Water is best when you’re thirsty. Water is best for hangovers. Water is best for sports hydrations. Cold water is best when you want a cold drink. Water is best for lunch. Drink more water.
Agreed on all except the sports one. If you’re sweating, you’re losing electrolytes and you need to replenish them.
Electrolytes. They’re what plants crave.
Spoken like a Lemming who hasn’t worked out seriously or had a serious physical job in their life.
Humans didn’t spend the entirety of their existence looking for shit better than water for no reason lol. Hydrohomies and an iced glass of water is great… But…
You know what’s better than water when you need water? Nearly everything that isn’t alcohol or literal piss.
Yes, this includes milk and soda. Anything with sugar, protein, or fat is great.
And yes, spiking our drinks with low amounts of drugs is also nice.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/25/health/best-drinks-for-hydration-wellness/index.html
You know what’s better than water when you need water? Nearly everything that isn’t alcohol or literal piss.
I mean it really depends on the person and their current condition. The article you linked kinda has an abstract definition of hydration that doesn’t take into account things normally associated with dehydration.
If you are working hard outside and are mildly dehydrated I wouldn’t recommend slamming down a sugary soda with caffeine. Excessive sugar is diluted in the intestines which can cause further dehydration, and caffeine is a diuretic.
Normally this wouldn’t really matter, but if you’re already dehydrated it can make the situation worse.
Water is great, it may not be the most effective hydrator in the world as it doesn’t have the electrolytes and sugars that something like Gatorade has. However, it’s the best thing for your overall kidney and liver health which is what really matters. Most Americans already have an excess of salt, fat, and sugar in their diets, so even after working outside and sweating your ass off you are probably better off just having some water.
but if you’re already dehydrated it can make the situation worse.
No, it won’t. That’s the point of the misconception. You even get to it later then dismiss. We aren’t taking about overall health. We aren’t talking about the 'betes.
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None of those things will dehydrate you more despite people saying differently. Not soda, not milk, even beer under 2% beer will be better. You will be rehydrated, there WILL be a net gain of water in your body. There is no net loss of water no matter how much people say sugar or caffeine will lower the net gain.
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If you’re dehydrated, you’re lacking salt. There’s a reason why physically demanding companies provide free drink packets to their crews. They don’t want road crews dying by the side of the road because they slammed water and had no salt on a 100 degree day working next to a machine shooting out molten tar and rock. We aren’t pumping people’s blood full of sterile water. Saline bags are .9% salt for a reason.
More sauce: https://glacier-design.com/can-you-hydrate-yourself-with-beer/
https://www.coastems.com/products/iv-bag-1000ml-sodium-chloride-0-9-normal-saline-case-of-12
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/when-replenishing-fluids-does-milk-beat-water-202211142849
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hyponatremia/symptoms-causes/syc-20373711
No, it won’t. That’s the point of the misconception. You even get to it later then dismiss. We aren’t taking about overall health. We aren’t talking about the 'betes.
I mean, whenever you are talking about health you always consider total outcomes. The articles you are linking are talking about a very specific type of dehydration.
None of those things will dehydrate you more despite people saying differently. Not soda, not milk, even beer under 2% beer will be better. You will be rehydrated, there WILL be a net gain of water in your body. There is no net loss of water no matter how much people say sugar or caffeine will lower the net gain.
“Beverages with more concentrated sugars, such as fruit juices or colas, are not necessarily as hydrating as their lower-sugar cousins. They may spend a little more time in the stomach and empty more slowly compared to plain water, but once these beverages enter the small intestine their high concentration of sugars gets diluted during a physiological process called osmosis. This process in effect “pulls” water from the body into the small intestine to dilute the sugars these beverages contain. And technically, anything inside the intestine is outside your body. Juice and soda are not only less hydrating, but offer extra sugars and calories that won’t fill us up as much as solid foods, explained Majumdar. If the choice is between soda and water for hydration, go with water every time. After all, our kidneys and liver depend on water to get rid of toxins in our bodies”
From your own article…
If you’re dehydrated, you’re lacking salt. There’s a reason why physically demanding companies provide free drink packets to their crews. They don’t want road crews dying by the side of the road because they slammed water and had no salt on a 100 degree day working next to a machine shooting out molten tar and rock. We aren’t pumping people’s blood full of sterile water. Saline bags are .9% salt for a reason.
Again, you are talking about a specific type of dehydration… hyponatremia is exceedingly rare and is usually a sign of an undiagnosed kidney disease. Your nephrons will usually regulate your thirst in conjunction to the available salts in the body.
Dehydration is not just a lack of salt, it’s an imbalance of salt. Meaning that you can just be low on fluid with too much salt available.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/when-replenishing-fluids-does-milk-beat-water-202211142849
"Unsurprisingly, the ad is sponsored by the milk industry. And while I’d never heard this claim before, the studies behind the idea aren’t particularly new or compelling. "
Finally, the main benefit of water is that it’s neutral. The reason why people don’t tell you to slam a glass of milk or soda if you’re dehydrated is because it can upset your stomach. When concentrated amounts of sugars or fats enter the intestine the dilution process can go overboard and cause diarrhea, which can dangerously dehydrate you further.
Hydration is more complicated than what you are alluding too. Simply stating everything but piss and liquor is better than water is just ridiculous and misleading. In specific scenarios other liquids may provide some advantages, but it’s highly reductive to make that claim so broadly. Especially considering it requires you to separate hydration from kidney health, you know the things that control your thirst in the first place.
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Ex-Army infantry guy here.
In basic training, location Ft. Benning GA, late August. Hydration was important, and that was impressed upon us by the drill sergeants, who would pause the activity at hand for the moment and do the ‘Drink Water!’ call, to which we’d reply mostly in uninspired enthusiasm ‘Beat the heat drill sergeant beat the heat.’
We’d then down a canteen (a quart) of water. On especially hot days, we’d do two canteens. No dumping on your head or on the ground - you had to finish one or both. We’d refill canteens and get back to the day’s task of doing push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, and in-between those, learning Army stuff (sir).
One guy, Peterson (name changed), couldn’t do a canteen of water. This guy was the opposite of Joey Chestnut. He ate and drank like a bird but never lost weight. Slow metabolism and high energy conversion I guess. He never seemed dehydrated I would say. But water and food were just minimal for the guy. He’d drink a pint, maybe a sip more, and done.
Our drill sergeants weren’t having that. You had to finish the canteen and flip it over your head. Failure to comply was met with drinking more water, until you finished the canteen, while your platoon did push-ups. No pressure.
The rest of the story transpired really quickly.
The drill sergeants hit him with the order to drink more water, and he did, and he stopped, and then they said keep going private, and he was in obvious pain, and he said no drill sergeant, and you could see the crinkle in the eyes of the questioned, but before that drill sergeant’s body language became verbal, Peterson puked up water, gallons of water it seemed, then breakfast, and the upper contents of his colon I’m pretty sure (j/k being illustrative). A medic, who just happened to be Starship Trooping on by, got on the horn and got the kid to a clinic. He was water intoxicated, we later found out.
One of the great things they forget to show you on the recruitment brochure lol. He was eventually fine, and we were relegated to drinking until we could spit out saliva a few inches.
I don’t get military people. Why do they perform this kind of theatre?
I doubt it is helping people become better soldiers. Quite the opposite. They are made into sheep with no integrity or own will.
Is cannon fodder really that valuable in war?
Militaries tend to think of their manpower as just a number, not as individuals. The basic training is supposed to make sure each will perform at a predictable level. Psychologically breaking one down is thought to be the quickest (albeit roughest) way to get people to that level. (i.e. being able to clear an area of hostiles with minimal to no friendly casualties, while on very little sleep or sustenance)
Some drill instructors (from what I’m told) can have their rank/title go to their heads that they will ignore the logic of danger of the orders they give just for the sole purpose of “teaching a lesson” to their recruit declining something.
I’m guessing their goal was to make sure anyone that goes through would be able to quickly rehydrate (or replenish themselves) while in the heat of a battle without “losing a step.”
There is also an intimidation factor to opposing forces to give the appearance of an indifferent hivemind (sheep as you mentioned it) coming for them. (Think of how scary it would be to have cybermen or the borg after you)
For fellow citizens of the civilised world: a quart is basically a liter, and a pint is half that.
Anyway, jeepers creepers. They literally poisoned their own guy so bad he was hospitalised. The US army is evil.
The army takes hydration VERY seriously.
Maybe they should have taken it seriously enough to recognise too much of it
Listen I’m not defending the army but I’d be willing to bet 5$ that more soldiers are victims of any of the heat related illnesses (trying to sound smart here hehe, like heat exhaustion or shock or whatever) then they are of water intoxication.
Also we did the same thing when I was at basic in south Carolina. Except we didn’t have to drink the whole canteen. Just take a couple of sips, but we did it frequently.
That’s exactly what’s wrong with these army drill sergeants. They see the trainees under their care as statistics. It’s a one size fits all approach, and they’re so married to treating people like machines that they can’t open their eyes and see when they’re literally poisoning someone half to death. It’s inhuman.
Yeah that’s the whole point of training lol
Water is best for sports hydrations.
It’s literally not, but okay
