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Electrolytes, sugar and nutrients are quickly depleted during strenuous exercises like running. Sports drinks contain these same nutrients that serve as a replenishment for athletes. You may ask the question, what is wrong with drinking good old water?. The answer is, nothing. However, under conditions where rapid depletion of these vital stores occur, water alone is not sufficient to compensate for the loss.

Sweating while you run or enjoy any other physical activity, could turn out to be a dangerous exercise, if you do not replace the loss of potassium, chloride, sodium and magnesium. Dehydration, depending on the severity, can result in hallucinations, circulatory distress, heat exhaustion and impaired performance.

The popular sports drinks today contain electrolytes that provide the body with much needed minerals, maintains the acidity levels and manages the osmosis of water between body parts. Cookinaid Hydralyte is marketed as an electrolyte replacement drink and comes in quart packets and kilo cans and in a variety of flavors. It offers quick absorption into the blood stream providing quick protection and recovery. They, however, do not list their ingredients on their web site, at least not that I could find.

The well known, drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, All Sport and Cytomax, while having adequate concentrations of potassium and sodium, contain no magnesium. Sports drinks that include magnesium are Accelerade with the highest amount at 120, followed by Revenge sports with 110 and G Push with 5. They also contain sodium and potassium.
This is an important fact to consider when buying sports drinks as you do lose magnesium when you sweat.

Aside from electrolytes, your sports drink must have a carbohydrate component. On a rigorous run, one can deplete their carbohydrate stores at a rate of 3 to 4 grams a minute. Keep this up for a few hours and you would have exhausted a large amount of your carbohydrate stores. To help prevent an unhealthy plunge in your blood glucose levels, you need to maintain your glycogen stores by consuming drinks that provide this. All the above mentioned sports drinks contain between 6% and 11 % carbohydrates.

How much should you drink? Start by taking your unencumbered weight - no clothing - before and after a run. Add the amount of liquid drank to the amount of weight loss. After a few sessions you will be able to ascertain certain patterns relating to fluid loss, which would allow you to calculate the appropriate amount to drink.

Please note that all sports drinks are not created equal. Read the contents carefully and make an informed choice about which drink meets your needs best. If you find the drinks are too sweet, it is OK to dilute it with water. The best time for consumption of sports drinks are right before, during and immediately after a run.

Learn more about this author, Joan Schroeder.
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