Are Sports Drinks Genuinely Necessary? - By: ArticleSubmit Auto

There is certainly no shortage of sports drinks today. Starting with Gatorade several years ago,the market has since exploded with various concoctions of sweet tasting drinks to help you exercise longer and harder and recover quicker. In this article you'll learn the basics of sports drinks, what they are designed for, and whether or not their really necessary.

First of all, sports drinks are designed to serve two purposes. In the beginning, they were designed purely as a recovery drink. Originally designed for the Florida Gators football team, Gatorade was specifically made to re hydrate and to replace electrolytes that were lost to perspiration. Electrolytes are chemicals that are essential for a wide variety of functions, and being deficient of electrolytes can cause serious problems. And playing football in Florida's humidity can certainly cause one to become dehydrated in a hurry.

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.

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.

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.

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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