by Becki Mccarthy

Created on: March 27, 2009   Last Updated: March 29, 2009

Sports drinks are not that healthy for an athlete. They may be if an athlete is dehydrated, the energy drinks are high in electrolytes that help an athlete. But, water can also make an athlete become less dehydrated. Sugar that is in most energy drinks is not healthy for an athlete. The sugar makes you have a short burst of energy, but it does not help you for a long period of time. The energy drinks are used as a substitute for water. Most schools and athletes drink water. Yeah it might be the old fashioned way, but it is truly the only good way to become hydrated again. The sugar from the energy drinks wears a person down. Do we really want or need our athletes to be weighed down and drowsy all the time. Athletes already have enough pressure from the schools they go to, the friends they have, and their family and relatives, they do not need more pressure to excel. The energy drink companies make it seem like the athletes will excel if they drink it. But, that is totally untrue. It is what the athlete does as an individual, rather than what they will do with something to help them.

Energy drinks are also bad for a person. Most energy drinks have side effects. There has been people on the news that have had heart attacks and heart failure. All do to a side effect that general people are not ready for. People usually do not think about what they drink or what they are about to drink. If they did, do you think that people will be worrying about if sports drinks are healthy, or why people in this generation are becoming so heavy. Which is a totally different subject, but they are related to one another. If this generation would consider what they are drinking and eating, then they would understand why people are making such a big deal about their health.

So, to answer your question, sports drinks are not healthy, especially when people are drinking them on a regular basis. If people need them for electrolytes then it is different. But, the drinks are not healthy for athletes to drink on a constant basis. Athletes who do drink energy drinks that have effects on them can end up in the hospital having heart failure, which is the extreme. We do not want our athletes to become sick over a drink that is "supposed" to make them have more energy. Yes, it does bring them more energy, but not throughout the games they play, it is in a short burst at once. Which is very unhealthy for young and old athletes.

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