Dehydrated and Dominant?

New study shows mild dehydration has no effects on athletic performance.

Researchers from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, have discovered new evidence that suggests being dehydrated doesn’t hinder athletic performance.

Stephen Cheung is the lead author of “Separate and Combined Effects of Dehydration and Thirst Sensation on Exercise Performance in the Heat,” published in the June 2015 volume of the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. The study analyzed the performances of 11 experienced long-distance cyclists under different hydration conditions.

Obscuring their actual hydration status from the athletes to ensure valid results, Cheung and his team compared performance data between hydrated and dehydrated rides. On the days participants became dehydrated, they lost up to 3 percent of their pre-race body weight, Cheung said. However, results showed hydration status had no effect on performance.

Cheung is hoping the results of his study can help change the information presented to the public about hydration and performance—information he believes is flawed.

“We’re bombarded by public messages saying you need to drink all the time and any bit of dehydration is bad for your health and performance,” Cheung said. “There’s a disconnect between the public message and what elite performers are doing.”

Despite the potentially serious consequences of drinking too much, Cheung believes most people continue to listen to the dehydration message. It’s much harder to send out a message that you can drink too much, Cheung explained. He’s hoping his research can help change common perception.

“The message from my study is that if you’re peaking for a performance, like a half marathon, you don’t need to overemphasize or obsess about hydration, and you can drink way less fluid than you think,” Cheung said.