The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › General Hot Yoga Discussion › Diet, Clothing, Hydration and Drinking › hydration
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Hi Gabrielle – I perspire more than average during class and often even have a slight headache by the end. I have purposely not had water till after we leave the room but am now thinking that it may be a good idea to drink maybe a litre during the 90 minutes to try and prevent possible dehydration . I already drink about 3 litres before during the day and heaps afterwards – any suggestions about amounts and timing during the class ?
PS Thanks very much for coordinating with my wife Gaylene for your DVD’s and book which is actually my Christmas present and I’m not allowed to open until then . RobHi Rob
Your wife is a real tease! :cheese: And you are very welcome. Good news is that there are only about 3 weeks to go! 😆
Rob, take a bottle of water in with you and drink when you are thirsty. Don’t interrupt your poses, and work out if you are actually thirsty at all. You actually haven’t indicated that you are thirsty, you have said that you are worried about dehydration. With the amount of water you are drinking through the day I doubt you are dehydrated but you could consider taking electrolytes if you aren’t doing so already. Have you been taking any supplementation? In Oz you can buy products like Endura.
I was talking to Robert who sweats a lot more than I do. He says he has to drink in class because otherwise his eyes dry a little and he loses visual focus. Everyone is different! I always take a bottle with me but I don’t always drink.
A great place to knowledge up is to read Lesley Funk’s Article on exercising in the heat. It may help you decide how to best handle your situation.
Try to balance your action of drinking water with your understanding that the most common self-distraction ‘technique’ preventing self-connection is reaching for the water bottle unnecessarily. But since you are used to practicing without your bottle then you should be right.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Thanks Gabrielle – I do have Endura after class and I’ll be drinking water during the class this afternoon so I’ll see how I go .The reason why I am a bit concerned about dehydration was that I took our bathroom scales with me last time and I was 4 Kilos lighter at the end of the class . Rob
I was thinking…….. why not take your replenisher before class as well? just an idea to prevent the headache?!
also….. I would not worry so much about the water weight lost. As long as you’re drinking enough to re gain it!!!Thanks Gabrielle and Frasesam – my teacher (who is actually a really nice person and also quite caring ) was strongly against me having water during class – she said it would only make me feel sick – so I’ve persisted with no water till the end . However I might try Fraseram’s suggestion and try a little bit of replenishment immediately before class and see how I go , Rob
Hi Rob – I can vouch for the sick feeling – if one gulps too much in one go.
I also have learned there are places during class where it’s better (for many reasons) to have an empty stomach – the intense forward compressions and backbends (Camel for example).
So although I will drink during class, I know where I can only take a sip and where I can drink more!!
One thing that is true for most – an experienced practitioner can “put up with more” than someone just starting out – so for example we recommend new students to refrain from eating 2-3 hours beforehand (in fact this applies to everyone!), yet for people very acclimatised to a hot yoga series, they probably *could* take a class after waiting only 45 mins after a light lunch and not be anything other than a little uncomfortable. It’s not recommended obviously, but I mention this so you can see you could gradually introduce hydration during your class as your practice progresses, if needed.
And just for comparison, in the current Queensland tropical weather, I can easily drink 1 litre during class (and not notice it), whereas Gabrielle standing next to me may only have a sip or two.
Let us know how you go Rob!
🙂
Hi Robert – Have been away this last week but thanks for that advice also – will have to try small amounts of water early on and then after camel ( where I always feel sick anyway ) – Rob
I asked Lucas to respond to the fact that drinking a lot of water is controversial. Since the subject is on this blog, I will open it up to others as well. It is obvious to me that anyone doing Hot Yoga must make proper adjustment and drink water before class in anticipation of all the perspiration which comes from a typical class. Failure to hydrate seems an obviously dumb idea if one is regularly involved with a hot yoga routine.
But there is a medical controversy concerning the consumption of water in general–many push 8 glasses a day as a daily benchmark regardless of hot yoga practice. Some in the medical world say this is not healthy and one could easily drink only when thirsty since we absorb a lot of water from the food we eat and many of us eat healthy which means there is a lot of water in the fruits and vegetables we also regularly consume. One doctor on the internet brags that he has not had any water in 20 years and is in perfect health.
It may make sense to drink water only when we are thirsty and pushing to drink all that extra
water does not seem to be logical given that no animal would do such a thing. “Excess” water is implicated in renal failure and a whole host of medical problems–according to a new breed of medical advice that is now gaining currency.My belief (which is subject to change) says that one should drink when thirsty and normally, hydrating an extra amount only before or after a hot yoga class since it is an event with an unusual amount of water loss in perspiration.
People want the best health advice. Is it better, in your opinion, to drink “excess” water”
than it is to simply absorb water from food and have a normal amount of drinking during the day? Lastly, if water is implicated in greater flexibility and this is why yogies should drink more water–can this be proven or alleged with something more than anecdote?Hi David
You bring up a great deal of good points here.
I wonder about the intended audience for the 8 glasses a day thing. I don’t think there are many people who haven’t heard that one. But perhaps it is geared towards the type of person who eats a diet of fast food, dense processed foods, or lots of meat products. There are millions out there who rarely see a raw vegetable let alone eat one. They are probably not going to be the ones who read this kind of forum.
Sure, I think you do have to consider the types of foods you eat when you decide how much water you are going to ingest. If you take a ridiculous example, if you only ate watermelon all day, would you still need to have 8 glasses of water? I think not. But if you ate steak and fried potatoes with or without a salad your needs for drinking would be much greater.
I have also heard it said that if you wait until you are thirsty to drink then you are already dehydrated. So yes there is a certain amount of learning that we have to make about our own bodies that goes with the territory.
Ever been so busy that you forget to drink? I have. What I do do regardless of that is:
** drink a liter (about 2 pints) of water or warm herbal tea every morning within an hour of getting up.
** check on urine color (never let it get too yellow or dark)Drinking a good amount of water every morning is a very important way to keep hydrated. While you have been sleeping your body has been losing fluid. So drinking the first thing in the morning replenishes lost fluids. Even more important if you are doing hot yoga.
As for that doctor who hasn’t drunk water in 20 years: he can’t possibly be practicing hot yoga :cheese: and he certainly can’t be living in warm or subtropical climate. In summer we often experience temps of 95F (35C) and the temperatures often reaches 105F (40C).
Excess water is relative. I think you have to consider your climate, your activity and your diet, not just your diet. Being prepared by drinking extra water so that you don’t dehydrate is not really drinking an excess it is prudent. The 8 glasses per day is arbitrary and is applied across the board and I guess just to make sure people take hydration into account. BTW: what is a “normal amount of drinking during the day?”
There are other schools of thought that say that drinking plain water is not as good at hydrating your body as drinking it with small amounts of juice (I think apple juice was one type recommended).
As usual no argument is cut and dried.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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