Hydrogen Water & Exercise
When it comes to exercise and fitness, we all want the same thing. Regardless if you are 20 or 80 years old, a walker, a jogger, a recreational athlete or an elite competitor. We all want an easy, safe way to get more enjoyment, benefit and performance. What if there was a convenient and natural way to have more energy while also reducing fatigue, lactic acid buildup and oxidative stress? A way you could recover faster and elevate your performance ultimately providing more enjoyment?
There is a highly credible body of science that shows molecular hydrogen – or H
2 – offers all of those benefits. Over 1,000 peer reviewed papers show that H2 benefits every organ of the body and has therapeutic potential in 170 disease models. A growing number of them show H2 offers significant benefits for the exerciser or athlete.
What Makes Exercise Hard?
Any activity above a resting state immediately increases our body’s needs for energy and oxygen. More oxygen means you take in more cell damaging oxygen (free) radicals, which cause oxidative stress. Oxidative stress attacks or “stresses” your cells causing muscle damage, weakness, fatigue and inflammation.
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If the activity is more intense or prolonged than you are used to, you start to burn glycogen causing a lactic acid “burn”. That leads to fatigue and possible muscle soreness, decreasing endurance and reducing performance. You end up with poor results and less enjoyment.
H
2 Water Increases your Energy
ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) is made in our mitochondria and is the “energy-currency” that powers our cells and all our biological activities. Free radicals – especially oxygen radicals – damage your mitochondria impairing ATP production.
Research shows that H
2 neutralizes oxygen radical damage, which in turn improves mitochondrial function. That optimizes ATP production. This protective property allows the mitochondria to produce optimal levels of ATP. That means you have more energy.
When the body cannot produce the necessary levels of ATP, it turns to metabolizing stored glycogen in the liver. When you dig deep and go beyond your ATP production, research shows that H
2 can help support increased glycogen.4
H2 Water for Reducing Muscle Soreness
A recent study found that consuming H
2 water can positively impact athletic performance in elite highly trained athletes. Both muscle fatigue and lactate were decreased in the control group when they consumed H2 rich water before exercise.6
A similar study found that H
2 infused water had a beneficial effect on the maximal rate of perceived exertion and lactic acid build-up at critical running speed. It concluded that hydrogen-rich water decreases the physical stress during maximal exercise. 7
This quote from one of the research papers on the topic says it succinctly: "Adequate hydration with hydrogen-rich water pre-exercise reduced blood lactate levels and improved exercise-induced decline of muscle function." ~K. Aoki, et al Medical Gas Research, 2012.
H
2 Water Protects Against Oxidative Stress
Any increase in activity produces more oxidative stress. Unusually intense activity over a short period of time causes even higher levels of oxidative stress and lactic acid buildup. This causes more fatigue, residual muscle soreness, micro-tears to the muscle fibers, and inflammation. While adaptive stress is good, oxidative stress in any form, no matter how it happens, is not.
Scientists have proven that H
2 selectively neutralizes free radicals. That means it targets the “bad” radicals that are the most toxic to our cells, while leaving the “good” radicals which are crucial to cell physiology and homeostasis8,9 making H2 a unique and novel antioxidant.
H
2 Improves Recovery Time and Healing
Proper recovery from an injury or exertion involves more than muscle repair; it takes chemical and hormonal rebalancing, nervous system repair, rejuvenating our mental state, and more. H
2 has been shown to help maintain homeostasis of enzymes including glutathione, superoxide dismutase, catalase and others.4 H2 has also demonstrated cell signaling capability critical to neurological function.4,14 It’s also beneficial in treating soft tissue injuries.10
H
2 Water Can Increase your VO2 max
A recent study
5 showed that drinking hydrogen-rich water increased VO2 max, time to exhaustion and total work when compared to the placebo group who were given tap water. The study noted there were no side effects or contraindications.
Hydrogen Water Improves Cellular Hydration
As H
2 molecules neutralize oxygen radicals, it converts them to water (O- + H2 > H2O), leading researchers to deduce that H2 improves cellular hydration. It takes something bad and makes it good. That potentially explains why no published study has found any negative effect of consuming hydrogen water. It's 100% safe and natural.
The verdict is in!
Research shows drinking H
2 saturated water will help with our fitness activities and athletics. It gives you more energy by improving ATP production. It mitigates fatigue and muscle damage by increasing your glycogen. It can increase VO2 Max and improve hydration, all while selectively neutralizing and reducing the damaging effects of oxidative stress. Research also shows it’s effective for a broad range of conditions related to general health including many chronic diseases. Go longer. Go stronger with H2.
The Best Way to Get H
2 Water?
There are natural "healing water" springs, which have been shown to be alkaline, be negatively ionized (-redox) and contain dissolved molecular hydrogen. They are also contaminant free. Our H
2 Series ionizers re-create each of these healthy properties in the water that comes straight from your tap!
First, our proprietary UltraWater™ Filtration Technology cleans the water. In independent EPA-certified lab testing against 249 contaminants, it reduced virtually all of them to 99.9%. Once the water is cleaned up, AlkaViva’s H
2 Infusion technology creates the documented benefits of H2. And it’s alkaline and ionized too
So if you are looking for an easy, safe and natural way to get more enjoyment and benefit out of your fitness pursuits, the magic bullet is here! It’s in the H
2!
Delphi H2
Undersink Elegance
Elegant, compact design. Powerfully efficient. Best filtration.
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Vesta H2
Countertop Water Ionizer
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References:
- Djordjevic D, Cubrilo D, Macura M, Barudzic N, Djuric D, Jakovljevic V. The influence of training status on oxidative stress in young male handball players. Mol Cell Biochem. 2011;351(1–2):251–259.
- Tanskanen M, Atalay M, Uusitalo A. Altered oxidative stress in overtrained athletes. J Sports Sci.2010;28(3):309–317. doi: 10.1080/02640410903473844.
- Jackson MJ. Muscle damage during exercise: possible role of free radicals and protective effect of vitamin E. Proc Nutr Soc. 1987;46(1):77–80. doi: 10.1079/PNS19870010.
- T. Lebarron The Actions of Molecular Hydrogen in the Body, MHI, March 4, 2013.
- Sergej M. OSTOJIC, Darinka KOROVLJEV, et al, 28-Days Hydrogen-Rich Water Supplementation Affects Exercise Capacity, Applied Bioenergetics Lab, Faculty of Sport and PE, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
- Pilot study: Effects of drinking hydrogen-rich water on muscle fatigue caused by acute exercise in elite athletes. Med Gas Res. 2012 Jul 12;2:12. doi: 10.1186/2045-9912-2-12.
- Ostojic SM, Stojanovic MD. Hydrogen-rich water affected blood alkalinity in physically active men. Res Sports Med 2014; 22: 49–60.
- Ohsawa I, Ishikawa M, Takahashi K, Watanabe M, Nishimaki K, Yamagata K, Katsura K, Katayama Y, Asoh S, Ohta S. Hydrogen acts as a therapeutic antioxidant by selectively reducing cytotoxic oxygen radicals. Nat Med. 2007;13(6):688– 694. doi: 10.1038/nm1577.
- Kosuke Aoki, Atsunori Nakao, Takako Adachi, Yasushi Matsui, and Shumpei Miyakawa Hong Y, Chen S, Zhang JM. Hydrogen as a selective antioxidant: a review of clinical and experimental studies. J Int Med Res 2010; 38: 1893–1903.
- Hong Y, Chen S, Zhang JM. Hydrogen as a selective antioxidant: a review of clinical and experimental studies. J Int Med Res 2010; 38: 1893–1903.
- Ostojic SM, Stojanovic MD, Hoffman JR. Effectiveness of molecular hydrogen in the management of musculotendinous injuries. Med Sci Sport Exerc 2014; 46: S156–S157.
- Huang CS, Kawamura T, Toyoda Y, Nakao A. Recent advances in hydrogen research as a therapeutic medical gas. Free Radical Res 2010;44(9):971–982.
- Ohta S, Nakao A, Ohno K. The 2011 Medical Molecular Hydrogen Symposium: An inaugural symposium of the journal Medical Gas Research. Med Gas Res 2011;1(1):10.
- Kenji Dohi, Brian C. Kraemer, Michelle A. Erickson, Pamela J. McMillan, Andrej Kovac, Zuzana Flachbartova, Kim M. Hansen, Gul N. Shah, Nader Sheibani, Therese Salameh, and William A. Banks. Molecular Hydrogen in Drinking Water Protects against Neurodegenerative Changes Induced by Traumatic Brain Injury, Injury PLoS One. 2014 Sep 24;9(9):e108034.