More for the par­ents of ath­letic chil­dren, this arti­cle from The New York Times’ Well blog still con­tains some use­ful all-round advice on hydra­tion dur­ing exer­cise. In the com­ments the author also links to this urine colour test for dehy­dra­tion.

When [exer­cis­ing chil­dren] were offered grape-flavored water, they vol­un­tar­ily drank 44.5 per­cent more than when the water was unfla­vored. And when the drink included 6 per­cent car­bo­hy­drates and elec­trolytes — when, in other words, it was a sports drink — they eagerly downed 91 per­cent more than when offered water alone. Does this mean that par­ents […] should be stock­ing their refrig­er­a­tors with [sports drinks]? The answer is a qual­i­fied ‘yes.’ […]

But that ‘yes’ has clear and defin­able limits. “Sports drinks are only appro­pri­ate in the con­text of sports, and I mean seri­ous sports,” empha­sizes Nancy Clark, a reg­is­tered dieti­cian and sports nutri­tion­ist in Boston, who often works with young ath­letes. If, how­ever, your 12-year-old or older ath­lete has begun com­pet­ing at a more intense level, espe­cially if he or she par­tic­i­pates in mul­ti­ple prac­tices or com­pe­ti­tions in a sin­gle day dur­ing the sum­mer, “sports drinks are appro­pri­ate,” Clark says.

So not you or I after our daily work­out, basi­cally. The arti­cle also con­tains this recipe for mak­ing your own sports drink:

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tea­spoon salt
1/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup orange juice
2 table­spoons lemon juice
3 1/2 cups cold water

(Dis­solve the sugar and salt in the hot water then add the remain­ing ingre­di­ents. Approx. 50 calo­ries and 110 mg of sodium per 8 ounces.)

via Life­hacker