Abstract:

This experiment is testing the effect of dehydration on physical

performance. Student test subjects were asked to perform a workout both
dehydrated and hydrated. Before each test, the student test subjects were tested
with a specific gravity urine testing strip. These strips measured the hydration
level of the test subject before and after the workout. The testing strips also
helped ensure that the test subject was at the correct hydration level before
testing. That data that we received supported our hypothesis and is showing
correlation between dehydration and hydration on physical performance.

Hypothesis:
If a person is dehydrated then they will have a increased mile time, heart
rate, and will have more difficulty (more breaks) throughout the workout than
if they were hydrated because they will feel more fatigue and dizziness.

Objective:
The objective of this experiment is to investigate the relationship between
dehydration and physical performance.

Question:
How does dehydration affect physical performance?
Methods:
In this experiment, 5 participants between the ages of 14 and 15 performed
a workout at the Rocky Run YMCA. Two trials were performed, one
dehydrated and one hydrated. Before the workout, participants urinated in a
small cup, then dipped the urine specific gravity strip in the pee for 1-2
seconds. After 30 seconds, the color of the strip was compared to the chart on
the table to determine the participants hydration level. The hydration level
(from 1.005 to 1.030) from each participant was recorded in the correct spot on
the table (either dehydrated or hydrated) data table before and after the
workout. Whether or not the participant was hydrated or dehydrated, the test
remained the same for both hydration levels. The first task the participants
performed was a timed 1 mile warmup lap around the indoor track followed by
heart rate which is measured after the mile, warmup, and circuit. The heart rate
is also recorded in the chart along with total time to go through the workout.
After resting heart rate after the mile, participants stretched and prepared to
begin the dynamic warmup and circuit. The dynamic warm up of consisted of
high knees, butt kicks, jumping jacks, and squats. Following the dynamic warm
up, heart rate was measured and recorded in the chart. This circuit included
weight lifting and dynamic activities (squats, crunches, and jumping jacks).
After the whole workout, participants were asked to tell us on a scale of 1-10
the amount of difficulty they had going through the workout. The amount of
breaks and measure of difficulty were used to determine how the participant
felt throughout the workout.
Background Information:
“For athletes, monitoring hydration has significant value in maximising
performance during training and competition” (Oppliger 161). The body is
dehydrated when the body doesn’t have enough water to function properly. A
person can become dehydrated by sweating, breathing, urinating and pooping,
even from saliva and tears. These kinds of activities are normal from day to
day, but when someone doesn't refill the body with the needed water, signs of
muscle cramps, headaches, darker yellow urine, and thirst may occur. Many
people however don’t realize that they are dehydrated because they are too
busy or don’t think they need any more water. This can lead to problems when
trying to perform physical activities because the person exercising might begin
to have a rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fatigue, and may even faint. Dr. Bob
Murray from the Gatorade Sports Science Institute says, “A decrease in body
water from normal levels (often referred to as dehydration or hypohydration)
provokes changes in cardiovascular, thermoregulatory, metabolic, and central
nervous function that become increasingly greater as dehydration worsens.”
When a person does not meet the hydration needs for the body to function
properly, serious health problems may occur like injuries and illness as explain
by the American Council on Exercise. “...dehydration can lead to injuries, heat
illness and even hyponatremia, an excessive loss of sodium and imbalance of
electrolytes. Dehydration can also make exercise seem more difficult, because
of the increased strain placed on the body” (American Council on Exercise
106).​ ​By staying hydrated, body temperatures will lower, blood pressure will
regulate, and the body will be able to move and transport essential nutrients.
Depending on the person's physical state, different amounts of water are need
be before, during, and after the workout. James Cotter et al. questions the way
that athletes determine their hydration status by offering that “Drinking to limit
changes in body mass is commonly advocated (to maintain ≤2% reduction),
rather than relying on behavioural cues (mainly thirst) because the latter has
been deemed too insensitive.” Oppliger reports that “Blood tests appear to be
the most accurate monitoring method, but are impractical because of cost and
invasiveness.” The Ironman Sports Medicine Institute states that an easy “way
to assess hydration is to test the specific gravity of your urine” (Oppliger 159)
Urine specific gravity is defined as “a measure of the ratio between the density
of urine and the density of water” (Minton and Eberman). Minton and Eberman
further explain that “A normal value for Usg ranges between 1.002 to 1.030μG;
minimal dehydration is associated with values in the range of 1.010 to
1.020μG, and severe dehydration produces values above 1.030μG.” The test
strips work by, “...a [urine test strip] is immersed in urine, a chemical reaction
occurs in the small pads that depends on the urine concentration. Protons are
released in the presence of cations, which changes the color of the strip”
(Minton and Eberman). If a person is dehydrated then they will have an
increased mile time, increased heart rate, and will have more difficulty (more
breaks) throughout the workout than if they were properly hydrated because
they will feel more fatigue and dizziness. Europe PMC says, “It is
recommended that individuals drink about 500 ml (about 17 ounces) of fluid
about 2 h before exercise to promote adequate hydration and allow time for
excretion of excess ingested water” (Convertino, et al 1). participants will
perform a strenuous workout while the subjects heart rate and exertion is
monitored. Overall exertion is measured by recording the number of breaks the
subject required in order to complete the workout.

Graphs:
Data Table:
 Heart Heart Time to go
Mile Heart Rate after Mile Rate after Rate after through
Session 1 hyd. Subjects Time hydrated Warm Up Circuit workout Difficulty 1-10
1.005. (B)
1.010. (A) Jess 7:36 130 169 138 37 7 (8 breaks)
1.000 (B)
1.005 (A) Sophie 8:26 177 162 171 20 7 (10 breaks)
1.005 (B)
1.005 (A) Tina 7:02 127 156 146 12 3 (0 breaks)
1.010 (B)
1.010 (A) Lizzie 9:01 146 130 138 25 6.5 (9 breaks)
1.005 (B)
1.015 (A) Bridget 7:56 208 194 195 32 7 (9 breaks)
Session 2 Heart Rate after
dehyd. Mile dehydrated
1.025(B)
1.025(A) Jess 8:12 165 145 147 50 10 (12 breaks)
1.020(B)
1.025(A) Sophie 8:10 160 160 157 50 9 (20 breaks)
1.020 (B)
1.025 (A) Tina 7:12 133 144 138 25 4 (1 break)
1.020 (B)
1.025 (A) Lizzie 10:34 154 156 146 40 7 (4 breaks)
1.020(B)
1.025(A) Bridget 8:20 186 198 191 20 8 (14 breaks)
Data Analysis:
The data was collected in a chart that shows each subjects hydration level,
mile time, heart beat after mile, after warm up, after workout, the time it took to
go through the workout, difficulty from 1-10, and the amount of breaks taken.
All of these things were gathered for both the hydrated and dehydrated tests.
The graph that had the heart rate after mile for each subject was used to show
how all of them reacted to the first part of the workout in both of their tests.
Some subjects had bigger jumps between tests than others. This graph showed
how the subjects hydration correlated with the first workout, which right away
was a generous amount of running. The heart rate after warm up graph was
measured the same as the the mile graph. Most heart rates were higher during
the hydrated test, but Lizzie tested much higher for dehydrated. Following the
mile, the warm up heart rate was important because it was a little less work and
clearly showed whether or not the subject dehydration continued to be a
problem even if the workout got easier. The heart rate after circuit graph was
again measured the same as the last two. In this graph, there is not much of a
pattern. The circuit was more intense than the warmup and was important to
show if the heart rate was continuing to go up and by how much. The graph
that showed how difficult the subjects thought the workout was fairly constant.
All subjects said the dehydrated test was harder but not everyone used the same
numbers. Using a 1-10 rating is a great way that help understand how the
subjects felt after each completed workout. This was a crucial step. Finally, the
graph that measures the number of breaks each subject took was very expected.
Lizzie, in this graph was again an outlier, having taken more breaks when
hydrated. The break results are discussed in much more depth in the
conclusion.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the objective was to find out if being dehydrated made
physical activities more difficult than if they were completely hydrated. Before
testing anyone, they each took a hydration test to make sure the workout results
would be accurate. For the hydrated tests, all subject started at 1.010 or lower.
For the dehydrated tests, all subjects measured 1.020 or higher. The hypothesis
is if a person is dehydrated then they will have a increased mile time, heart rate,
and will have difficulty (more breaks) throughout the workout than if they were
hydrated because they will feel more fatigue and dizziness. This hypothesis was
supported by our data. The results show that heart rate was higher and the time
it took to run a mile in much more when a subject was dehydrated than
hydrated. There was also a decent increase in how difficult the subjects thought
the workout was during their dehydrated test. One unusual thing in the results is
that one of our 5 subjects, Lizzie, had 9 breaks in her hydrated workout and
only 4 in her dehydrated workout. While this was true, her mile time results and
heart beat were both higher in her dehydrated test. This was not the case for any
other test subjects. All of their results were mostly as to be expected by our
hypothesis.
Discussion:
As with almost all experiments, there were some errors that were not
accounted for beforehand. Some errors that may have occurred in this
experiment are, being tired beforehand, eating food before, lack of motivation,
and testing more than one subject at a time, and excessive breaks. One thing
tested in this experiment that may not be very accurate is breaks. People take
breaks for many reasons; it can be because they are dehydrated, but also can
because they are tired or don't want to do the exercise. Another thing that could
have made the test results unclear are things that happened before the testing.
This includes eating food or doing something that would make them tired in
any way. If they are tired before they even start running or doing the workout,
then they will not be able to do as well as they should. An error that could have
happened is that the participants may not have been motivated to their best
during the workouts. Heart rates were measured on the treadmill at the YMCA
for convenience, but the time delay between the activity and the measurement
could have lead to errors. Lastly, testing with multiple test subjects at once was
a big error. When there were multiple subjects exercising at the YMCA
together, they pushed each other to do better than they otherwise might have
done by themselves.
This experiment is just a small part of a larger question. There are so many
ways to further research this topic. Just one, would be testing the different
hydration levels in boys and girls. To do this, get 5 boys and 5 girls and
perform a test at each level of hydration on the Hydra 50 Strips. One test at
1.000, at 1.005, at 1.010, at 1.015, at 1.020, at 1.025, and at 1.030. This test
would compare how boys and girls differ in performance under different levels
of hydration. Another experiment that expands that understanding of
dehydration, is to test professional athletes. Some of the subjects were athletes,
but not all played a lot of their sports or were that hardcore. If professionals
were tested, such as soccer players, in the duration of their games, the results
might be very different. This experiment tested hydration levels before and
after working out. If the soccer players could be tested or monitored during the
game and measure the intake of fluids during the game those tests would be
much more accurate. The last experiment to branch off from this original, is to
test sports drinks. It is known that water is very good for hydration, but sports
drinks like gatorade and powerade are made to increase athletic performance
when dehydrated. The test would be set up similar to this one. The only
difference would be adding trials substituting various sports drinks for water.

This experiment was done having athletes in mind. Athletes are working
hard, sweating, and pushing their limits all the time. If they do all that and more
without proper hydration, things can end badly. The effects of dehydration are
widely known and there are examples in the real world everyday. In daily life,
athletes face consequences if they are not hydrated properly during exercise.
They are at an increased rate for injury, and will have many of the symptoms.
In an article it stated that, “For regular exercisers, maintaining a constant
supply of water in the body is essential to performance. Dehydration leads to
muscle fatigue and loss of coordination. Even small amounts of water loss may
hinder athletic performance.” (American Council on Exercise).