Dehydration is bad for your health and your golf game. These hydration tips are simple yet effective ways to up your water intake.
Though hydration might not be the sexiest resolution for a new year, it is one that can have infinite benefits to your mind, body – and golf game. Drinking enough water each day helps keep you healthy. Even more so, it’s important to stay hydrated on the golf course to replace the water lost from sweating (or dehydration from alcohol!), prevent fatigue and even support brain functioning. Truth is, you should be thinking about hydrating in your pre-round prep just like you’d make sure you have enough golf balls, sunscreen, etc. Here are a few easy tips to help you drink more water on the golf course.
Get a water bottle you’re excited to use
Commit to getting hydrated and decreasing your carbon footprint this year by purchasing a reusable water bottle. The key is finding a water bottle that you’re excited to use. Not only will this get you to drink more water more frequently, but you’ll also want to bring it with you wherever you go. While having a go-to water bottle is great, you will probably forget it from time to time, so don’t feel guilty if you have to buy a single-use water bottle in a pinch. It’s also a great opportunity to clean that reusable bottle between uses to keep it from becoming a Petri dish for bacteria.
Add flavour and electrolytes
If you’re feeling dehydrated or just want a little extra flavour, electrolyte tablets are a great option to have on hand. They’re easy to keep in the pocket of a golf bag. Most electrolyte tablets are designed to be eco-friendly and come in a variety of fun flavours. Hydralyte is a popular and affordable brand available in most supermarkets. Just drop two tablets into at least 200 millilitres of water and start hydrating. Plus, their signature formula is free of artificial colours and flavours, unlike some of those sports drinks you might grab at the turn.
Make it a habit
Using an app to track your daily water intake and incorporating hydrating foods into your diet are just a couple of ways that can help you make it a habit to get hydrated. Some water-tracking apps even ‘gamify’ the process of meeting your daily water intake goals. That’s a way to make it more of a competition than a chore.
Another way you can adjust your mindset is by setting a measurable goal for yourself. Whether it’s drinking every other hole or before each tee shot, try to stick to that throughout your round. If this still feels like work, try thinking of water breaks as a way to relax and calm your nerves out on the course. The biggest thing is to not wait until you’re thirsty. Once you reach that point, you’re already dehydrated.
A new recovery shot to get you back on course
OK, so we’ve covered the hydration bit, which is key to your performance and conditioning. But what if we told you there’s a new Australian product doing the rounds that not only facilitates optimum hydration but aids even further with the human body’s recovery?
Nano Bubble Technologies, the Aussie company famous for producing healthier turf on golf courses, has now turned its attention to enhancing the health of golfers. With its patented world-first nanobubble technology that injects high amounts of oxygen into water for the purposes of industrial cleaning, aquaculture, agriculture and sports turf, Nano Bubble Technologies is challenging what research scientists thought was impossible.
“Ingesting oxygen through gas or through needles has become a common treatment, but no one has been able to successfully transfer it like we are,” says Gary Stone, NBT’s founder, owner and managing director.
“Rather than sit on a machine, we’d prefer to see people drink two bottles of our water and get all of those benefits.”
Oxygenated water is a relatively new functional water product that has oxygen added to it during the canning or bottling process. The added oxygen is claimed to provide health benefits, including aiding exercise recovery, flushing toxins out of the body and improving alcohol metabolism. While evidence to support these benefits is still limited, Stone is convinced NBT’s patented delivery mechanism will be a game-changer for sports science, and is already getting the tick of approval by elite golfers across the country.
“If you can put four times the amount of oxygen in the water in a nanobubble form that is so small that it will go through the lining of your stomach, will enter through your kidneys and into the bloodstream, you are really improving your health and wellbeing,” Stone says.
“Our technology has enabled us to enhance the health of golf courses; we now want to use that same technology to enhance the health of all golfers.”
While no release date has been confirmed, Stone remains hopeful Nano2 oxygenated water will be available in select pro shops across the country as early as April this year.
