101020 Resource 95425 101017 95465 1125096290607 1125325759978 Controlled Does a senior need water when they are chugging along with their walker?

Are you thirsty? You're late...of course you need water while walking.

<img alt="Rolling walkers help seniors get exercise and walk safely." hspace="0" src="http://seniorsafety.com/images/hugo_walker.jpg" align="left" border="0" />No matter what form of exercise or activity you participate in proper fluid intake is critical for health and performance. Getting your thirst quenched with an ice-cold glass of water or lemonade is so refreshing after a summer workout in the outdoors. That drink helps to not only refresh your mouth and calm your cravings, but also to rehydrate your body.Unfortunately, as we age our ability to maintain hydration becomes more difficult since we often lose what little ability we had to gauge proper fluid intake by our thirst.Particularly during exercise, thirst is a poor indicator of hydration. The American College of Sports Medicine speaks specifically to "<a title="A trusted source for sports medicine" href="http://www.acsm.org/publications/newsreleases2003/fluid072303.htm">Fluid Loss and Replacement Needs</a>". They speak to the importance of fluid intake before you even begin, in addition to during and after exercise in order to maintain cardiovascular (heart) function and to regulate body temperature.When we are dehydrated our function and performance go down. When you are as little as two-percent dehydrated your cardiovascular function drops ten percent. Coincidently it is at this two-percent level where a young persons thirst mechanism begins to kick in. With further losses of body fluids through sweating function continues to decline.Thirst is dampened even more as we age. So, you can't rely on your thirst.Begin drinking before you even start exercising. The <a title="ACSM advances and integrates scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine." href="http://www.acsm.org/">American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)</a> recommend taking two to three cups of fluid two hours before you exercise, and continuing through and even after exercise with regular fluid intake. Here's their article on "<a title="ACSM Position Stand of Exercise and Fluid Replacement" href="http://www.acsm-msse.org/pt/pt-core/template-journal/msse/media/0196.htm">Exercise and Fluid Replacement</a>" This is particularly important during the hot summer months, as well as, when we age.Don't wait until you are thirsty to begin taking fluids to maintain proper hydration. 10 application/xml false acsm american college of sports medicine cardiovascular function exercise and fluid replacement maintain proper hydration rehydrate your body thirst mechanism Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; Media Center PC 2.8) 12.202.146.52 12.202.146.52 eciceron false true false false true 205857 false false true false false false true 95425 blog blogsite/SeniorSafety/web