While urine plays an important role in transporting waste out of your body, it also can act as a warning sign from your body about your health and hydration. When taking part in an active sport like cycling, you may see a change in color of your urine after you get off the bike. Typically this change is harmless, but it's important to understand what the color means, to ensure it's not a warning sign of a potential health issue.
Healthy Urine
Before evaluating any changes in your urine color, it's important to understand what healthy urine should look like. Healthy urine can range in color, but typically varies between a pale yellow to a deep amber, MayoClinic.com explains.
Dehydration
One of the largest contributors to a change in urine color after cycling is dehydration. Cycling increases your body temperature as part of the natural energy-creation process, which initiates the process of sweating to help regulate your body temperature. Depending on how intense your cycling, sweating can quickly cause dehydration. With less water available in the body, the concentration of waste in your urine increases, especially urochrome, changing the color of your urine. If you're dehydrated, the color of your urine will be much darker, as either a dark yellow or dark amber.
Hydration Recommendations
There are several different viewpoints when it comes to how much water you should drink to stay hydrated. The simplified recommendation is eight cups of water eight times a day. However, this number does not take into account the water lost during the intense sport of cycling. The Institute of Medicine suggests that men consume at least 3 liters of water per day, and women 2.2 liters. Start with these recommendations and increase as needed until your urine returns to a lighter color. Water should not only be consumed after cycling, but should also be included throughout the day, including before and during cycling, to stay hydrated.
Other Possible Causes
Urine color can be influenced by a wide range of factors, which is why it's important to discuss any major or chronic changes in your urine color with your doctor. Other causes that may change the color of your urine include recently consumed foods like carrot juice or beets, vitamins like B-vitamin supplements or medications like blood-thinners or laxatives. More potentially serious causes of urine color changes are blood in the urine, creating a pink or red urine, lead or mercury poisoning, which also turns your urine red, or hypercalcemia, which can tint your urine a blue color.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Urine Colors: Causes; Sept. 30, 2009
- "New York Times": Health Guide: Urine --- Abnormal Color; ; Sept. 30, 2009
- Harvard Health Publications; Color, odor changes in urine usually---but not always---harmless, reports Harvard Women's Health Watch; June 2010
- MayoClinic.com; Dehydration: Symptoms; Jan. 7, 2011
- MayoClinic.com; Water: How Much Should You Drink Every Day?; April 17, 2010
