Dr James Betts is a lecturer in human physiology and exercise metabolism at the University of Bath.

Everyone tells me to drink water before the game, but by the time the game kicks off I feel bloated. How much should I be drinking and when?
Jimmy Beckton, via e-mail
It's important to consider individual preferences here as you personally may tolerate larger volumes of fluid less well than others. That said, it is generally recommended that about half a litre of fluid should be ingested over the hours leading up to performance to make sure you aren't dehydrated at the onset of exercise - but do stop drinking with enough time to pass any excess fluid as urine.

You could also make sure that you maintain an appropriate level of hydration on a daily basis by habitually ingesting sufficient fluids. This can be difficult if you are training a lot because sweat rates can vary considerably between different individuals and across different environments.

Fortunately, you can estimate how much sweat you have lost fairly easily by weighing yourself before and after exercise. Every kilogram you lose means that approximately 1 litre of fluid needs to be replaced.

I go out on the lash every Saturday night and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, but I want to play well on a Sunday. What’s the best hangover remedy?
John Clegg, via e-mail
I've already covered the potential negative health consequences of excessive alcohol consumption in a previous post and it should be fairly obvious that the acute intoxicating influence of alcohol would not be conducive to performance if you were to compete while actually under the influence.

However, you have clearly identified that your performance may even be limited the next day once the immediate effects of alcohol have subsided. If you took a large amount of alcohol until very late in the evening before an early kick-off the following day then your body may well still be metabolising the ethanol and the diuretic effect may also have left you in a dehydrated state. You should therefore aim to rehydrate prior to exercise.

However, aside from any direct physiological effects, you are likely to limit your own performance simply because you will be less motivated to compete, so I would suggest that you either reduce the amount of alcohol you consume the night before a game or just accept that your performance may suffer (preferably the former).

How do supplements like creatine work? Do you recommend using them to enhance sporting performance?
Martin Ball, via e-mail
Your body naturally produces creatine and it is also present in foods that many people consume as part of their usual diet (like meat and fish). Ingesting creatine supplements can increase the amount of phosphocreatine stored in your muscles, which your body then uses to maintain energy production during muscle contraction, particularly during more explosive bursts of exercise.

For this reason, there is evidence of enhanced performance during repeated bouts of such activity due to the accelerated recovery during the few minutes between efforts.It's less likely that you would find any benefit of creatine supplementation in terms of prolonged exercise or strength performance, although the latter may improve over time due to your increased ability to train at high-intensities.

There's no consistent evidence indicating immediate negative side-effects of creatine supplementation but this has not been a heavily researched area and there is even less information available with regard to more long-term risks.

I would therefore advise caution when deciding whether or not to supplement, balancing the relative benefits of any potential performance enhancement against the risks of side-effects or even the possible contamination of such supplements with other substances which may themselves exert additional effects.