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Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA
Just to pick-up on what Steve stated in another thread.
Those working a national on Labor Day weekend should start hydrating about Monday, 8/25.
Same for any other tournament. If you are one who drinks a load of water on a regular basis, you should probably start drinking at least an additional gallon of water a day three days prior to the start of the tournament. If you drink coffee or alcohol on a regular basis, you might want to increase the amount of water intake.
And don't think that this is just for those in the South or Southwest. It doesn't have to be extremely hot for someone to dehydrate especially at the higher altitudes about sea level.
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I'm not a doctor, but as an engineer, this advice does not pass the common sense test. We are not camels; the human body has a very limited ability to store excess water. A young, fit athlete's body is about 80% water by weight. Less fit and/or older people have less of their body weight made of water (muscle is about 70% water; blood plasma about 90% water. An obese older person may be only 50% water).
But, considering the young 200# athlete, he will be considered dehydrated if he has lost 1-2% of body weight through water loss, or about 2-4 pounds, or about 1/2 gallon of water (64 fl oz). The body absorbs water at a rate of about 1 pint per hour.
So, even if we assume this athlete is significantly dehydrated, say 5% of body weight loss - or 10 pounds - (where he might very well be experiencing the onset of heat exhaustion), this could be completely re-absorbed within 24 hours by drinking over that time a little more than a gallon of water + whatever fluids are continued to be lost through perspiration, etc., during that time.
I don't understand the need nor the benefit of drinking such large amounts of water so far in advance, especially if the individual is not dehydrated to begin with.
Sports doctors recommend a pre-event hydration regimen for exercise in a hot environment to be more on the order of 1 to 1.5 gallons of fluid above normal intake the day before the event. Consume another quart or so of water 2 hours prior to the event, eliminate the bladder 15 minutes before, and drink another pint of water 5 minutes before, and then drink cold water during the event.
3-4 days early? No harm, but no benefit, either, based on my research.