Sports Drinks Recommended For an Athlete

By Martin Smith

Sports drinks are alternatives of water that are recommended for a sports persons to regain the lost energy level and to enhance their performance. These are combinations of carbohydrates, electrolytes and special ingredients that add instant energy to the sportsmen. But one thing should be clear is that they are not energy drinks at all.

According to various researches on sports drinks, they came into existence in different forms and tastes. Athletes should take the sports drinks bottles with them so they can drink immediately after exercise and workouts. Let’s consider what are these made up of.

Healthy ingredients used in sports drinks:

Do you want to know what a sport drink contains and what are the concentration of sugar, carbohydrates and other products in it? Continue reading to understand the benefits and concentrations of ingredients used in this drink.

• Sports drinks contain a certain concentration of carbohydrates which differ for different type of sports. The glucose and fructose present in carbohydrates is utilized by the athletes to regain their energy levels and it is also proved in a research that carbohydrates when present in mouth activates brain controls for motion and reward.
• Second concentration chose for making healthy sports drink is the electrolyte. These are charged ions of sodium, potassium calcium, magnesium and similar products. Athletes lose these electrolytes during sweating and it is necessary to provide their energy back so they can perform well in the Sports. The concentration of electrolytes differs for different athletes depending on the sweat of an athlete. It may possible that an athlete loses 1kg of sweat and the amount of electrolyte in that sweat is 90% in it. Then what to do? You have to add a large concentration of electrolytes in their drink then adding carbohydrates and other ingredients.
• You will also see sports drinks that contain caffeine. The concentration of caffeine in sports drinks is very low but it is added to enhance the performance. As caffeine is used to refresh mind and it adds stamina its less concentration is used in the sports drinks. It is not like a Recommended anti aging supplement that lose your weight to enhance performance or anything else, but it is simply added to boost power and stamina. Athletes should avoid using those caffeinated products that have banned ingredients in them. If they use they will be fined or may be penalties.
• Not only these combinations, but they are classified into three categories depending on the concentration of carbohydrates used in them. Less carbohydrates mean Isotonic sport drink, medium level carbohydrate concentration in a drink means its hypotonic sports drink and the highest concentration up to 10%% means it is hypertonic sports drink.
  

Athletes should drink a limited amount of sports drink as recommended by the medical experts because their extra intake may cause weight gain that will cause problems in running and building up stamina. They should not try any of the energy drinks like Red bull or Sting, instead they should follow a drink filled with electrolytes.

Author Bio:
Martin Smith has interest in drawing infographics. He mostly writes about sports and fitness. His other interests are playing and watching football.

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