These days, if you are thirsty, there is certainly no lack of choices. Sports drinks have exploded, and there are literally dozens of brands and flavors to choose from. Gatorade, the pioneer, started this trend several years ago, and since there is some serious competition for your thirst. In this article you’ll learn what sports drinks are good for, and when they should be passed over for some plain, ordinary water.
To begin with, all sports drinks are designed to serve a couple different purpose. The original, Gatorade, was designed for the Florida Gators football team as a recovery drink. First to replace lost water due to perspiration, and second to replace lost electrolytes. Electrolytes are chemical that are needed by your body for many functions. You lose them while you sweat, and you can imagine how much you’d sweat playing football in the Florida heat and humidity.
When sports drinks became more popular, they also became more competitive. Not only did they replace water and electrolytes, they also added simple carbohydrates, in the form of simple sugars, to help keep your energy levels high while you were exercising. These carbohydrates were in the form of simple sugars, so they could be quickly burned for energy.
So do you really need all this advanced chemistry when you get thirsty? Let’s take a look at the electrolytes. Sure, you do lose a certain amount of electrolytes whenever you perspire, but unless you are completely drenching a couple of T-shirts in every workout, you aren’t really losing any electrolytes that can’t be replaced through normal dietary intake.
How about the hydration effects? Considering you get the same hydration effects from water, spending money on sports drinks doesn’t seem to be worth the cost. Many people will argue that because sports drinks tastes much better than water, they tend to drink more, and get more hydrating benefits. If this is true for you, then consider keeping sports drinks on hand whenever you exercise.
The last reason, because they provide sugar for energy, is something to consider. If you are doing some long distance or endurance training, and are spending several hours exercising, then you may benefit from the sugar in sports drinks. If, however, you are like most people and train thirty minutes to an hour a day, then you are likely getting plenty of calories from your normal diet, and extra sugar is not really necessary.
To be honest, unless you are an endurance athlete who spends hours a day in training, then sports drinks are likely not necessary. However, if you just can’t stand the taste of water, and easily drink plenty of sports drinks, then by all means, drink up.
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