Sports Drinks vs. Energy Drinks

Don’t get high when you want to get down!

With so many different types of drinks on the market it’s easy to confuse sports drinks and energy drinks. If their names imply correctly they are both designed to give you a competitive bust of energy – right? Well yes, but not exactly for the same purpose.

The first thing you need to know about these two types of drinks is that they serve completely different purposes. Most sports drinks are specifically designed to replace the things in your body that you lose when you sweat during exercise. When the body performs a 1-hour session of intense exercise it excretes essential sugars and carbohydrates (types of energy), electrolytes (sodium), and various essential vitamins, nutrients and water. Actually, the body can sweat out an entire liter of water during an intense 45-mintue workout.

Now, not all sports drinks will be able to replenish the elements that your body lacks. This is because some brands of sports drinks are no more than flavor and water. Others that are extremely high in sugar are just filled with empty calories. The key to finding a sports drink to adequately replace your stores is to learn how to read nutritional labels. Once you learn how to do that, you’re taking control of what you’re putting in your body and you’re able to make sure it contains all the essential vitamins and nutrients that your body needs.

In a way, sports drinks are designed to give you a burst of energy – to replenish your carbohydrate and sugar stores – as well as to top up your tank with the essential electrolytes and vitamins that you sweat out during exercise. This is why doctors often prescribe Gatorade if you have the stomach flu, since the drink contains essential nutrients you might have lost if you vomited. For the athlete, sports drinks encourage muscle repair to make you that much better the next time you perform.

Aside from the boost of carbohydrates, sports drinks serve a much different purpose than energy drinks – it’s like confusing a protein bar with a chocolate bar. Sports drinks are almost always non-carbonated. This is because carbonation can actually hinder your performance, by causing cramps and bloating. Energy drinks, on the other hand, are typically carbonated. They are meant to give you a more sustained type of energy, similar to coffee. Energy drinks are typically designed for people who are trying to stay awake and alert for long periods of time but aren’t really doing any physical activity.

What makes energy drinks a bad choice for athletes is the fact the ingredients actually dehydrate you instead of hydrate you. This is because they contain high doses of caffeine, which gives you that high feeling. If you down one of these babies while you’re sweating it out on the soccer field, you’ll be doing yourself more harm than good.

In fact, instances of people chugging back a few cans of energy drink and becoming dangerously dehydrated from sports or at a rave where they’re dancing up a storm has lead to tragic stories of heat exhaustion, overdose and even death. Basically, it’s your responsibility to check out the ingredients carefully, as you may end up with the wrong drink and seriously injure yourself.