Schedule Appointment. Taylor shares key tips on how to help keep your young athlete hydrated and healthy. Choose a fun water bottle.

Add high water content foods like oranges, cucumbers or yogurt to meals to make hydrating more fun. Drink fluids throughout the day. Carry your water bottle or stop by the water fountain between classes.

Do not drink a large volume of fluid right before an event or physical activity. This may not fully hydrate or rehydrate the athlete. This may cause stomach discomfort or a trip to the restroom during the event. Drink plenty of fluids during and after the event. Learn what works for different activities.

How Much Fluid Does My Athlete Need? Hydration Strategy for Sports Having a plan for staying hydrated is essential for young athletes playing sports or doing other physical activities.

After puberty, an athlete may sweat more, so replacing electrolytes becomes more important. Some salty snack ideas are sports drinks with six to eight percent carbohydrate, pretzels or salty crackers, cheese, pickles, or broth-based soup or vegetable juice.

A sports drink or salty snack may be needed for the following: High intensity activities lasting longer than an hour Tournaments and back-to-back events Hot conditions, indoors or outdoors Having salt on the skin or clothes after activity.

Signs and Symptoms of Dehydration If your young athlete is experiencing any of the following signs and symptoms, he or she may be dehydrated, and a hydration strategy may be needed.

If your child is especially lethargic, a call to your medical provider may be in order. Signs and Symptoms of Heat Illness Heat illness is a preventable condition, and dehydration is an early sign of heat illness.

Respond quickly if you notice any of the following signs of heat illness: Weakness Vomiting Excessive thirst Headache Fatigue Sweating Nausea Light-headedness Confusion or disorientation If your child is exhibiting one or more of the signs of heat illness, immediately call your medical provider for assistance to determine if treatment is needed.

It is important that your young athlete knows these signs and symptoms so that they can recognize heat illness if they experience it. Additional Support With practice, a young athlete should learn what hydration strategy works best for training and competition.

Learn more about hydrating in cold weather and five strategies for keeping your young athlete fueled. Learn more about hydration and nutrition for young athletes. Taylor Morrison M. If an athlete weighs more after exercise than before, then the athlete is consuming too much fluid.

Get more hydration tips from a CHOC dietitian. With these important hydration reminders, your young athletes will be ready for a safe and successful sports season. Make sure they remember to hydrate before, during and after their practices and games. For more health and wellness resources from the pediatric experts at CHOC, sign up for the Kids Health newsletter.

Unfortunately, many kids get infected with respiratory illnesses in the fall and winter seasons. CHOC experts highly encourage all eligible members of households to receive their annual flu shots. Other preventative measures like good hygiene and staying home when sick can help protect families from illness.

The following articles and guides provide more information. Find a CHOC Primary Care Pediatrician. This monthly e-newsletter provides parenting tips on topics like nutrition, mental health and more. The guidance on this page has been clinically reviewed by CHOC pediatric experts.

CHOC Home. How to make sure your young athlete stays hydrated during sports Published on: September 5, Last updated: September 1, A CHOC expert offers tips to ensure that kids and teens are properly hydrated for sports practices and games, and what to do if they overheat.

Complaints of stomachaches. Dropping to one knee. Preventing dehydration in kids before practice or game day Preventing dehydration is all about preparation. During these fluid breaks, the American Academy of Pediatrics AAP recommends that kids and teens drink the appropriate amount of water for their bodies, like: 5 oz.

for an pound child every 20 minutes. for a pound adolescent every 20 minutes. They also should drink fluids after exercising to restore fluid lost through sweat. Is water good enough for hydration for kids? Print or download this hydration tip sheet your young athletes.

How to prevent and treat respiratory illnesses this season Unfortunately, many kids get infected with respiratory illnesses in the fall and winter seasons.

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Low-sugar sports drinks can be a good choice for kids who do intense physical activity for more than one hour. For kids younger than 5 years, water is best for recovery, but drinks like Pedialyte are good, too. Kids and teens should also eat a salty snack along with their water during recovery.

This makes sure that their body is replenishing the salt it lost while sweating during exercise. An athlete can over-hydrate or consume high amounts of water without proper sodium replacement, which puts the body at risk for hyponatremia.

Hyponatremia is a condition that occurs when the level of sodium in the blood is too low, which can cause nausea, headache, confusion and fatigue.

If an athlete weighs more after exercise than before, then the athlete is consuming too much fluid. Get more hydration tips from a CHOC dietitian. With these important hydration reminders, your young athletes will be ready for a safe and successful sports season.

Make sure they remember to hydrate before, during and after their practices and games. For more health and wellness resources from the pediatric experts at CHOC, sign up for the Kids Health newsletter.

Unfortunately, many kids get infected with respiratory illnesses in the fall and winter seasons. CHOC experts highly encourage all eligible members of households to receive their annual flu shots.

Other preventative measures like good hygiene and staying home when sick can help protect families from illness. The following articles and guides provide more information. Find a CHOC Primary Care Pediatrician. This monthly e-newsletter provides parenting tips on topics like nutrition, mental health and more.

The guidance on this page has been clinically reviewed by CHOC pediatric experts. CHOC Home. How to make sure your young athlete stays hydrated during sports Published on: September 5, Last updated: September 1, A CHOC expert offers tips to ensure that kids and teens are properly hydrated for sports practices and games, and what to do if they overheat.

Complaints of stomachaches. Dropping to one knee. If young athletes are working out for one hour or less, water is generally sufficient to keep hydrated. Sports drinks may be recommended in certain situations including when:.

In these situations, experts recommend a sports drink containing at least to mg of sodium per 8oz. This will replace fluid and electrolytes lost through sweat. The specially trained experts at Children's Health Andrews Institute Sports Performance powered by EXOS help young athletes perform their best while remaining healthy and safe.

Contact us today to schedule an appointment. Children's Health will not sell, share or rent your information to third parties. Please read our privacy policy.

Receive the latest advice from our orthopedic and sports performance specialist -- right in your inbox. Sign up for Performance Playbook, the monthly newsletter from Children's Health Andrews Institute. athlete, dehydration, exercise, hydration, injury prevention, physical fitness, sports, sports injury, sports medicine.

X Facebook Linked In Email. Why is hydration important in sports? Benefits of staying hydrated include: Improved muscle function. Hydrated muscles function better than dehydrated muscles.

Regulated blood pressure. With the focus on improving sport-specific skills, cardiovascular endurance, and muscle strength to optimize athletic performance, the role of proper hydration is often overlooked. Recent incidents of severe heat exertion in high school football players have increased awareness of the need to pay attention to hydration and body temperature in hot, humid weather conditions.

But in general, hydration isn't viewed as a key factor in athletic performance on a regular basis. Guidelines for hydration in child and adolescent athletes are available, and new research evidence underscores the importance of hydration and hydration education for young athletes, coaches, parents, and youth sports organizations.

The Latest Guidelines In , the American Academy of Pediatrics AAP updated its policy statement on hydration in relation to climate stress for young athletes see sidebar below. Currently, the policy statement is the only guideline from a professional medical organization that specifically addresses child and adolescent athletes.

Although the American College of Sports Medicine ACSM has issued general guidelines on exercise and hydration, its focus is on adults. Therefore, it's critical for young athletes to monitor and maintain adequate fluid balance to prevent dehydration to sustain normal cardiovascular and thermoregulatory functions required for exercise performance," Mangieri says.

Adequate hydration is essential to optimal athletic performance, and the most effective way to ensure hydration is to utilize pre- and postexercise weight measurements to determine and replace fluid loss. Symptoms of dehydration include noticeable thirst, irritability, fatigue, weakness, nausea, headache, muscle cramping, dizziness or lightheadedness, dark yellow urine or no desire to urinate, difficulty paying attention, and decreased performance.

Treating symptoms of dehydration is crucial in preventing the progression to heat exhaustion. Additionally, young athletes often are excited or distracted during competitions and don't think to rehydrate during recovery periods.

He advises children to consume 24 oz of water for every pound lost after sports activity, and that AAP recommendations be followed for preactivity hydration.

Although some research suggests that children do in fact rehydrate voluntarily when fluids are available, these studies were conducted in ideal, laboratory experimental settings in nonathletic children.

Voluntary fluid intake by young athletes during highly competitive or extended athletic events hasn't been adequately evaluated. Bergeron, PhD, FACSM, executive director of the Sanford Sports Science Institute and the National Youth Sports Health and Safety Institute, and a senior scientist at Sanford Children's Health Research Center.

In the first study of repeated-bout strenuous exercise in healthy competitive youth soccer athletes, Bergeron and colleagues found that one hour of complete rest, cool down, and rehydration following 80 minutes of strenuous exercise equivalent to a soccer game generally was effective in eliminating residual strain and dehydration during a second exercise session.

However, for some study participants, the supervised rest and rehydration was insufficient. In typical outdoor youth soccer tournaments, complete rest and rehydration are less likely to occur due to tournament organization and unavailability of cool settings. In youth tennis and soccer tournaments, rest between bouts may be 30 minutes or less.

Incomplete rehydration and a sodium deficit can prompt lower heat tolerance, greater cardiovascular and thermal strain, and reduced performance, as well as an increased risk of muscle cramping during the next game," Bergeron says.

There's still a need for governing bodies of youth sports to address this issue and provide more specific, evidence-based guidelines for minimum rest periods between same-day competitive events for youth sports tournaments, he says.

Prehydration for Performance Given the importance of hydration for optimal athletic performance, being properly hydrated before practices and competitions also is essential. Prehydration often is a problem for young athletes, due to their potential inability to perceive thirst and rehydrate appropriately.

Attention to prehydration especially is important when young athletes are participating in sports that, due to their competition or training requirements, may hasten dehydration. In addition, she says level, duration, and intensity of training all influence fluid needs and may be different for individual athletes and sports.

The AAP Policy Statement cites the example of a healthy year-old athlete who's fit, well hydrated, and acclimated to hot weather, and who safely can play soccer on a degree day. Contrast that young athlete with an overweight football player of the same age, who recently has recovered from a gastrointestinal illness, and has to complete two three-hour workouts on the first warm day of preseason football training; he will be at much greater risk of dehydration and heat stress if not properly hydrated during training.

Are Sports Drinks Appropriate? Heavy marketing of sports drinks as an alternative to water for athletes of all ages has led to much debate about their appropriateness for young athletes. In general, sports drinks are unnecessary for younger child athletes, White says.

Because sports drinks often contain high amounts of sugar, children could experience nausea, cramps, and diarrhea when they're dehydrated.

Water for rehydrating, in conjunction with a balanced diet that includes sodium, allows child athletes to function optimally without added sports drinks, White says, adding that he recommends the National Food Service Management Institute's Nutrition Fact Sheet "Fueling the School-Aged Athlete—Sports Drinks" as a good resource on sports drink use.

According to Bergeron, sports drinks will play a proportionately greater and more effective role over water in hotter weather, same-day multiple sports sessions, older youth athletes who work longer and harder, and in sports situations with few opportunities to refuel with food.

For young athletes who struggle to drink enough, Mangieri says a sports drink can motivate them to drink more because it may taste better than water. In , the AAP released recommendations for sports drinks.

This may not fully hydrate or rehydrate the athlete. This may cause stomach discomfort or a trip to the restroom during the event. Drink plenty of fluids during and after the event. Learn what works for different activities.

How Much Fluid Does My Athlete Need? Hydration Strategy for Sports Having a plan for staying hydrated is essential for young athletes playing sports or doing other physical activities.

After puberty, an athlete may sweat more, so replacing electrolytes becomes more important. Some salty snack ideas are sports drinks with six to eight percent carbohydrate, pretzels or salty crackers, cheese, pickles, or broth-based soup or vegetable juice.

A sports drink or salty snack may be needed for the following: High intensity activities lasting longer than an hour Tournaments and back-to-back events Hot conditions, indoors or outdoors Having salt on the skin or clothes after activity. Signs and Symptoms of Dehydration If your young athlete is experiencing any of the following signs and symptoms, he or she may be dehydrated, and a hydration strategy may be needed.

If your child is especially lethargic, a call to your medical provider may be in order. Signs and Symptoms of Heat Illness Heat illness is a preventable condition, and dehydration is an early sign of heat illness.

Respond quickly if you notice any of the following signs of heat illness: Weakness Vomiting Excessive thirst Headache Fatigue Sweating Nausea Light-headedness Confusion or disorientation If your child is exhibiting one or more of the signs of heat illness, immediately call your medical provider for assistance to determine if treatment is needed.

It is important that your young athlete knows these signs and symptoms so that they can recognize heat illness if they experience it. Additional Support With practice, a young athlete should learn what hydration strategy works best for training and competition.

Learn more about hydrating in cold weather and five strategies for keeping your young athlete fueled. Learn more about hydration and nutrition for young athletes.

Taylor Morrison M. N CSSD L. sports nutrition hydration sports drinks heat. Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email. View All. Tell us what you are interested in receiving below. Question - Not Required - News, Events and Giving Opportunities News and Updates for Medical Professionals Tips and Insights for Young Athletes Volunteer Opportunities and Updates.

Spam Control Text: Please leave this field empty. If young athletes are working out for one hour or less, water is generally sufficient to keep hydrated. Sports drinks may be recommended in certain situations including when:. In these situations, experts recommend a sports drink containing at least to mg of sodium per 8oz.

This will replace fluid and electrolytes lost through sweat. The specially trained experts at Children's Health Andrews Institute Sports Performance powered by EXOS help young athletes perform their best while remaining healthy and safe. Contact us today to schedule an appointment.

Children's Health will not sell, share or rent your information to third parties. Please read our privacy policy.

Receive the latest advice from our orthopedic and sports performance specialist -- right in your inbox. Sign up for Performance Playbook, the monthly newsletter from Children's Health Andrews Institute.

athlete, dehydration, exercise, hydration, injury prevention, physical fitness, sports, sports injury, sports medicine. X Facebook Linked In Email. Why is hydration important in sports? Benefits of staying hydrated include: Improved muscle function.

Hydrated muscles function better than dehydrated muscles. Regulated blood pressure. Improved circulation. Staying hydrated also improves blood flow and circulation and thus the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to working muscles.

Good hydration also helps remove metabolic by-products and waste from muscles, while replacing the water that is lost through sweat.

How can proper hydration help young athletes reduce injury risk? Recommended daily water intake for athletes Fluid needs vary based on activity, intensity, environmental conditions, body size of the athlete and training status.

Calculating sweat rate Knowing an athlete's sweat rate is important when monitoring hydration. Water or sports drink: What is best for athletes?

Sports drinks may be recommended in certain situations including when: Exercise lasts longer than 1 hour Engaging in intense workouts Practicing or playing in extreme environmental conditions, such as high heat and humidity Excessive sweating occurs, i.

Learn more The specially trained experts at Children's Health Andrews Institute Sports Performance powered by EXOS help young athletes perform their best while remaining healthy and safe.