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The Best Drinks To Stay Hydrated: Water v Everything | Nutritionist Explains... | Myprotein
Jan 30, 2025
Expert Nutritionist tells us why it's important to stay hydrated for better performance and what is that best drink to stay hydrated.
Expert Dr. Richie Kirwan who specialises in Nutrition talks all about staying hydrated: what it means, why it matters, especially for sports and what common drinks are better or worse for keeping you in that hydration sweet spot. Richie will answer the common question of whether tea and coffee are any good for improving hydration.
Follow Richie on IG: dr.richie.kirwan
Chapters:
00:00 - Staying hydrated
00:48 - Humans are 70% water
01:48 - Losing water
02:53 - Pee scale
04:13 - Best Drink to hydrate
05:00 - Oral rehydration solution
06:35 - Milk
07:33 - Training
07:58 - Any more hydration questions?
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0:00
isn't really that important to stay
0:02
hydrated for better performance and if
0:04
it is what's the best drink for the job
0:07
let's talk about that
0:08
[Music]
0:12
how's it going guys my name is Richie
0:13
Kerwin and today we're going to talk all
0:15
about staying hydrated what it means why
0:18
it matters especially for sports and
0:21
what common drinks are better or worse
0:23
for keeping you in that hydration sweet
0:25
spot I'll also answer the common
0:27
question of whether tea and coffee are
0:30
any good for improving hydration I also
0:32
want to mention that a lot of the info I
0:34
got for this video came from a great
0:36
review by Belleville so if you want to
0:38
read geek out on the topic you can find
0:40
the paper and all the references from
0:42
the video in the comment section below
0:43
so just in case you weren't already
0:45
aware if you don't drink you die now
0:48
while you're recovering from that
0:49
shocking Revelation it's also worth
0:51
mentioning that most of what you are
0:53
made up of 70 in fact is water which is
0:57
found inside our cells in the liquid
0:59
surrounding them and in the various
1:01
liquids inside our bodies like blood and
1:03
lip so as you might have guessed water
1:06
is pretty important
1:08
we lose water in a few different ways
1:10
through urine when you pee in our sweat
1:13
and through our breath as water Vape
1:16
that means when we exercise we lose more
1:19
water than normal because we usually
1:21
sweat more and breathe harder but you
1:23
might be asking why does this even
1:24
matter well if you are even slightly
1:27
dehydrated your body's ability to
1:29
function is impaired and there's a lot
1:31
of evidence to show that dehydration
1:32
leads to problems with things like
1:34
thermoregulation or our body's ability
1:36
to regulate our temperature
1:38
it can cause excess cardiovascular
1:40
strain and changes in blood pressure
1:42
blood flow and heart rate
1:44
and it can make it harder for our
1:46
muscles to work properly one way to
1:49
think of it is like this
1:51
if you exercise a lot and don't take in
1:53
enough fluids to replace the water you
1:55
lose in sweat on your breath your body
1:57
needs to get water from somewhere and it
2:00
takes it directly from your blood
2:02
the problem with this is if you lose
2:04
water from your blood you have less
2:07
blood volume and your heart needs to
2:09
work harder to pump that blood around
2:11
your body because of a drop in blood
2:13
pressure this can really cause your
2:15
performance on the field or in the gym
2:17
to drop and makes exercise seem a hell
2:21
of a lot harder than it should be so if
2:23
you want to go into the gym and train as
2:25
hard as you possibly can which you
2:27
should because harder higher volume
2:29
training can lead to more gains in
2:31
muscle size and strength or if you just
2:33
want to perform at the best of your
2:35
ability in any sport
2:37
being properly hydrated is essential so
2:40
before we talk about how best to hydrate
2:42
we should probably mention how you know
2:45
if you're properly hydrated in the first
2:46
place
2:48
and there's a very easy way to do it
2:50
you can just check out the color of your
2:52
pee
2:53
you see if you're dehydrated there will
2:55
be less water in your pee and a higher
2:57
concentration of solutes and waste
2:59
products which means your pee will be
3:01
darker in color while you're peeing you
3:03
can compare the color of your pea to
3:05
some common eight or seven color scales
3:07
which give you an idea of how hydrated
3:09
or dehydrated you are
3:12
as you can see in this chart if your
3:14
urine is very pale or straw colored like
3:16
in colors one to three you're doing fine
3:19
if your pee is more of a yellow or
3:22
orange color like in colors four to six
3:24
then you're dehydrated and you need to
3:26
drink more
3:28
and if your pee is dark orange or brown
3:30
like color seven or eight
3:32
for the love of God please just drink
3:34
something
3:35
basically if you spend most of the day
3:37
peeing a very light colored yarn it's a
3:39
sign that you're taking care of your
3:41
hydration and this is why I don't tell
3:43
people to drink X liters of water every
3:46
day because the number is different for
3:48
everyone and depends on their body size
3:50
genetics their sweat rates and how
3:52
physically active they are
3:54
that's why basing how much you drink on
3:56
your urine color is much more useful
3:58
because it tells you what you need for
4:00
your body on the other hand if your pee
4:03
often comes out completely clear you're
4:05
probably over hydrating and that could
4:07
lead to a loss of many salts and
4:09
electrolytes it's always possible to
4:12
have too much of a good thing so the
4:14
next thing you probably want to know
4:16
what's the best drink to hydrate you or
4:19
to help get water into your system well
4:22
if you thought it was water that's
4:25
actually a pretty good guess water is
4:27
considered the standard when it comes to
4:29
hydration and scientists have developed
4:31
a beverage hydration index or bhi which
4:34
is based on the volume of urine that you
4:36
produce after drinking in relation to
4:39
still water which is the standard
4:41
so how do other drinks compare to plain
4:44
old water well as you can see sparkling
4:47
water is virtually identical but Cola
4:50
seems to be a little more hydrating
4:52
although it's not statistically
4:54
significant
4:55
diet cola and sports drinks are
4:57
virtually the same as water too
5:00
but next up is something called oral
5:02
rehydration solution which is
5:04
significantly more rehydrating than
5:07
water
5:08
well what's an oral rehydration solution
5:10
I hear you ask well it's a drink that's
5:13
specifically designed to replace fluids
5:15
in order to prevent and treat
5:17
dehydration it's often used in cases of
5:19
chronic diarrhea or in diseases like
5:21
cholera where many people die of
5:23
dehydration because they lose so much
5:25
water you know into poop so oral
5:30
rehydration Solutions are really good
5:31
for hydration because in addition to
5:34
water they contain small amounts of
5:36
sugar and electrolyte salts like
5:38
potassium and sodium and that's what
5:40
makes the absorption of fluids in oral
5:42
rehydration Solutions much more
5:44
effective than water alone
5:47
that's why many sports drinks contain
5:48
sugar and electrolytes to improve water
5:51
absorption in the gut to keep athletes
5:53
well hydrated while competing the
5:55
presence of sugar is also why orange
5:56
juice the next on the bhi list is more
5:59
effective than water too after that
6:02
lager coffee tea are all pretty equally
6:05
hydrating as water
6:07
I hear a lot of people saying that you
6:09
can't drink tea or coffee to get
6:10
hydrated and that's absolute
6:13
while tea and coffee do have very slight
6:15
diuretic effects which means that they
6:17
make you pee a little more the amount of
6:19
water that they contain is more than
6:21
enough to help keep you hydrated
6:24
obviously that wouldn't be the case if
6:25
you're trying to rehydrate it with
6:27
espressos because the amount of water
6:28
they contain is so little which yeah tea
6:31
and coffee are perfectly fine to help
6:33
you get more water into your system
6:35
finally at the end of the bhi list are
6:38
whole and skimmed milk with skim milk
6:41
being the most hydrating of all the
6:43
drinks tested and again this is probably
6:46
due to the content of sugars electrolyte
6:48
sauce and possibly protein which improve
6:51
the absorption in the gut
6:53
so why would whole milk be a little less
6:55
hydrating than skimmed well we know that
6:58
fat can actually slow down gastric
6:59
emptying a little but it's still better
7:01
than plain old water
7:03
before I finish on the drinks I also
7:04
should point out that you can also get
7:06
water from fruits many fresh fruits and
7:09
salad vegetables can provide a lot of
7:11
hydration and can definitely contribute
7:12
to your daily water intake so don't
7:14
forget to include plenty in your diet
7:17
our final load for a practical take-home
7:20
point you can stay perfectly hydrated
7:22
throughout the day with a range of
7:25
different drinks and foods and keeping
7:26
an eye on the color of your pea is a
7:28
pretty decent indicator of how well
7:30
hydrated you are but if you're training
7:33
for a long time or especially if you're
7:36
competing in a sport where you sweat a
7:37
lot or in high temperatures drinking
7:40
beverages with added sugar and salt like
7:42
orange juice or skim milk if you
7:44
tolerate milk may be optimal for
7:46
replacing your lost fluids as quickly as
7:49
possible you can also buy plenty of
7:51
isotonic Sports beverages which do the
7:54
same thing so did that clear everything
7:56
up about hydration
7:58
as always if you have any more questions
8:00
let me know in the comments below and
8:01
remember to like And subscribe to my
8:03
protein YouTube channel for more great
8:05
evidence-based nutrition information
8:07
[Music]
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