Fluid intake, dehydration and exercise: A new series of posts

First let us say a big "Thank You" to everyone who has asked questions, posted comments, and contributed to the debates here at the Science of Sport. We have had an incredibly positive reaction to our posts on the Chicago Marathon, and many relevant and good questions were asked in the wake of those posts. Therefore we are excited to bring you a new five-part series of posts on fluid replacement during exercise.

In this series we will examine the following concepts and ideas:

1. The history of fluid replacement in the marathon and endurance sports
2. Does dehydration really cause you to have a higher core temperature?
3. Evaluation of laboratory-based studies vs. field exercise: Is there a difference?
   
4. Hyponatremia: a disorder of fluid, not sodium, balance
5. The physiology of thirst: Why waiting until you are thirsty is NOT too late

We sincerely hope that this series generates as much interest as our previous two series on running technique and men vs. women in running. This debate is controversial, and has stirred serious debate in the past, as I'm sure it will now. We welcome this of course...

But at the heart of this debate is an eternal conflict between science and the commercial world. As we will see, the lines between marketing strategy and research strategy become blurred and confused, scientists begin to drive product sales through 'endorsements' from research, and a conflict of interests is created that cannot be tenable. The topic is worth discussing for this reason alone, but also affects every single person's training routine.

So tune in tomorrow for Part I, and keep on coming back for the full story. Again, because it's a series (in order to avoid writing a thesis in one go!), we'll move systematically through the topics, and so may seemingly omit points from intial posts. As always, we will rely on you, the reader, to ask the unasked questions, and to contribute to the debate with your insightful comments. We'll certainly do our best to bring a scientific analysis and explanation of these everyday concepts, and hope we can help you understand them better.

See you then!