Is it necessary to drink sports drinks after exercise?

As modern people's quality of life improves, sub-health problems increase. Many people associate beverages, especially those containing sugar and sodium, with concepts such as "causing obesity" and "not friendly to blood sugar", and believe that beverages containing calories and sugar are not good for health. But in fact, for friends who engage in sports or outdoor physical work, after sweating a lot, supplementing with sports drinks containing an appropriate proportion of carbohydrates and electrolytes can help replenish water to the body, prevent overheating, improve body temperature regulation and metabolic processes in the body, eliminate fatigue, and restore exercise ability.

Drinking water properly after exercise can "save your life". When exercising, the body's metabolism is enhanced. Metabolism produces a lot of energy, part of which is consumed by the activities of muscles and other organ systems, and most of it is converted into heat energy. The greater the amount of exercise, the more heat is produced and the higher the body temperature.

When exercising vigorously in a hot environment, you may lose about 2 liters of sweat per hour. People with good physical fitness have strong heat dissipation ability and sweat more during exercise. However, the human body's water storage capacity is limited. If the body lacks water, the body temperature will rise rapidly. When people exercise vigorously when their bodies are dehydrated, they are prone to heat stroke and even risk death. Exercising in a hot and humid environment requires higher body fluids. Because when the weather is humid, sweat is not easy to evaporate through the skin, and the human body must be forced to produce more sweat.

Water is the main component of blood, which can transport oxygen, nutrients, hormones, etc. to the human body and take away byproducts of cell metabolism. Water also has a protective function, which can prevent sudden injuries to the spinal cord and brain, and is a key part of the body's temperature regulation mechanism. When engaging in sports, it is necessary to replenish water in time so that the human body can maintain fluid balance, slow down the increase in heart rate and core temperature, improve heart rate, cardiac output, and skin blood flow, and avoid dehydration, heat stroke and other problems. Therefore, it is necessary to replenish water after exercise.

Is it enough to just replenish water after exercise? There is nothing wrong with drinking water if you sweat a little or replenish water in your daily life. Mineral water or boiled tap water itself contains a certain amount of electrolytes. In addition, it can also be supplemented through fruits and vegetables, three meals, etc. However, drinking pure water cannot help the human body "retain" water after losing a lot of sweat. After strenuous physical exercise, sweating, in addition to a large amount of water, the human body also loses a corresponding proportion of electrolytes such as sodium and potassium.

Generally speaking, 1 liter of sweat contains 50 mmol of sodium. In hot weather, if you engage in strenuous exercise for 1 hour, the body may sweat up to 2 liters and lose 100 mmol of sodium. The water and sodium in the human body are always in dynamic balance. The large amount of sweat loss will lead to sodium deficiency. If it is not replenished in time, the osmotic pressure inside and outside the cells will be unbalanced, and the body cannot effectively absorb the water you drink. The appropriate addition of sodium to the beverage can speed up the absorption of water by the small intestine and rebuild the body's water balance. Related studies have shown that supplementing 18 to 59 mmol/L of sodium-containing sports drinks can not only effectively replenish lost water and electrolytes, but also help prevent or delay the occurrence of sports fatigue. In addition, the carbohydrates contained in sports drinks can prolong the residence time of water in the intestine, improve absorption efficiency, and help the body drink enough water.

Sports drinks refer to drinks that contain nutrients and their content that can adapt to the physiological characteristics of people who exercise or engage in physical activities, can replenish water, electrolytes and energy for the body, and can be absorbed quickly. Sports drinks can help the human body maintain a high blood sugar level during long-term, high-intensity exercise training, keep the potassium and sodium levels in the blood stable after exercise, reduce the level of blood lactate during exercise, accelerate the recovery of blood lactate levels during exercise, and significantly reduce fatigue.

Do you drink water only when you are thirsty during exercise? Standard sports drinks contain 50-1200 mg of sodium and 50-250 mg of potassium per liter. The carbohydrate content is 6%-8%, which will not increase the burden on the stomach and intestines, and can effectively replenish water and sugar for the body, help improve the body's metabolic process, and regulate body temperature. When purchasing, you should pay attention to the nutritional composition table of different brands of sports drinks.

During exercise, thirst is not a good signal to judge that you need to drink water. Thirst is delayed after the body's dehydration reaction. The body will feel the taste only after losing 1.5 to 2 liters of water. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends drinking at least 500 ml of water within 4 hours before exercise. In this way, before exercise, your body not only has enough time to replenish water, but also gives the stomach and intestines enough time to empty, absorb fluids, and excrete excess fluids from the body. During exercise, it is recommended to replenish 150 ml of fluid every 20 minutes.

When doing sports or physical labor, it is appropriate to drink sports drinks with appropriate sugar and electrolyte content to replenish water. However, it should be noted that because of the "sugar" content, sports drinks contain a certain amount of calories and are not recommended for non-physical laborers and non-sports participants.