Maybe it’s not sexy. It probably wouldn’t be colorful. It probably wouldn’t have a theme song. But for years, decades and centuries, natural water has helped quench human thirst. Nowadays, however, there are many classified ads that seem to tell you that water is rarely enough and that you drink sports drinks instead. Of course, the main component of a sports drink is plain water, since filling your mouth with dry powder wouldn’t do much to quench your thirst. But the big question is whether the extra elements in sports drinks are worth the potential extra cost.
The claim is that those additional elements will improve your functionality in sports (hence the term sports drinks) and other types of physical activity. So what are these extra things? Is it magic, the Force or something else?
Well, carbohydrates are another non-aqueous component that many sports drinks contain. Yeah, those kinds of carbohydrates, like carbohydrates, which can make up 6 to 8 percent of what flows down your esophagus when you consume a sports drink. It comes in the form of sugar, that is, glucose, sucrose or fructose.
The reason you put such carbs in your drink is that when you exercise, your body uses sugar for fuel. Unless you’re eating a donut while running, your body will rely on the glycogen stores in your muscles and liver for sugar. The idea is that those glycogen stores can be depleted by strenuous physical activity, leaving your body craving more fuel for greater “performance. “This fuel can come from the intake of sugar combined with water.
Of course, sugar water is necessarily what many sodas are, and drinking sugar is necessarily drinking calories. You may not find this very pleasant because, as you know, one of the usual goals of exercise is to burn calories to lose or maintain a certain body weight. Therefore, drinking calories can defeat the goal of physical activity. As a result, in recent years, brands have been promoting more low-carb or even no-carb sports drinks, i. e. , those that contain little to no carbs.
The other not unusual component of sports drinks is electrolytes, at most sodium and potassium. When you sweat, you may lose those electrolytes. This is why your sweat tastes salty, assuming you have flavored your own sweat or other people’s sweat (we probably wouldn’t know why you were able to flavor other people’s sweat).
In fact, it’s vital to maintain sufficient levels of sodium and potassium in your body. Low levels of sodium in the blood, also known as hyponatremia, can lead to lack of energy, muscle weakness, muscle spasms, muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting. headache, confusion, seizures, or coma. Obviously, being in a coma will likely affect your athletic performance. But so will many of the other symptoms of hyponatremia discussed above.
Low levels of potassium in the blood, also called hypokalemia, can also be problematic. Hypokalemia can cause muscle spasms, cramps, and weakness. In severe cases, low potassium levels can affect the conduction of electrical signals in the heart, causing arrhythmias.
But what are your chances of suffering from hyponatremia or hypokalemia while exercising or during a heat wave? How much sodium and potassium can you lose through physical activity? During an hour of physical activity, the average user can produce between a third of a liter and two and a half liters of sweat.
Of course, how much you sweat will depend on other factors. For example, you might sweat more if it’s very hot where you exercise or if someone who is very hot is exercising next to you. Still, you probably already have a smart idea of how much you sweat when you’re active. If you find yourself sweating more than two and a half liters in an hour, you may need to see a doctor and get tested for a medical problem.
Losing a few liters of sweat is probably not enough to cause hyponatremia or hypokalemia, assuming that sodium and potassium levels in the blood start within general limits. So, if your physical activity lasts less than an hour, you probably don’t want to use a sports drink to replenish those electrolytes. Water will be enough to keep you hydrated. Plus, you consume a lot of those electrolytes once you eat something.
The electrolytes in a sports drink can be plentiful if your physical activity lasts more than an hour and is vigorous. Again, it all depends on how much electrolytes you lose, mainly through sweating. There are other tactics by which electrolytes can leave your body. such as through diarrhea. Therefore, if you suffer from diarrhea, especially severe watery diarrhea, it is vital to keep your electrolytes well replenished. And sports drinks can do so in such a situation. Of course, if you have a lot of diarrhea from playing soccer, wrestling, or betting on some other sport, you may need to avoid betting to gain an advantage for yourself and your teammates and opponents.
Keep in mind that sports drinks are the only drinks that contain electrolytes. For example, milk, tea, juices, and sauces can also contain them. Of course, not all of those drinks are necessarily convenient to drink while exercising, as you don’t see many. Other people pour sauce into their mouths while running on a treadmill. Other drinks may also contain carbs, if you feel like you want a little more sugar.
However, not all drinks provide smart hydration. Anything that contains caffeine or alcohol can make you urinate more. And more urine is one of the main reasons why drinking caffeinated drinks or alcohol can make you more dehydrated.
Therefore, it’s vital to know exactly what’s in what you’re drinking. Before you put anything in your mouth, read the ingredients and the Nutrition Facts label. In addition to electrolytes and potentially extra carbohydrates and calories, a sports drink possibly involves other elements such as synthetic dyes and preservatives.
That said, a sports drink might be a moderate option if you’re wasting a lot of electrolytes without other ways to replenish them. But in most other cases, clear water will be more than enough. Just because something has The words “sport” in its name doesn’t mean it’s best to use when exercising.
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