What's Better: Sport Drinks or Water while Playing a Sport?
Fluid Intake
Drinking the right kind of fluid is very important when a person is involved in strenuous activities, like athletes, for example. Our body only contains 60-70 percent of water and clinical studies have clearly demonstrated that when body heats up, the temperature is maintained through evaporation of sweat or what we call perspiration. Sweating causes the blood volume to drop that may cause difficulty for the heart to pump and facilitate blood flow through the bloodstream.
Cathryn Pruscino, a sports scientist of the Victorian Institute of Sports stated that men lose 1 to 2 1/2 of sweat per hour while women lose a bit less. Dehydration can change the body temperature and disrupt its performance so it is very crucial to maintain the level of bodily fluids through constant fluid intake.
Dehydration
Fatigue, cramps, nausea and heat stroke are some of the effects of losing more than enough body fluids. To know whether a person is dehydrated or not, check the urine color and volume output. If it is dark yellow and concentrated, it means that the body is losing too much fluid. This now raises the question: What drink would be most suitable for fluid retention during exercise and other intense physical activities? What’s better: sport drinks or water while playing a sport?
Water
Water is the most recommended fluid to take to replace water lost from perspiration and to combat thirst. In an hour of routine exercise, 4-6 ounces of water is recommended. It is the ideal choice for rehydration because it moves faster from the stomach through the blood stream.
Other essential benefits from drinking water are:
- It facilitates healthy digestion.
- It effectively transports the nutrients.
- It regulates temperature through the form of perspiration.
- It lubricates joints and muscle tissues.
Sports Drink
The blandness in taste of water makes some look for other alternatives. Sports drinks with its attractive colors and flavors are becoming a popular replacement for drinking water. It has more benefits like additional calories that enhance endurance and boost energy.
Energy drinks can also reduce muscle damage due to extreme physical activity by replacing lost electrolytes. This, and uncounted advertisements are the reasons why sports drinks are popular compared to tasteless and colorless water.
Sports Drink vs. Water
The debate on “Whats better sport drinks or water while playing a sport?” will depend on many factors such as the amount of water and ions lost in the body, the climate of the local environment, and the degree of activity done.
One important method of fluid maintenance is to start drinking water or sports drink about two hours before working out to top up the loss of fluid from perspiration during exercise and most importantly, after the work out. Weighing is also one way to know whether how much fluid has been lost and needs to be replaced.
Severe Dehydration
In case of severe dehydration due to diarrhea, vomiting, burn or heat stroke, water and sports drink alone cannot help restore fluid loss. It is important to bring the person right away to the hospital for proper fluid and electrolytes replacement using Intravenous fluids or dextrose.
References
Sports Drinks vs Water - Healthy Living Best - https://healthy-living-best.com/healthy-eating/115-sports-drinks-vs-water
Sports Drink or Water - Dr. Mirkin Official Website - https://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/sports_drinks_or_water.html
Paraphrased Statement of Cathryn Pruscino - Health Nine MSN - https://health.ninemsn.com.au/whatsgoodforyou/theshow/694870/water-versus-sports-drinks