The Physics of Water & Hydration Hacks 4/10: The Curious Clinic

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Transcript

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Episode 4: The Physics of Water Sports and Hydration Hacks. Hey everyone, it's Dr. Nercole. Down in Florida, we love water. We're around water, we're in water, we have brackish water, we have salt water, uh, we do have fresh water, we drink it, right? Um, everything we we like being in it, boating in it, fishing. Um, obviously, we don't like to be bit or you know, taken advantage of in the water or drowned or any of the negative stuff. That's where my brain goes when I go into the water. So I'm still getting used to the Florida lifestyle. However, here at the Curiosity Clinic, we're gonna talk about why. Why does water feel so magical on our bodies? Why do we like swimming in it? Why do we like being in it? Why do we like activities around in under? Um, why is that? Well, let's talk about buoyancy. Do you know what that is? You know, buoyancy. We talk about um how our body floats or sinks, how it moves in the water. Um, buoyancy is dependent on the viscosity of it, it's dependent on the salt content, right? If you go to the Dead Sea, you're more buoyant. Um, if you are in freshwater, I believe you're less buoyant. But there's a certain percentage of the water that it takes to make you float. Um, I would love to go there. So if uh you get an egg you get an excursion booked over in the Middle East. Um, I don't know where the Dead Sea is. I think it's somewhere in the Middle East, um, Europe, somewhere in that area. I have to look on a map. I did not study my geography before jumping into this podcast. But let's talk about buoyancy. Okay, water is 800 times denser than air. It gives you a 360-degree resistance for building muscle, but it completely removes gravity stress on your joints. So that's where a lot of people, um, when you're starting back out, getting your balance, uh, if you have an injury, if you are, you know, maybe you're just on the couch a lot and you want to get back into things. That's why a lot of people will go swimming. They'll swim, they'll walk, they'll do water aerobics. It is so easy on our joints, but it gets you to build that muscle and strength that you desire. So a lot of genres of people and a lot of reasons for going into the water bring us all to this love for water. Not only do we like to be in it, but we should like to drink it. And we'll get we'll get into that a little bit more here as we go into this short summer podcast. Um, but think about when you're in the pool, how can you move to create resistance to activate your muscles? You can do like jogging in place, you can jog around the pool, you can go backwards, forwards, you can do like a crab walk. You can alternate your movements in the pool and get a workout, even when you're chatting with your friends, or you're having a party and having a cocktail in the pool, or you are actually going there to work out. Just five minutes, you know, walk around, move around, you know, kick your legs, jump, squat, all these things are gonna be very good for your muscles. Um, when we look about what else we can do in the pool without like pool noodles, pool weights, all that stuff, get to the ledge, do some push-ups, do some tricep um extensions, all those things. You can go to a step, the side of the pool, or a step in the pool. So you can do more resistance when more of your body is out, and you can do less resistance when you're in there. So when you're out with your friends, when you're doing things, when you're um just waiting around because it's hot in Florida, so you know you want to cool off, you go in the pool, but you don't want to miss your exercise routine, combine the two. It's a great idea. So when we talk about water sports and we talk about um getting out there, obviously, if you are doing all these things, you forget it drains you or dehydrates you. So you want to think about rehydration or hydrating properly. A lot of times we will experience um heat stroke when we go to a different climate that's warmer. Here in Southwest Florida, Bonita Spring specifically, it is subtropical. What that means is we get X amount of rain per year, which is a little bit more than other places, not as much as the tropics. Um, but it is humid, it is hot. We in the summertime get, I don't know, every day. I feel like the summer, I don't know if you guys, native Floridians or implants here, enjoy the heat come September, August and September. The reason why it gets so hot is because it doesn't cool off. You got the Gulf of Mexico here in Southwest Florida. It's not like the Atlanta side where it has a little bit of coolness to the water still. Um the the Gulf of America, I guess everybody is returning it, whatever you call it. It is warm. It brings the heat, you get barely below 80 at night, so you're always dealing with that. Well, if your body doesn't stay hydrated, how are you gonna move? How are you gonna have activity? How are you gonna beat the heat? And that's what I want to talk about. Excuse me. Rehydration. It's not just about chugging water, it's about cells absorbing it. Because you can drink. I know so many of my patients and so many of my friends and family, they will drink and drink and drink and drink water and still have edema and swelling, right? The water never gets into the cell. You'll still be hydrated because you're drinking a gallon or two gallons of water. But if you don't have the electrolytes that you need to actually get it into the cell, because you over hydrate with pure water, a lot of times the water will sit around the cell. Let's do a science lesson here. You drink the water, it goes into your body. That doesn't mean it goes into your cell, it goes into your blood, it goes in, you know, into the tissue, I guess through the tissue, but it sits sometimes in the interstitial areas because we don't have magnesium or calcium or sodium properly in the areas because we dilute it with water and we don't replenish it. What I mean by that is you have an outer part of the cell around it in the interstitial area, and you have an inner part of the cell which goes through the membrane into the cell. We need hydration inside the cell and outside the cell. We need it in the blood, but also in the tissue. So when you drink water, it goes to your stomach, goes down into your intestines, your intestines absorb it through the intestinal wall and into your body cavities. Once it gets into the body cavities, then the water goes to places, you know, such as your blood, such as your lymphatic system, such as your goes out through your, excuse me, out through your um kidneys and your filtration system, right? Some of it goes into the large intestine to be further absorbed, and some goes out in the toilet, some goes out in your sweat. But what I want to talk about specifically here is you need electrolytes, magnesium, calcium, sodium, you need these to actually help get the water transport it through the membrane of the cell into the cell. So it's important that we have hydration. I think it was in Gainesville. My husband told me I I think I'm remembering this correctly. In Gainesville, Florida, they created Gatorade. Why did they create that? Because it is so hot here, they're losing all their electrolytes, and water wasn't getting them hydrated. So, what did they do? Well, first they gave them salt licks, then they put sugar in there, then they created a drink out of it, and they wanted it to taste good, so then they compounded it, then they colored it, and they put all these additives. You don't have to do that, you can make one at home. So I want to talk about that. When you drink water, it should be about half your body weight. Excuse me, I have like this frog in my throat. Sorry, hold on one second. Anyways, sorry if that was loud in your ear. So we're gonna create one, but before we do, let's talk about proper hydration. On a day where you're not gonna be hot, you should have, if your body weight is 200 pounds, you should try to drink around a hundred ounces of water a day. If you have a lot of vegetables and fresh food that is not cooked, you will get water and electrolytes and you will gain a lot of hydration from them. You can minus some of that from your hundred ounces of water. If per se you drink alcohol or caffeine, you can add some water accordingly. So it's always a net gain or loss of hydration. Now, when you step outside, let's say you work outside or you're working out, you have to look at the loss of hydration, the loss of water and electrolytes in combination. So then you gotta go, okay, well, I need to add X amount back. And that's why sports drinks are very popular. They do help. I just don't agree 100% with how much sugar, how much dye, all of the extra stuff that's in there. But you can make your own and it's super easy. So here's a little DIY longevity hydration recipe. Okay, take a large glass of filter water, about 16 to 20 ounces. Put a quarter teaspoon of Himalayan pink salt, you know, because it has the nutrients in there versus just table salt. Then a generous squeeze, and you can pick either lemon or lime. I prefer lime because lemons to me, I don't know what it is, but they're ultra cleaning. So if you like that, you definitely should use a lemon. You could use both. And then you can either use like coconut water, which is kind of the ultimate go-to. I'm not a fan of coconut water, it doesn't really agree with my body. So I'll use like a local source honey or a maple syrup, like a pure maple syrup, and you can put that in to taste. So typically I'll put in about a teaspoon of honey or a teaspoon of maple syrup in there. Um, but you can also add uh different fruits as long as you don't make it a juice. But a lemon and a lime is gonna be one of the most important. It's gonna be high in vitamin C, it's gonna help with um ascorbic acid, all of that stuff, um, which electrolytes. We need all of that. Coconut water also is gonna be highly um the pH on it. It's gonna be more alkaline typically, and you'll, I believe, and you'll actually, I'm gonna have to look that up, but I think it's more alkaline. Um, coconut water also has a lot of potassium in it, so kind of like bananas. Bananas get a bad wrap, even though they are a berry. Fun fact. Um, bananas are berries, they're constituted as a berry. Go Google it, look it up. It's pretty interesting when you start looking into food. But that's just a couple quick facts. Um, when you get in the water, make sure you're hydrating. Don't drink the water you're swimming in. But make sure, even though you're not sweating because you're in the water, doesn't mean that you're not um or that you are hydrated. So make sure you're actually doing something about that. Learn the difference. Um, working on that is one of the four pillars here in my clinic, and it is very crucial for a healthy body. So if you just work on that all summer, you'll see a lot of your um symptoms go away if you have headaches, if you have cramps, if you have um sleeping issues. They've tended, they've they've helped in the past for patients. But um, when we talk about buoyancy, uh, you only weigh about 10% of your actual weight when you are submerged. So, what's really cool about that is if you ever want to test what your body is made out of, the number one go-to gold standard is a submersion. Um, second is gonna be like your DEXA scan, and then third is going to be like your in-body scanners. Just a little side note. Um, when you are fully submersed, submerged for the kids, you can talk about this with your kids, or if you're listening, this is the closest we get to being weightless, like the astronauts. So stay hydrated all summer long. Remember, at the cellular level, it is important to have our um electrolytes in there and and pay attention to these things. So when we ask, well, why? Why water sports? Why hydration? What is the difference? Why does your body you drink a lot of water, but you might not be hydrated? Why is that? That's a good fun table talk with your family or at parties. Like, did you know you can have lots of water, but it might not be in your cell? And then you can look up how do you get it in your cell? And you find out wow, that's the electrolytes everybody keeps talking about. It opens channels, and ooh, look at this. This is how the body works. That's where I get excited. So today I hope you learned something. I hope your family learned something, and I hope you stay curious.