Women heat up sooner, sweat less, and have hormonal fluctuations that impact how we keep our cool when we crank up our efforts.
I have been studying hydration my entire adult life (the basis of my PhD was sex differences in hydration in the heat!), both as an athlete myself in endurance running, Ironman triathlon, pro-elite road cycling, and CrossFit and as a nutrition and physiology researcher working in the lab and the field with elite professional athletes. There is no question in my mind that hydration is power.
You use the water in your body to get rid of the heat you produce and to cool you down while you’re exercising. When everything is working properly, it’s an amazingly efficient process. Your blood circulates to your muscles to deliver fuel and nutrients, as well as to sweep up the waste and heat that your muscles produce while they’re working. The blood then circulates to your skin to dump the heat through evaporative cooling (sweating).
