Drink water! Yes, this might seem like an obvious one, but it is the main cause of dehydration, dizziness, and possible fainting. Picture yourself on your Yoga mat, wearing your Yoga pants, doing Yoga poses. If you are having a hard time, chances are this is due to dehydration. Yoga teachers often associate tiredness, dizziness, lack of sweating, and muscle cramps - as a sign of dehydration during their Yoga classes. So how much water should you drink before Yoga? After? Should you drink water during Yoga? Let's go over some tips on the best ways to stay hydrated during those Yoga poses.
It’s all about water & electrolytes
Electrolytes are molecules which conduct electricity through the body. This doesn’t mean your hair or Yoga Pants will spike outwards like when playing with a Van de Graaff generator, during a science field trip. Our body uses electricity to transmit signals. Those signals are used to regulate vital functions such as your heart rate, and muscle contraction - particularly important during Yoga.
What you need are minerals, already present in most tap or mineral water bottles. The most notable of those are sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium.
Many bottled water are actually distilled, which mean they will usually not contain many minerals - moreover, they are contributing to the ongoing plastic crisis hitting the world.
Our advice: drink tap water, and spike it up a bit. Using a filter like
TAPP will remove lead, microplastics, taste, and another 80+ contaminant - while leaving these minerals mentioned above. Give your body clean water, full of minerals, and without all the toxins. In order to electrolyze your drink, even more, some people add maple syrup or honey and salt.
Cheap and easy recipe:
- Take 6 teaspoons of brown sugar (or the equivalent in honey or maple syrup)
- Take 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 Liter of filtered TAPP water
- Optional: add some lemon for taste
That’s it!
Know when to drink
You’ve heard that saying: If you are thirsty, it’s already too late! What this means is that you should not wait until you are thirsty. The feeling of thirst is your body crying for help, as it needs to transmit those electrical signals through your body - you know, so you don't cramp up on your Yoga mat while doing a difficult Yoga pose.
An average rule is to drink 8-10 8-ounce glasses of water a day (around 2 Liters).
Wake up: Drink a glass of clean,
TAPP filtered water (lets the minerals through)
Pre-hydrate: Can we drink water before yoga? How much water should you drink before Yoga? Slowly, drink two to three glasses of
TAPP or Electrolyte water in the 90 min leading up to the Yoga class. Make sure not to drink too much right before class. This will bloat you up and the electrolytes will not have time to do their job.
Re-hydrate: Can we drink water after yoga? How much water should you drink after Yoga? Now that you’ve lost a lot of fluid during class, you need to rehydrate. You could continue drinking your electrolyte drink, or plain water. But at this point, you probably want a reward for the effort. That’s when it’s time to drink that delicious coconut water. It is filled with electrolytes and is a delicious way to get that fluid back into your body! Drink about two glasses in the 2 hours following class.
Take one glass per meal: Drinking during your meal will keep you hydrated, while also making you feel fuller - which means you are less likely to overheat
Rest of the day: Try to drink regularly, so that you never get that feeling of thirst.
Note that most Yoga instructors will recommend not drinking during the class unless you feel dehydrated. Drinking is one of the main distractions you can face while in your Yoga pants.
Sweating
This might also seem obvious, but if you sweat, you dehydrate! Try to wear breathable Yoga pants and clothes in general, they will make you sweat less, and you won’t lose as much water.
Avoid Diuretics
There are a few drinks that you should not be consuming as they promote the increased production of urine. Typically these are coffee or tea (caffeine), and alcohol. If you really want something tasty other than
TAPP water, you can drink TAPP watered down coconut water or even juices, making them last longer and reducing the amount of sugars.
