Excerpted from an article on www.nzherald.co.nz 

Providing you have sufficient liquid in your system the chemical ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is turned into ADP (adenosine diphosphate) during exercise and helps your muscles contract. That process is impaired if you're dehydrated. A good way to find out if you're drinking enough is to look at the colour of your urine after exercise. If it's dark, you're probably dehydrated.

If you're really worried about hydration and dehydration then weigh yourself before and after exercise. You shouldn't lose more than 2 per cent of body weight in fluid during any exercise session or your performance will decrease.

One of the big mistakes people make when exercising is only drinking when they are thirsty. Another is to assume you need sports drinks - which are sometimes packed with calories.

Unless you're exercising at really high intensity for an hour or more a day you probably don't need sports drinks to replace electrolytes such as sodium and potassium.

If you're exercising for more than 90 minutes the rules change; in that case consider drinking one cup of electrolyte drink every 15-30 minutes.

Parents have a responsibility to ensure their budding athletes drink enough when exercising. Younger athletes do not control the build-up of heat as well as adults so need to drink more regularly.

Children may not understand the need to keep hydrated, although they tend to be better than adults at responding to thirst, says Rush. Whenever children are exercising adults should offer them water during breaks.

No-one is the same. But there are some general guidelines for drinking and strenuous exercise:

Before: Drink about two to three cups of water a couple of hours before exercising and then about one cup around 15 minutes before.

During: Drink one cup of water if necessary every 10-15 minutes.

After: Have a larger drink after exercise. It's essential for recovery, ensuring that you can exercise tomorrow and the next day rather than feeling too tired to do anything.

For the full article, go to: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10765335 

Recent current affairs television segments have explored spring waters with magnesium added and the reported health benefits. Some of these bottled waters are marketed as “unique water” simply because of the addition of magnesium (used to enhance the alkalinity and overall wellbeing benefits).

So let us explore what may be happening when people drink water that has magnesium added to it. Magnesium is a critical mineral salt or electrolyte in the body. Magnesium is used in every cellular function. Benefits include helping with osteoporosis, prevention of cardiovascular disease, helps with hypertension, treats migraine, depression, insomnia, menopause, cramps … the list goes on.

Magnesium and hydration - To better understand how the body operates when hydrated, we can explore the movement of key electrolytes (minerals salts) sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium (plus chloride).

These electrolytes actually charge the body by charging the water and depending upon the charge they are holding (negative or positive) they can move water in and out of cells and around the body.

Sodium and calcium always partner and as they move into the cell they displace potassium and magnesium.

So What is an Electrolyte?

An electrolyte is a mineral that dissolves in water and carries an electrical charge.

Since the body is mostly made up of water, electrolytes are found everywhere in the body – inside the cells, in the spaces between cells, in the blood, in lymph glands and everywhere else.

Because electrolytes have electrical charges, they can move easily back and forth through cell membranes. This is important because as they move into a cell, they carry other nutrients in with them and as they move out of it, they carry out waste products and excess water.

To keep body fluid levels in balance, your cells need to have a lot of potassium inside them and a lot of sodium in the fluids outside them. To keep the balance, sodium and potassium constantly move back and forth through the cell membranes as do magnesium and calcium.

Sodium easily combines with other elements and is necessary to make hydrochloric acid – the powerful digestive juice inside your stomach that breaks foods down to enable it to be digested and absorbed.

All these electrolytes – sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium – keep the amount of water in the body in balance, carry impulses along the nerves, help make muscles contract and relax and keep the body from becoming too acidic or alkaline.

Electrolytes are also required to carry glucose (blood sugar) and other nutrients into the cells and to carry waste products and extra water out again. Electrolytes also regulate blood pressure and heartbeat.

zazen Alkaline Water has a balanced range of alkaline minerals including magnesium, sodium, chloride, potassium and calcium, which aid in hydrating you at a cellular level for maximum wellbeing benefit.

Many minerals such as magnesium are also more easily absorbed in water than in food.

The zazen Alkalinity & Antioxidant Enhancer product (AAE 100gm) – releases additional magnesium into your zazen Water system enhancing both the Alkalinity and Antioxidant value of the water. Click here to download the AAE fact sheet

Additional reading:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/02/10/magnesium-can-reduce-your-risk-of-sudden-death.aspx

http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/Magnesium-health-benefits-supplements/2011/01/20/id/369647

• 2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs
• 1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal - helps digestion
• 1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure
• 1 glass of water before going to bed - may help avoid stroke or heart attack

We are sure you would have heard the term electrolytes – and the need to replenish these when we have over exerted ourselves when exercising or if you have suffered from a diarrhea or vomiting episode.

What happens is that we have lost so much body fluid (water containing mineral salts) - that we become dehydrated. We MUST replenish both the fluid (water) and these valuable mineral salts in order for the body to rebalance itself.  Otherwise we get worse and suffer headaches, low energy etc.

What are Electrolytes and why are they so important?
An electrolyte is simply an alkaline mineral – or mineral salt. These “electrolyte” mineral salts dissolve in water and carry an electrical charge. Since the body is made up of over 70% water – electrolytes are found everywhere in the body.

 
Alkaline Water containing a balanced range of electrolyte minerals is essential for re-hydration – which is why sports drinks (Gatorade and PowerAde) are based on rehydration with electrolytes minerals contained in them – along with carbohydrates, flavoring and sugars!

Because electrolytes have electrical charges, they can move easily back and forth through cell membranes. This is important because as they move into a cell, they carry other nutrients in with them and as they move out of it, they carry out metabolic waste products and excess water. The key electrolyte minerals are Sodium, Potassium and Chloride (not chlorine!) mineral salts, which have a negative electrical charge.

To keep body fluid levels in balance, your cells need to have a lot of Potassium inside them and a lot of Sodium in the fluids outside them.

To keep the balance, sodium and potassium constantly move back and forth through the cell membranes. Sodium easily combines with other elements and is necessary to make hydrochloric acid – the powerful digestive juice inside your stomach that breaks foods down to enable it to be digested and absorbed.

So all 3 electrolytes – sodium, potassium and chloride – keep the amount of water in the body in balance, carry impulses along the nerves, help make muscles contract and relax and keep the body from becoming too acidic or alkaline.

Electrolytes are also required to carry glucose (blood sugar) and other nutrients into the cells and to carry waste products and extra water out again. Electrolytes also regulate blood pressure and heartbeat.

 
zazen Alkaline Water contains all 3 key electrolytes plus many other ionized alkaline minerals creating an alkaline water full of alkaline minerals ideal for the body’s modern day water needs.