With the extreme heat we're seeing, which is better for keeping the body hydrated, water or the sport drinks and why?
Fungo

My understanding if you drink plenty of water on a daily basis, there is no need to drink anything else. In sports always drink water to hydrate before and in heat and gatorade or powerade to replenish is ok, but never to replace water. The sports drinks replace lost sodium and potassium.

Is that teh answer you are looking for?

15 years or so ago I was big into cycling. It wasn't uncommon to do a 40 or 50 mile ride in 95 degree heat, my buddy and myself even did that distance on a 102 degree afternoon once. What we found that worked best was gatoraide cut to 50% strength with water. Straight gatoraide tended to upset our stomachs. We didn't feel real great after a while with just water either, I suppose due to electroylyte depletion.

Our family Doctor told us gatorade before playing water during and after. He also said when in doubt just drink water.

Water....It's good and it's free.

Been

Water costs more-- there is nothing free

It seems to me that Gatorade tastes good after a game. But it makes you sick during the game. The flavor seems to make a difference.

Actually, it is BOTH. Nothing wrong with a quart of Gatorade during the day, but you need to supplement it with at LEAST a half-gallon of water througout the day, too.

One of the best ways to tell if you are hydrated, is to look at the concentration of your urine. If it is CLEAR, you are hydrated. The big problem with dehydration is that the thirst mechanism kicks in AFTER the dehydration begins.

Jeff Taylor
Clinical Coordinator
Athletic Training Education Program
Liberty University
Lynchburg, VA

My son has experienced the stomach thing with 2 much gatorade intake in the Florida heat. He seems to do better with gatorade b4 and after and H2O during sports. JMHO

I will defer to others on the "proper" way to avoid dehydration. But I am aware of the result of the failure to replinish electrolytes [particularily potassium] after sever sweating or urination and it can be deadly. Lightheadedness can be followed by a coma and, eventually death.

Is Gatoraid v Water the only option or is there something else like eating a bananna during a break to replinish potassium or salt to get the sodium and the chloride portion of the electrolytes or will the body even break down salt into sodium and chloride components?

Right now during two a days football praactice in 90+ degree weather, I have my son driniking water only and eating a bananna and plenty of salt for his lunch break. Right or wrong?

TW344

IMO - Salt pills - and water always seemed to work well for me.

Never really bothered my stomach.

And when I played - I sweat immediately and alot. So I had to pay attention to it closely.

Never had a problem. Just water and salt.

As I got older (much older - lol) and continued playing - the gatorade actually made me thirsty.
Maybe that was by design - so you drink more - Would have to ask the scientists who work for Gatorade about that.

I just hated being thirsty throughout the whole baseball or football game - so I gave up on the gatorade.

This has been my understanding and son has followed this advice given years ago by a doctor.
Water, water, water before physical activity. The drink replaces the potassium and sodium, sugar lost through the sweating process. It should be used to rehydrate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatorade

http://www.gssiweb.com/

scientists at the university of florida?

I edited my original post, see above links on gatorade facts.

So the answer to Fungo's question, which keeps the body better hydrated, I would go with good old H20.

Salt pills are pretty much out of use, because research has indicated that sweat is HYPOTONIC, containing more water than salt, and with the added salt tablets, it caused more water to be pulled out of the blood stream to dilute the salt, thus increasing the chance of dehydration. Most of the tablets in use today are electrolyte tabs, or simply potassium tabs.

And TPM is right, nothing beats water, but many athletes like the flavor and will drink more. I've known teams to just use watered down kool-aid to encourage players to drink.

Geeze - I sure am glad I didnt drop like a rock.
No wonder I sweated so much.

Who knew?

couple years ago, Andy Reid had the Eagles drinking pickle brine during camp and early season hot games - seems to ahve worked at the time but they don't talk about it anymore.

Sports drinks aren't for everyone!!

Type II diabetics and/or athletes with high blood sugar levels should not consume these drinks.
There are generally 15g carbs per 8 oz serving of most sport drinks, thus a "big" 32 oz bottle is around 45g. 45-60g is a meal full of carbs for a normal person. Water has no carbs!!

btw a regular pepsi or coke has 36g of carbs per 12 oz serving. You liver works overtime to process these carbs.

We were given a presentation on hydration a couple weeks back for football. The presentation was conducted by our athletic trainer and the clinic he works for. I'll try to briefly go through what he stated...

First off, hydration starts DAYS and WEEKS in advance.

It was suggested to drink one 20 oz bottle of water every 1-1.5 class periods (roughly 50 minutes). Each athlete should have to pee right before practice or game.

Next, the bananas are out. Eating them won't hurt you, but the key is sodium and not potassium.

Drink Gatorade (20 oz bottle) 2-3 hours before game time. Drink an additional 10-12 oz twenty minutes before game time.

When you're dehydrated your urine will look almost like apple juice. When hydrated, it should look more like a light lemonade.

Finally, the big key is HEALTH is more important than PRIDE. When you start feeling sick, STOP!

This is what we were told. Football and baseball will vary some, but there are also similarities. I thought it was a pretty good presentation.