How Gamers Improve Performance With Water
By: Alfie Gordon
Tags: Hydration, Gaming, Esport, Esports Market, Esports News

Hydration is one aspect of nutrition that is often ignored. In reality, it is likely to have the most significant impact on our health and performance, especially when it comes to cognitive function.

Water is essential to life — the body is 50–75% water. Under normal conditions, body water loss is ~2500 ml per day (1). The 2500ml of water is replaced by drinking fluid (1500 ml), eating food (750 ml) and metabolic processes (250 ml) (1).

Water weight can fluctuate depending on body carbohydrate stores and sodium intake (2). One gram of carbohydrate stores 2.7 grams of water, so ~400g of carbohydrates will increase body weight by ~ 1 kilogram (3).

Adequate hydration is one of the most critical aspects of the diet — drinking enough liquids to keep the body’s fluid levels topped up helps ensure that all bodily functions can occur as expected. Hydration requirements are highly individual and are dependent upon sweat rate, sweat sodium content, body weight, body temperature, the intensity of exercise and ambient environmental temperature.

The goal of optimal hydration for exercising individuals is to prevent 2–3% body mass loss, which can cause hypernatremia or a 2% gain in body mass which may cause hyponatraemia.

Hydration is essential for athletes because failure to hydrate before exercise reduces work completed during exercise performance. Excessive dehydration seems to impair exercise performance, and responses to dehydration are highly individual (4).

For esports athletes, the focus of hydration is likely centred around boosting cognition.

A meta-analysis of 33 studies, including 413 participants examining the influence of hydration and cognition, found some interesting data that supports promoting optimal hydration for cognition (5). The authors found that more than 2% dehydration was correlated with significant impairments in motor coordination, executive function, and attention (5). Alongside this, a couple of other studies also demonstrated that dehydration leading to a 2% reduction in body mass decreases alertness and induces fatigue (6).

Some studies are even suggesting that smaller amounts of dehydration (1–2% body mass loss) and tiny amounts (0.22% body mass loss) impact cognition (6,7). Furthermore, even the sensation of thirst may negatively affect cognition (6). We must also be careful not to drink too much because although drinking water improves cognition in thirsty individuals, it impairs cognition in not thirsty individuals (8).

An individual’s requirements for water vary depending on body size, lifestyle, and environmental conditions. However, as a blanket recommendation, you should start consuming an ample volume of liquids throughout the day, usually 2.5L to 3.0L.

However, you can adjust your water intake based on how you feel. Don’t wait until you feel thirsty or your mouth gets dry; this is already a sign that you are not well hydrated! Focus on mainly drinking water and tea throughout the day and avoid consuming high quantities of sugary drinks.

If you must, go for the zero-calorie options as these are an excellent way to reduce the sugar content in your diet.

If you are looking for a recommendation specific to your body weight, a good starting place would be to multiply your body weight in kg by 33(ml). Which would mean a 70 kg person requires 2310 ml (2.3 L).

Some top tips for staying hydrated

- Aim for between 2–3 litres a day as a starting point.

- Consume fruit and veg throughout the day.

- Try to stick to water. Some energy drinks and coffee have other ingredients, such as caffeine, which may disrupt sleep.

Observe the colour of your urine (darker means you need to drink more water).

If you’re interested in improving your nutrition and gaming performance, check out my virtual 6-week nutrition coaching programme 🚀

References:

1) Johnson J. Fluids and Electrolytes Demystified. New York: McGraw-Hill Education; 2018.

2) Bortz WM, Wroldson AR, Morris PA, Issekutz Jr BE. Fat, carbohydrate, salt, and weight loss. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1967;20:1104–12.

3) Olsson KE, Saltin B. Variation in total body water with muscle glycogen changes in man. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. 1970 Sep;80(1):11–8.

4) Maughan RJ. Impact of mild dehydration on wellness and on exercise performance. European journal of clinical nutrition. 2003 Dec;57(2):S19–23.

5) Wittbrodt MT, Millard-Stafford M. Dehydration impairs cognitive performance: a meta-analysis. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2018 Nov 1;50(11):2360–8.

6) Benton D, Young HA. Do small differences in hydration status affect mood and mental performance?. Nutrition reviews. 2015 Sep 1;73(suppl_2):83–96.

7) Riebl SK, Davy BM. The hydration equation: Update on water balance and cognitive performance. ACSM’s health & fitness journal. 2013 Nov;17(6):21.

8) Rogers PJ, Kainth A, Smit HJ. A drink of water can improve or impair mental performance depending on small differences in thirst. Appetite. 2001 Feb.