Why do I Need to Drink Lots of Water After a Sports Massage?
Posted on 23rd July 2020 at 10:00
You already know we need to drink water to survive. So why does your therapist always make a point of telling you to drink water after your massage and reminding you to drink more than normal later on in the day, too?
In short, this is to help the kidneys and other organs in processing the various substances and fluids which are released into the body and kidneys during massage. This is why you often need to go to the toilet straight after a massage.
Water is vitally important…
It’s important to understand just how important water and hydration is to the body. Just to begin to get an idea, the brain is made up of 85% water and muscles are made of 70%. Even your bones have water in.
Often when clients come for a massage we ask about their water consumption. With alarming regularity the answer to, “How much water do you drink?” is something along the lines of “two coffees and a can of coke.”
This being from an active individual (or anyone for that matter) is woefully inadequate. In fact, drinks like coffee are diuretics which increases the production of urine, hence making an even greater need for water to avoid dehydration.
Lack of hydration effects muscles…
When you begin to imagine the lack of hydration and the effects it has on the muscles it’s easy to imagine why the massage can cause some pain. The muscles and blood thickened through lack of hydration makes the toxins moved around the body become trapped in the muscles, causing aches and pains.
The blood being properly hydrated allows it flow as it should, the muscle fibers separated and able to perform as they should, and in turn you will experience less pain and aching.
As a result of the various organs now working harder to process these substances shifted around due to the massage it’s essential they are provided with water to cope with the extra demand.
Sweat needs replacing…
Another effect of the massage can be that you start to heat up and sweat. This is because the massage is stimulating the parasympathetic portion of the nervous system. This is the part of the nervous system which operates mainly while you sleep and encourages your body to get rid of toxins from your blood stream via sweat and the lymph system.
So clearly, it’s important that we stay hydrated in order to maintain function of our body. It’s even more important after we have had a massage! Not only that, it’s also just very refreshing.
Your therapist should offer you a glass of water after your treatment, but please feel free to bring along your own bottle and keep those hydration levels topped up.
Tagged as: hydration, sports massage
Share this post: