If you’ve ever been to the gym or watched a sporting event, you’ve seen plenty of sweaty people sipping on sports drinks such as Gatorade and Powerade. People drink them after working out, playing a sport or in daily life just because they like the flavor. The popularity of these sports drinks has somehow made water the forgotten drink for athletes. Personal preference in daily life is one thing but athletes need to recover from physical exertion and to recover effectively, they need the best option. The question is, what is the better option in terms of hydration? 
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Patrick J. Skerrett’s blog post in Harvard Health points out that overhydration has become an issue because of this debate. A key point Skerrett makes in that argument is that no marathon runner has ever died from dehydration but sixteen marathon runners have died, along with well over a thousand becoming very sick, as a result of overhydration and hyponatremia. Athletes are overhydrating because they fear that they need to put a ton of fluid, especially sports drinks, in their bodies when they exert themselves like crazy. For some reason, they fear that they are losing so many electrolytes that they have to down a few Gatorades to replenish them. However, this is not the case. This article informs us that the energy your body needs, without the added sugars, can be found in the foods we eat. Also, there aren’t enough electrolytes in any sports drink to adequately restore electrolytes after extensive physical activity anyway. Eating well will give the body everything it needs to function well, as sports drinks are not even remotely considered useful unless they are used by people who push the human body to extreme limits. Even then, sports drinks shouldn’t be downed as if it was water.
Sports drinks don’t really have a use for anyone, let alone people who aren’t crazy athletes. No teenager who hits the gym for an hour should be guzzling a sports drink. Athletes rarely have any reason to grab anything other than water, as it takes a ton of physical exertion for someone to need the sugar and emergency electrolytes that a sports drink offers. Water is what your body craves, whether you are exerting yourself or not. There’s nothing bad in purified water for you. It is understandable for someone to grab a sports drink, a soda, an iced tea or some other sweet confection every so often but not when your body needs to recover from physical activity go with water.
In summary, unless you are a world class athlete who does anything short of climbing Everest or swimming across the English Channel, (in other words, pushes their body to its absolute physical limits) you shouldn’t be counting on sports drinks for hydration. Reinforcing earlier points, this source concludes that our bodies need the fluid that is natural on this Earth, in our bodies when we are born and gives us everything we need to properly hydrate after physical activity: water. Why wouldn’t you drink water over anything to hydrate?
Good blog! My personal preference has always been water, but I was very surprised to learn that Gatorade and other sports drinks can actually be harmful. What really struck me, however, was that no marathon runner has ever died from dehydration but 16 have died from over-hydration. This article from Men’s Fitness does make the good point that water lacks the sodium to help fluid stay in the body, but I suppose there are arguments to be made on both sides
If what your are saying in this post intriguing; it makes sense and your reasoning makes me want to agree with you, but I can’t help but wonder if the lack of the scientific process in your reasoning affect whether you can accept or reject the null or alternative hypothesis. I rembemered Andrew talking about how in order to find out if the putative causal variable is actually the causal variable you should experimentally manipulate it. In this case perhaps a study that that muniplutates the amount of water and energy drink one consumes in order to see if has health benefits would be more convincing than the reasoning that is in place. It would also be intersting if there was some way to create a placebo energy drink that was water for a double study and to see if the perceived benefits of the energy actually take effect.
What you are saying in this post is intriguing; it makes sense and your reasoning makes me want to agree with you, but I can’t help but wonder if the lack of the scientific process in your reasoning affects whether you can accept or reject the null or alternative hypothesis. I rembemered Andrew talking about how in order to find out if the putative causal variable is actually the causal variable you should experimentally manipulate it. In this case perhaps a study that muniplutates the amount of water and energy drink one consumes in order to see if it has health benefits would be more convincing than the reasoning that is in post. It would also be intersting if there was some way to create a placebo energy drink that was water for a double study and to see if the perceived benefits of the energy actually take effect.
I suffer from chronic dehydration and instinctually drink at least 8 cups a day. I try to stay away with anything with sugar or calories, and never had a particular interest for gatorade. I do not think there is enough evidence that supports that Gatorade is “bad” for you. I found one study that concluded that gatorade induces sweat loss which is actually positive for our bodies during physical activity.
http://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/molney/website/SMU%20Bio%20Journal/Samples%202006.pdf
However, I do agree with the fact that water is the best possible thing you can put into your body. I will stick to drinking just that!
After reading this article I’m going to stop drinking gatorade so often. I drink it with my meals or sometimes just when I’m thirsty. My mom always would tell me not to drink gatorade unless I sweat so I can replenish my electrolytes. A lot of people think these drinks are good for you, but they only are if consumed at the right times. Here is an article saying not to drink these sugary drinks.
http://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/health/dont-drink-too-much-gatorade-says-gatorades-new-ads-20150819
I think that it is wrong that sports drinks are marketed-as sports drinks. I remember when I was on the track team our coach would encourage us to drink Gatorade after competing to restore electrolytes. A lot of people would drink it beforehand so I think that energy drink companies should clarify when their drinks should be consumed. However, because of what you are saying about there being too much sugar, people should definitely know the truth and not drink them at all. The link below discusses the benefits and disadvantages of consuming these drinks.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2015/01/16/are-energy-drinks-really-that-bad