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Hydration in Sports: It's All About Balance

By Tamara Hew Butler, DPM, Ph.D., FASCM, Mom's Team, 03/28/18, 12:00PM PDT

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Proper hydration is a physiologically-mediated behavioral drive which can be consciously overridden by inappropriate advice. 

Lead them to water but do make them drink

Summertime is here, along with advice to drink plenty of water and remain well-hydrated. While maintaining hydration is important, this well-intentioned advice can be overdone, especially in weekend warriors and motivated athletes, resulting in sodium disorders like exercise associated hyponatremia. 

Millions of youth, high school, college and adult athletes will take to the playing fields and roads to train and compete this summer, which should elevate our clinical suspicion for disorders of fluid balance as well as heat illness.