Sports Drinks vs. Water

Is there really any difference between the two?

If you know the slightest thing about bio-mechanics, you know that when you perform any type of physical activity you sweat. Perspiration occurs in order to cool down the temperature of your body; however, in sweating, the body can lose up to 1-liter of water. We drink fluids after a workout in order to rehydrate our bodies after they’ve lost, or sweated out, this valuable water. However, many of us don’t realize that in addition to water, the body excretes many essential vitamins and minerals such as sodium when we perspire as well.

If you’re an avid athlete you may use sports drinks in order to replenish your system with water, as well as essential electrolytes, after an intense workout. However, the average weekend warrior doesn’t really know if sports drinks are actually any better for you than plain water. They do know, however, that water from the tap comes at a much cheaper price. So are athletes reaching for water when they should be reaching for something a little more beneficial, such as a sports drink?

If you’ve read our article Sports drinks vs. Energy Drinks, you’re already aware that these two beverages serve very different purposes. Energy drinks, while they do provide a blast of energy, will actually dry an athlete out quickly because they’re so high in sugar and caffeine. After they dry you out, energy drinks won’t replace the lost nutrients from your body; in fact, since they’re so high in carbohydrates, they’ll only fill your body with empty calories.

Medical experts have recognized that sports drinks are better to replenish the body of an elite athlete than just plain water. This is because an elite long-distance runner will excrete a great deal more essential waters and electrolytes training for a marathon than an average Joe going to the gym for 45 minutes of weight training. Where run-of-the-mill water would be more appropriate for the weightlifter, the marathon runner would be further diluting the levels of sodium in his body and, as a result, he may damage his cells and negatively affect the chemical functions throughout the body.

If you’ve just lost a ton of water during extreme cardio exercise, pounding back a ton of water isn’t the answer. Greedily drinking water is often a natural reaction to feeling dehydrated, however drink too much (3 liters in one sitting) and it can lead to water intoxication, which could ultimately lead to extreme illness or in extreme cases death.

However, we don’t want to scare you. If your workouts aren’t highly cardio-intensive and you’re thirsty after a workout, water is a good choice. Even though your body has lost water, it hasn’t lost many of its nutrients and electrolytes through sweating as it would with more intensive cardio activity.

To recap, sports drinks are good for serious athletes. They help maintain stamina, increase your metabolism, provide carbohydrates (energy) to working muscles, and improve fluid absorption in your small intestine. However, beware of sports drinks with high amounts of refined sugar or carbohydrates. Similar to fruit juices, these will only slow down fluid absorption and dehydrate you further.

If you’re not sure if you’re the level of athlete that should be using sports drinks, consult a sports nutritionist. In the meantime, you might like to try enhanced water that’s fortified with similar ingredients – vitamins, sugars and electrolytes – to replenish your system on a bit of a lesser scale.