That's Fit

When you take your winter indoor workout outside for the summer, the same kind of thinking applies. Just because you've built up a level of fitness on a treadmill doesn't mean you can take that same workout onto the hot trails and sidewalks. Instead, says Forbes, take a few steps to summer-proof your workout so that you can exercise safely in the summer heat.

By starting slow and being proactive about sun safety, pollen counts, and dehydration, you can spend the summer enjoying the warm weather and building your fitness levels at the same time.

Stay hydrated. If there's any one thing I remember from the somewhat forgettable war flick "Jarhead," it's the importance of drinking enough fluids. This is especially true while you're exercising.

On average, most people will lose anywhere from 0.5 to 2 liters per hour of water during high-intensity workouts. Signs of hindered performance manifest as early as 1 percent dehydration, though we generally do not feel thirsty until we are about 2 percent dehydrated, says a recent article in Muscle & Body magazine. This clearly illustrates the need to replenish your lost fluids during vigorous exercise.

Beyond dehydration, extensive bouts of exercise can increase the risk of developing dilutional hyponatremia, an electrolyte imbalance that plays a part in muscle cramping and an upset stomach. To help prevent against an issue of this kind from occurring, the folks at Muscle & Body suggest drinking electrolyte-replacing drinks such as Gatorade. Specifically, the ideal sports drink should contain 20-30 milliequivalents of sodium chloride per liter; 2-5 milliequivalents of potassium per liter; and 6-8 percent carbohydrates (but not any more, since higher concentrations of carbs can cause GI issues).

Muscle cramps have been a problem for runners for, well, pretty much forever. Unfortunately, even though it's such a common issue, experts have yet to agree on a cause.

Some believe that sweating and dehydration are to blame, while others believe cramping is caused by running hard or for long-distances, or that insufficient stretching and training are at fault.

Regardless of what causes them, I think we can all agree that they are a seriously unpleasant side effect of running, and we'd like to prevent them from happening, especially on race days. Click through the gallery for some tips from Active on how to prevent and treat muscle cramps.

I always understood the underlying message behind the saying "You are what you eat," but the literalist in me always took umbrage with such a preposterous claim (are you telling me that I'm a carrot?). But, the one instance when this saying can taken both figuratively and literally is when talking about water.

Our bodies are about 60 percent water. This means that, at least in this specific case, we truly are what we eat. With this being the case, then, why do we constantly deprive ourselves of an adequate amount of this resource?

Constant and/or prolonged dehydration can result in a host of health issues, and in some cases death. But research shows that even mild dehydration can affect your health, as well as your performance in the gym. Scientists from the American College of Sports Medicine found that dehydration causes a decline in strength to occur in smaller muscle groups (such as your biceps and triceps, as opposed to such larger muscle groups as your legs, chest, or back).

The 8 glasses of day myth may have recently been debunked, but it's no less important to consume enough water every day. The answer to the question I'm sure you now have is to divide your weight in kilograms by 30.

I'm all too familiar with the dreaded "afternoon energy slump," and unfortunately lots of other people are too. It drags us down and gets in the way of work productivity, exercise, and when we start reaching for sugary snacks and high-calorie jumbo coffees it can even drag down our dieting and healthy eating efforts.

Thankfully there are several tools at our disposal for fighting the afternoon blahs, and no none of them involve ways to sneak in a quick nap at your desk (as nice as that would be some days!). Actually it comes down to what you eat, mostly. Getting enough rest every night is also a big part of it, but even with a solid 8 hours of shut-eye you may find yourself fighting heavy eyelids come 3pm -- and that's when the right snack can make a big difference.

Feeling a little sluggish these days? It could be due to a whole host of issues; from workplace stressors to a lack of sleep, feeling like you're carrying a 50-pound weight on your shoulders all day can really slow you down. To help pick you up a bit, try these five, easy ways to boost your energy.

1. Drink More Water. Dehydration is one of the most common energy zappers you can encounter. Start your day with a nice, tall glass of water and then sip regularly on a glass or bottle throughout the day.

2. Don't Overindulge. As you may or may not know, research shows that it takes somewhere around 20 minutes for your stomach to send the "I'm full!!" signal to your brain. Consequently, we oftentimes keep eating well past the point where we should have cut ourselves off. Limiting your portion sizes will help prevent this mind/stomach disconnect to affect your diet.

3. Breathe Deeply. When you wake up in the morning, take even a few seconds to inhale and exhale several deep, oxygen-rich breaths. If possible, take a few minutes and perform structured breathing techniques at various times of the day.

4. Stress Less. Step back and make a brutally honest assessment of your life and try to identify some stressors that you can afford to let go. Eliminate all expendable items, deadlines, and projects that are causing you undue grief or tension.

5. Adjust Your Diet. Energy-robbing simple sugars are most commonly the culprit in the American diet. Excessive amounts of bad fats are also to blame. Processed foods are typically higher in simple sugars and bad sources of fat, as well as harmful preservatives. Do your best to nosh on foods containing low-GI carbs and good sources of fat, as well as an ample supply of protein.

For some additional tips on how to boost your energy, click here to read an article on About.com

Over Christmas, I met up with some cousins I hadn't seen since I was young. I knew we shared the thin blond hair that runs rampant in our family, but I found out we had another similarity--we get dizzy whenever we stand up. I guess it's not an uncommon thing, but I've never met someone who has this as often as I do.

Why do we get dizzy? It's because the blood rushes from our head too fast when we get up. In my case, it's down to a family history of low blood pressure, but there are lots of causes out there, including:

• Blood pressure medications
• An irregular heartbeat
• Dehydration
• Prolonged bed rest.

If you're feeling dizzy too often, try drinking more water. If that still doesn't help? See your doctor and get your blood pressure checked.

Are the elderly more prone to dehydration? According to recent scientific reports, yes -- and there are newer clues as to why.

Changes as we age can induce changes in mouth, throat and stomach nerves that affect the sense of thirst which drives much of our water drinking. When those nerves change, our perception of being thirsty also changes.

The study concluded that older men drank only half as much water as younger men to satisfy their thirst out of a group comprising both 20 year-olds and 60-year olds who were injected with salt water to set off the body's quest for water.

Even if you don't exercise rigorously during the dog days of summer, you can still become dehydrated in the late summer sun, and children are especially at risk. Dehydration can occur because too much water is lost, or not enough fluids are taken in. Common signs of dehydration include dark urine or the inability to urinate at all, sunken eyes or being unable to produce tears, dizziness, light-headedness, or lethargy. Dehydrated infants may have a sunken soft spot on top of their heads. Mild cases of dehydration can be treated by increasing fluids, but these more serious warning signs warrant a trip to the doctor.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best ones, although I'm not sure about this one. Pretty much everybody these days needs to drink more water, and this is one way you could encourage yourself to do that: hook the water right on your belt. This bottle holder would probably be great for anybody who does a lot of walking and moving around during the day (think college kids, and adults who don't use an office or have a desk at their job), and of course it could work great for walking or jogging also, and even for travel and vacations. Except one concern: even while walking won't it bounce and bang around and get annoying?

Via Book of Joe

As much preaching as we all hear about not drinking enough water and how most people live life chronically dehydrated, it's interesting to know that it's possible to drink too much water -- especially when exercising -- and more people do it than you might think. Endurance exercisers are the only ones really at risk, and the problem (called hyponatremia) happens when you drink in more water than your kidneys can excrete. Potentially fatal, it's not something to take lightly, but it is easy to avoid: just respect your own personal "thirst" meter and drink only when your body says you need to.

Here's a helpful tip from blogger David Seah. After experiencing some serious back pain -- "each vertebra crunching against each other like little disks of sand" -- he eventually discovered that a common cause of joint and back pain is dehydration.

A quick Google search led David to two helpful websites. On Diagnose Me, he found that "Pain may be a warning of localized thirst; that is, the pain signal may be a warning of dehydration in that specific area (a regional thirst), for example low back pain, migraine headache, joint pain, and angina." In a News Target article, he found that "heartburn, rheumatoid joint pain, back pain, migraine headaches, colitis pain, fibromyalgiac pain, even angina pain - [are] signs of dehydration in the body."

Personally, I find I have both joint and back pain associated with sitting at a desk typing all day long (not surprisingly). I'm going to up my water intake and see what happens -- I'll be sure to keep you posted. Have any of you already had success in reducing back pain by drinking more liquids?

(Thanks to Life Hacker for the link)

When I was in the third trimester of my last pregnancy, I paid a visit to my allergist. "You're doing well," he said, "But you're dehydrated. You need to drink more water." I was astonished, I was already drinking what I thought was more than enough every day. "Everyone's needs are different," he said, "and right now you need a few more."

This topic has been covered before on That's Fit, but I think it bears repeating. There's a lot of conflicting information out there about just how many glasses of water we need. Many people subscribe to the "8x8" rule -- 8 eight ounce glasses per day, and that likely will keep most people properly hydrated. But do you even need that many? Do you need more?

It depends on your age, your weight, your activity level, and your diet, most experts agree. Most people will get enough fluid simply by drinking when they're thirsty. Other signs that you are mildly dehydrated are fatigue, headache, or difficulty concentrating. Finally, check your urine. If it's dark yellow or has a strong odor, or if your urine output is low, you definitely need to drink more.