 2015;9(4):468-474.  
7. Hydration Tips for Young Athletes. Scottish Rite for Children. https://scottishriteforchildren.org/news-items/hydration-tips-for-young-athletes