Hydration in Sports

Hydration in sports is important.  Through my experiences I have found what I believe to beTHE answer to perfect hydration.

I played tennis and volleyball in college.  When we moved to Africa, I continued playing tennis and volleyball there. My need for hydration in sports became quite obvious.

African volleyball dehydrated me

Every Friday I would play volleyball with our seminary students.  It was hot, and I would drink a full 2 liters of water during the match. But I didn't just sweat out water, I sweated out electrolytes.  

After every match I would get a terrible headache.  My wife is an RN. She knew that I needed more than just water for healthy hydration. I needed mineral hydration.  

My wife suggested that I add ORS (Oral Rehydration Salts) to my volleyball water.

This is the oral hydration formula that she used to help babies who were dehydrated from diarrhea.

I tried this hydration treatment, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it greatly reduced my post volleyball headaches.  From then on I used this rehydration formula every week.

After 15 years in Africa we returned to the USA.  I brought a lot of the ORS back with me.

But within 6 months of Georgia heat it was gone. Having learned the importance of hydration in sports, I looked for an alternative rehydration drink.

I turned to Gatorade

My first choice was Gatorade.  It didn't seem to work quite as well as the ORS, but it did help.  I did a lot of hard manual labor at our new house, putting in a pool and landscaping the yard.  

Sometimes I drank a gallon of Gatorade a day, and got to the place I could hardly stand the thought of drinking any more.  This was certainly an unwelcome hydration reaction.

The next rehydration sports drink I tried was Powerade.  It offered a change, but wasn't that different from Gatorade.  Though these hydration products helped lessen my headaches, they didn't eliminate them.

A Miracle Hydration Product?

Then I stumbled across a body hydration product that eliminated my headaches caused by dehydration.  I was excited.

The product was liquid sea minerals, a mineral supplement from Australia. It is made by evaporating 100 gallons of ocean water down to a 1 gallon concentrate. It contains all the trace minerals found in the ocean, minus 99% of the sodium, which precipitates out during evaporation.  

I then learned that the ionic sea minerals are a great trace mineral supplement, and that these trace minerals are lacking in most of our diets.

I started taking a teaspoon a day, and found that it worked great forprehydration. I could work hard in the yard or play hard at sports and no longer get the accompanying headache. As an added bonus, it got rid of my constipation problems.

Although I no longer have the opportunity to play volleyball, I do play tennis at least once a week, so hydration in sports is still important to me.

Rehydration needed for tennis

When I play tennis, I play 3 or 4 sets at a time. Though I am 56, my style of game is to run hard to try and get every ball.  My body still needs something for rapid rehydration.

Besides taking the minerals once a day, I started adding one teaspoon of the Ionic Sea Minerals to my two liters of water. This makes a good hydration drink.  

Perfect for leg cramps

I encouraged some of my tennis buddies to try this in place of the rehydration drinks they were using.  One of them told me that he has battled with muscle cramps.

I gave him a bottle of EBoost 76 (Ionic Sea Minerals under another label) to try.  I told him to try it with Crystal Lite Pure Lemonade, which gives it a sports drink flavor that’s good for you.  

Having tested all lemonade brands in our grocery stores,
this brand tasted the best to me and my family.  
(Yes, I tortured my family with numerous taste tests :-)

A few weeks later I asked my friend about the EBoost 76, and he said that "his cramps were gone.  Pretty effective hydration in sports!

Getting rid of my cramps

Unfortunately, though my headaches caused by heavy sweating were completely gone, I still had a bit of a problem with cramps in my legs after a hard night of tennis.  This drove me to come up with a revised rehydration drink recipe.

I started adding about a third of a teaspoon of sea salt to my 2 litercontainer of rehydration water.  This added some sodium chloride to the mix.  Since then, no more cramps.  None at all.  I am a happy camper!

I believe I may have stumbled across the perfect rehydration recipe. Perhaps this might also be your hydration in sports solution!

Here is my hydration recipe:

    2 liters of filtered water

    1 pack of Crystal Lite Pure Lemonade

    1 tsp. Ionic Sea Minerals

    1/3 tsp. Sea Salt

Athletic performance

One unexpected result of the Ionic Sea Minerals is the effect it has on hydration and athletic performance.  I gave a bottle to a friend of mine who is into weight lifting.  A couple of weeks later I asked him if he had seen any difference.  He said that within a week he was doing DOUBLE the reps.

Magnesium

But why would it help with stamina and increased energy?  I think that at least part of the answer is the magnesium.  One tsp. of Ionic Sea Minerals contain 106% of the US RDA for magnesium.

According to researchers, 80% of Americans don’t get enough magnesium, which is needed for oxygen transfer in the blood. Magnesium is also useful for many other body functions.

CAUTION: If you have kidney disease, only take Ionic Sea Minerals under the advice of your doctor. Healthy kidneys easily filter out extra magnesium not needed by the body. However, if your kidneys are not functioning properly, magnesium can accumulate in your system, and a magnesium toxicity can occur.

Sizes available

The Ionic Sea Minerals are now sold in a 1.25 ounce dropper bottle under the label EBoost 76.  This is a convenient way to carry the minerals with me and then add them to whatever I am drinking.  Its also an easy way to hydrate throughout the day.

Ionic Sea Minerals are also available in an 8 ounce bottle at less than $12 a month, or in the gallon size for less than $3 a month!

Click here for directions and possible side effects of taking Ionic Sea Minerals.

Ingredients: Ionic Sea Minerals. 
It contains no other ingredients then concentrated sea minerals. This product contains the following in naturally occurring, varying trace amounts: Calcium, Carbonate, Bromide, Iodine, Rubidium, Scandium, Boron, Phosphorus, Nickel, Manganese, Chromium, Strontium, Cobalt, Zinc, Titanium, Lanthanum, Cerium, Barium, Copper, Iron, Silicon, Yttrium, Molybdenum, Tin, Gallium, Gold, Silver, Cesium, Beryllium, Selenium, Vanadium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Terbium, Praseodymium, Lutetium, Gadolinium, Samarium, Bismuth, Ytterbium, Erbium, Europium, Neodymium. These plus the other minerals and elements found in ocean water.

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