Sports Drinks
Do You Actually Need To Consume Sports Drinks?
I have you happen to wander into a convenience store looking for something to drink, perhaps after exercising, you’ll certainly find no shortage of choices. Ever since Gatorade came on stage several years ago, the market has literally exploded with so called sports drinks that claim to quench your thirst in ways you’ve never imagined. In this article, you’ll learn some basics of sports drinks, when you should drink them, and when to just drink water.
To start off, sports drinks are generally designed for a couple of purposes. The first one, Gatorade, which was designed for the Florida Gators football team, was designed as a recovery drink. First to replace lost water during games and practices, and second to replace lost electrolytes lost during games and practices. Electrolytes are lost during perspiration, and without them you body cannot function. You can imagine how much you’d sweat playing football in the Florida heat and humidity.
When sports drinks became more popular, various kinds of carbohydrates were added, in the forms of various sugars. This was intended to provide a quick boost of energy while exercising. Sports drinks of this variety were designed to help you stay hydrated, replace your electrolytes, and keep your blood sugar levels high enough so you could last longer.
The question is, do you really gain any benefits from drinking sports drinking compared to plain old water? First, let’s take a look at the electrolytes. It’s true that if you sweat at all, you are losing electrolytes. But unless you are ending up with your shirt completely drenched, you aren’t likely losing any electrolytes that can’t be replaced by your normal diet.
What about all the water you lose while sweating? Obviously, drinking water is the best way to replace water. And some sports drinks have such high concentrations of electrolytes and sugars that these may require more water just to help break them down in your system. So by drinking sports drinks, you may even be increasing your body’s water requirements. However, some people just absolutely hate the taste of water. If this is the case, then sports drinks may be your only option.
How about the energy boost that you get from sports drinks? If you are doing some extended workouts, or some kind of endurance training, then you definitely need to keep your energy levels high, and sports drinks can be one way of doing this. But if you are like most people, and work out for an hour or so every couple days, then you are likely getting plenty of calories from your regular diet, and all that extra sugar really isn’t needed.
The bottom line is that unless you are an endurance athlete that trains for hours on end, then you likely don’t need any kind of sports drink. Water is likely your best bet, unless of course you can’t stand the taste. For most people, sports drinks are simply not necessary.
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