Hello. I have a problem - I play Ultimate Frisbee alot, our games usually last from 1 to 3 hrs. Including subs I, being one of the "not bad" players have to run for 1-2 hrs straight during each game. The problem is - I get dehydrated very quickly - ina bout 10-30 minutes of excessive gameplay I get very thursty and have to call water breaks. Ofcourse, all the stuff like Gatorate, etc. really helps, but I was wondering - is there any other more natural way to solve that problem? I realize that dehydration comes with sweat, which is one of the means the body uses to cool itself down, but today when I came from practice (2.5 hrs with no subs) I drank half gallon of water in 10 minutes and stil felt thirsty. Does anyone have any pieces of advice?

You have to hydrate before and after athletic activity. Before the game, spend an hour or so sipping water. Don't chug a gallon in 10 minutes or anything like that, but get a couple of quarts into your system. Do the same thing after you finish.

Gatorade is good during the game because it replaces not just the water you lose by sweating, but also the salts and other stuff that you lose.

Also: do you drink water or other healthy drinks the rest of the time? If you chug nothing but soda until Ultimate Frisbee day, then you've already dehydrated yourself to a certain extent. Soda's fine in moderation, though. Just balance it with water, juice and other fluids that actually hydrate the body.

If the dehydration problem continues...or the feeling of thirst doesn't go away...I'd go to the doctor. There could be a medical problem.

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it: it IS possible to drink too much water. Water poisoning can actually kill people. Weird but true.

Absolutely agree with FolkRockFan. Make sure you drink water before and after playing frisbee. Soda helps dehydrate you so try to stay away from that also. Drinking during the game will help of course. When you drank that half gallon and were still thristy, it was probably because you body didn't have enough time to process the water. For example, when I eat dinner, I tend to eat rather quickly. I then move on to eating desserts or snacks. Then, like half an hour later I will feel really full. Now I'm no doctor, so I wouldn't trust everything I say. I'm just talking from experience.

One thing to note here:

By the time you feel thirsty, it is too late, your body has consumed all the reserves it has. that 'thirsty feeling' is the body telling you that it has no more reserves.
Try the above advise and let us know how it works for you.

To summarize:

Stay away from Soda as a hydration drink. The sugars are not good for you.
Small doses of water before, during and after exercise
'Cold' is harder to deal with. Use 'tap water', not chilled
Coffee is not a 'hydrator' either
Water is the best, or milk is good (afterwards)
Drink water BEFORE you get thirsty. Waiting will drain your reserves. It takes some time to get the water into your system, so small sips early and often is recommended

Hope this helps.

Well to keep hydrated you have to sustain a certain amount of water within the body, but if you do exercises that exerts you more than the energy potential you may have you start to feel symptoms of fatigue. Just stick with water really, thats the best hydration drink you can stick with as it isn't sweeten drinks like most of the rest which give you a sudden craven for more. So may I advise buying a water bottle so when thirsty you may continue to drink but take it in small portions.

Thanks to you and to all who wrote in this thread. We had a practice today, and during the last period I drank .25 L. bottle of water slowly as you advised, and then again the same amount after warmup. It changed everytning tremendously! I did not feel thirsty a single time during the game. Although, I got tired more than usual (muscle pain), and I kinda felt "heavier" when running. Are these two connected?

btw, we won:)

P. S. I never dring soda in any way ever:)

If I drink too much water before doing sports, I do get muscle aches and may feel a bit 'heavier'. I think it's a matter of making your body get used to it. Other than taking in water orally, you can also try spraying water on yourself periodically. Notice how those footballers on tv always dunk a bottle of water over themselves. It's to cool down and helps a little with hydrating too. Instead of doing this during the game, since it's going to cause you to keep having those annoying breaks, one hour before the game, you have some clean water in a sprinkler with you at hand, and every few minutes, whenever you feel like it, you can take it out and spray your face, hands etc to keep yourself cool before the game.

Thanks... that's the first thing I thought about it, but the thing is that in Frisbee you cannot call breaks that often. Only at halftimes, which are usually an hour into the game:(

I agree with quite a lot of what was said here, but I'd just take one thing from Folkrockfan and one thing from jlhaslip:

Folkrockfan said soda, a small amount, isn't harmful. I know you don't drink it, but for anyone else who's learning from this thread, don't touch it! Soda contains (often) several ingredients that, ingested in sufficient quantity, are deadly or are a major contributer to obesity: Phosphoric acid is deadly, and high fructose corn syrup, which is hard not to find these days as a sweetener, is a major factor in the epidemic of obesity and early onset diabetes in places that don't have societal emphasis and place high value on gardening and living an independent lifestyle (like most of North America).

Jlhaslip suggested that milk can be considered in hydration. Milk, according to a lot of research, can lead to asthma, and certainly generates a lot of mucus making it more difficult to breathe during activity from high-impact sports to singing. I have never been able to cut milk out from my diet altogether, but I never ever drink it as a beverage, just as an accompaniment to things like cold cereal, pasta, mashed potatoes, or coffee. That's the extent of my milk consumption and it's always "organic" to limit my intake of rBST and antibiotics. Remember, milk is another huge source for dietary sugar which is not something most people need more of. Personally, I just feel a whole lot better when I haven't had any non-fermented dairy in a couple days. Cheese, preferably made from RAW UNpasteurized milk, is not a bad thing, but now we're straying from the topic. For hydration, a high-mineral-content water from a natural source like a spring or private well where toxins like chlorine or fluoride aren't added would be preferable. And keep that bottle of water at your side at all times, even on your night