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Every athlete has a dissimilar hydration requirement, which changes due to weather conditions. Generally, it is commended that everyone drink 64 ounces of water a day to stay in a totally hydrated state. Sweating, which many times occurs for the duration of physical activity, releases water and sodium from the body. To function at their peak, athletes need to replenish this loss through water and sports drinks. Neglecting to replace both liquid and sodium loss results in dehydration, which causes impaired mental focus, impaired energy metabolism, and an imbalance in electrolyte levels. It also results in rapid fatigue and decreased energy. As a frequent rule, athletes must drink 16 ounces of water or sports drink 2 hours before activity. They will have to then consume another 8 ounces 30 minutes before activity. During an activity, fluids must be readily available for athletes as they need it. Coaches must watch for athletes expelling a higher-than-normal amount of sweat and assure that the athlete is drinking as much as they need. It is commended that athletes replenish half of the liquid lost by sweat. Athletes involved in short-term action lasting over 30 seconds are at a high danger for dehydration due to the intensity of the activity. These athletes must drink the commended fluids before their action and replenish the lost fluids as soon after finishing as possible. Short-term action lasting less than 30 seconds has little effect on dehydration and does not pose a hazard. Athletes involved in long-term activity, such as running, cycling, and skiing for more than 30 minutes need periodic liquid intake to reduce dehydration levels, even though this may cause cramping and gastrointestinal problems. To prevent such problems, athletes ought to train themselves to take in the necessary liquid to accustom their bodies to the fluid. During an activity, athletes will have to drink 8 ounces of liquid each 20 minutes. For activenesses over 40 minutes, water is not sufficient, because it does not provide the necessary sodium intake to maintain electrolyte levels. If water is all that is available, mixing 1 teaspoon of salt per liter of water is sufficient to maintain the balance. Too much water may cause another problem, hyponatremia, when the sodium levels in the body are too low. Symptoms of hyponatremia are nausea, muscle cramps, disorientation, slurred speech, confusion, and unfitting behavior. This occurs when there is an intake of water to replace lost fluids, but no intake of salt to replace lost sodium. Hyponatremia is much more dangerous than dehydration, and it is indispensable that coaches monitor how much fluids are taken in to see to it that their athletes do not run the risk of suffering from this potentially life-threatening disease. The old method of “drink as much as you can” is now seen as dangerous because of the effects it may have in letting down sodium levels. If your athletes are still unclear as to how much liquid to drink, there is a simple urine test that determines the hydration levels of a person. Athletes must have clear urine, showing that they are completely hydrated. If the urine is dark or there is restricted flow, the athlete needs more fluids. There is not a set amount for each person, so it is primary that as a coach, you train your athletes to learn what their person bodies need.
79 of 79 people found the following review helpful. Some tips, no particular order: 90 of 91 people found the following review helpful. 37 of 37 people found the following review helpful. So far, pleased as punch…4 stars for me. If bulb could be replaced by the user and it were absolutely bulletproof, then I would give it 5 stars. I use mine with 4ea AA Eneloop batteries. Those are the only rechargeable batteries I would buy. With a set of replacement AAs, it’s a little bit more of a bundle to schlepp around, but having the AA capability is just fine with me. For the most part, success with this device is all about reading the directions. Read the directions! Read the DIRECTIONS!!! READ THE DIRECTIONS!!! You have to press the START button for the dosage you want BEFORE YOU INSERT INTO THE WATER you want to treat.!!!!!! Otherwise, IT WILL NOT WORK!!!! I read the instructions when I got it, promptly forgot the sequence, took it into the wilderness without the instructions on a day hike and couldn’t get the blasted thing to work! I had visions of my $70 water purifier being broken, or my Eneloop batteries somehow getting prematurely drained. It was PILOT error! Fortunately, I brought enough water with me but was angry as a hornet when it didn’t work. When I got home, studied the directions again, then cut off the English portion and put them in the blue Steripen storage pouch. The directions are also essential to understand the meanings of the various color and flash sequences for the LED. The specs state two curiosities. First is that it treats 16 oz of water in 48 seconds and 32 oz of water in 90 seconds. Second, the bulb is good for 8000 treatments. The bulb is on for 6 seconds less for a full 32 oz treatment than for two 16 oz treatments. Second, the manufacturer makes no distinction for bulb life with respect to 16 oz or 32 oz treatments. That would lead me to suspect that bulb life is determined by how many starts it is subjected to rather than how long the bulb is in the “on” state. It would seem that you are going to get the best bang for your buck by treating 32 oz of non turbid water at a time. The LED color and flashing sequence will alert you to when you have approximately fewer than 100 treatments left on the bulb. The bulb can be replaced only at the factory. At today’s prices, it will cost about $30-$35 which would include your shipping costs both ways. I also bought the SteriPEN FitsAll Filter. However, in some water sources, even the 4 micron filter is insufficient to filter some of the suspended particles, leaving the water somewhat turbid. The solution is to let the water settle to decrease turbidity or run the water through something like the Katadyn Pocket Water Microfilter before treating with the Steripen. The instructions also provide a procedure for dealing with turbid water, one being to zap the water again depending on turbidity. Doing this will reduce the quantity of water treated over the life of the bulb. Some turbid waters might even be “tea” stained and some color could still get through, no matter what kind of filter you use. Have not run across any flocculating agents that are not combined with a chlorine treatment. The cap for the Steripen’s business end is sturdy and looks to provide adequate protection for the bulb. The Steripen slipped out of its pouch on to a carpeted floor when I retrieved if for this review and there was no harm done. I recommend caution in removing the cap to ensure it doesn’t become an inadvertent lever to snap off that bulb. I do this by gripping both the cap and the body of the pen while popping the cap loose with a slight twist, then removing the cap. The cap plus its ventilated neoprene blue pouch would seem to protect it from most knocks in your pack. I am keeping my eye out for a wide mouth container something of the gauge of the standard milk jug, but just big enough to take the Steripen in its pouch as an added measure of protection. Even though the pouch has a velcro belt loop, for me, that is an invitation for a disaster. There is a provision for connecting a lanyard from the Steripen to the pouch if you wear it on your belt. I would not rely on this as a sole means of providing safe drinking water just because of the battery situation and the potential for the bulb to break. For me, it is a backup system. The Katadyn Pocket Micro is the first line of defense with the Steripen to treat more highly suspect waters. Lastly, I am always prepared to boil. I always choose the clearest water I can find. Will keep track of see how many 32 oz treatment cycles I can get on one set of fully charged Eneloops and update this review later. As a final note, in some reviews out there, there is confusion on how many times to press the start button for either the 16oz treatment vs the 32 oz treatment. Again this is where reading the instructions is essential. Pressing start button ONCE treats 32, pressing TWICE treats 16. It’s counter intuitive I know, but as of 5/11/2010, those are the facts. 1. Sanyo Eneloop rechargeable: similar to: Sanyo Eneloop Ni-MH Charger and 8 Rechargeable AA and 4 Rechargeable AAA Batteries (also contained 4ea AA to D adapters and 4 ea AA to C adapters although not shown as being part of this set.) Price paid in 2010 ~$19 Test began 7/17/2011 # of 90 second treatments from fully charged state: until low battery LED code first appears….32 Remarks: To ensure that treatments went the full 90 seconds after the low battery code appeared, treatments were timed. This is really unexpected and quite remarkable. Never expected this many treatments on one charge. As the batteries age, I expect the # of treatments per charge to diminish. My guess is that the $19 set has already paid for itself many times over. The other 4 have been used in a Canon A540 since 2009. 2. Duracell Alkaline: TBD 3. Kirkland Alkaline: TBD |
Great little device.
Absolutely impressed !!