Is It Good to Drink Water With Lemon While You're Running?

Running provides an effective and intense workout that increases your lower body strength, benefits your cardiovascular health and helps you achieve or maintain a healthy weight. However, proper nutrition before, during and after your runs proves important for successful workouts, and failure to properly nourish your body might lead to health problems. Drinking lemon water during your runs may have a number of benefits.

The sugar in lemon water might help fuel your muscles during a run. (Image: Melpomenem/iStock/Getty Images)

To Your Health

Drinking fluids during your workout is important for your health. (Image: Helder Almeida/iStock/Getty Images)

Drinking fluids during your workout is important for your health. During exercise, your body can lose significant amounts of fluid through sweat -- up to 4 cups per hour, according to the University of New Mexico -- and failure to consume enough water during and after a run can lead to dehydration. Drinking water, including lemon water, helps replenish your body's fluid stores during your run, helping to compensate for fluid loss due to sweating.

Sweet and Sour

Lemon juice adds natural sugars and carbohydrates that can help fuel your workouts. (Image: HandmadePictures/iStock/Getty Images)

Drinking lemon water, as opposed to plain water, might offer some slight benefits over drinking plain water. Lemon juice contains several nutrients, and adding the juice from one lemon to your water adds 8 grams of natural sugars and carbohydrates, according to Purdue University. During your workouts, your body can utilize these carbohydrates to fuel your muscles, potentially slightly increasing your muscle endurance and strength during a run, according to DrMirkin.com. This might allow you to run faster or longer during your workouts.

Lemony-lytes

Lemon juice contains electrolytes your body may have lost through sweat. (Image: mediaphotos/iStock/Getty Images)

In addition to losing water when you run, your body also excretes salts, or electrolytes. Plain water can replace fluid lost through sweat, but might not contain the electrolytes your body needs during and after a run. Lemon juice, on the other hand, contains several essential electrolytes, including potassium, an electrolyte essential for proper muscle function. While the efficacy of lemon juice for replacing electrolytes lost during a run has not been fully investigated, lemon water's potassium content might benefit your health during a run.

Fruity Options

Lemon can wear down the enamel on your teeth over time. (Image: moodboard/moodboard/Getty Images)

In addition to its possible benefits during a run, incorporating lemon water into your diet might benefit your health. If you find it difficult to drink enough water every day, or dislike the taste of plain water, adding lemon juice might help you increase your daily water intake. Lemon water also represents a way to add flavor to water without the hundreds of calories found in juices or sodas. Experiment with different types of lemon water -- for example, lemon water with a sliced strawberry added -- to enjoy a range of healthy flavored waters. Just be aware that lemon is a natural diuretic and can also cause serious damage to the enamel on your teeth over time.