6 common misunderstandings about drinking water while running! Drinking too much water can actually increase your risk of heart disease

We know that running is a very good way to exercise the body, but we also know that long-distance running requires a certain amount of water. So how should we drink water while running?

1. Should you drink more water when running even if you are not thirsty?

How to replenish water when running and what kind of water to replenish are really questions that bother many people. The idea that you should drink more water when running even if you are not thirsty is actually problematic.

Drinking a lot of water during or after running will not only disrupt your breathing rhythm, but also make you more susceptible to heart disease. Because of the heavy breathing after exercise, blood vessels are constantly dilating and oxygenating, and the external water will increase the pressure on the heart sharply. The more water you drink, the greater the pressure on your heart, and the higher the rate of heart disease.

Nancy Clark, a sports nutrition expert from Boston, said that most people can drink water when they are thirsty. But if you run in the hot summer, you can drink more water than usual after sweating a lot. Even if runners want to drink water, they should drink it slowly in small sips. If you feel shortness of breath and increased heart rate, you should start drinking water after a slow walk for 10-20 minutes. To maintain balance in the body, you should not drink more than about 2 cups (800 ml) of water per hour while running.

2. Does drinking water while running increase energy?

In fact, this is also a myth. Energy comes from consuming calories, and water does not contain any calories.

Drinking water can only help runners gradually cheer up when they are dehydrated. However, for those who exercise for more than an hour (such as long ball games, cycling, or marathon athletes), sports drinks can provide them with more energy. Water, as a medium, can help the energy in the human body to maintain activity and transport it to the whole body. Without water, energy cannot be transferred to various parts of the human body, and cells or parts of the body without energy will age or die.

3. Is bottled water really good?

In the eyes of true sports health experts, bottled water may be their last choice when replenishing water after exercise.

Although bottled water is more convenient and can be bought anytime and anywhere, it does not mean it is healthier. Bottled water will dissolve the toxic chemical BPA, which can cause malignant tumors in the body. Plastic bottled water pollutes the environment from production, packaging, and transportation, and 80% of bottled water is not recycled. Statistics show that 1,500 plastic bottles are thrown away every second on the earth. Compared with bottled water, filtered tap water is healthier and more environmentally friendly. So next time you go running, please bring your own water bottle to add a green to the earth!

4. Does water help control weight?

It is possible. Barry Popki, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that drinking water instead of soda, juice or sports drinks while running can reduce sugar intake. People naturally consume sugar and sweets in their three meals a day. If you continue to drink high-sugar drinks during exercise, it will add extra calories. In addition, many people will pay attention to whether drinking more water will make you gain weight. Drinking more water will only temporarily increase your weight. Once the water is consumed, the added weight will disappear.

5. Do I need to drink more than 8 glasses of water every day?

No matter if you are good at math, the question of how many glasses of water to drink every day may stump you. Of course, drinking 8 glasses of water a day seems to be the most common saying, but unfortunately, this is wrong.

The water we consume every day does not come entirely from drinking water. Coffee, tea, fruit, milk, and soup also contain a lot of water, so there is no such thing as a healthy theory that you must drink eight glasses of water every day. Stanley Goldfarb said that in fact, the original meaning of this sentence is that generally healthy people will basically consume 8 glasses of liquid substances every day, but people have misinterpreted the meaning of this sentence to mean that you must drink eight glasses of water every day, which is wrong.

6. Will drinking water help runners improve their facial skin?

Some people say that drinking water while running can not only replenish the body's water, but also help moisturize the face and even improve facial skin. But experts regret to tell you that this is wrong.

Dehydration does cause runner's skin to dry out, but drinking extra water won't help. When you drink a glass of water, the water goes to your entire body, your muscle tissue, your organs, but it doesn't moisturize or brighten your face. Every time you urinate, your kidneys are detoxifying, says Stanley Goldfarb, a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Drinking more water than your body needs won't strengthen your kidneys. The excess water you take in will be excreted in your urine.