Drinking sports drinks indiscriminately after exercise can be harmful
Summer is here, and it's the season for sports. Every fitness enthusiast fully enjoys the beauty of this season. It has become a habit for many sports lovers to grab a functional drink whenever they exercise. However, a recent article on the U.S. "MSNBC" website pointed out that people are now overly superstitious about the effects of electrolyte and fortified drinks, and often, you may not actually need them.
"You really can't just drink sports drinks whenever you want. Replenishing when you don't need to can actually harm your body." Besides water, functional drinks also contain substances like glucose, sodium, and potassium. These are only necessary to replenish when they are lost in large quantities. If you drink a lot of functional drinks without losing solutes like sodium and potassium through exercise, it will increase your sodium and potassium levels, which could affect your body's water-electrolyte balance.
Hydration during exercise is a science. The intensity and duration of exercise, as well as weather conditions, all play a role. "The simplest method is to judge based on body weight." Since dehydration is the main cause of weight loss after exercise, you can calculate the percentage of dehydration by using the formula: "(pre-exercise weight minus post-exercise weight) divided by pre-exercise weight." When the dehydration is less than 1% of your body weight, you will feel mild thirst, and at this point, you only need to drink plain water.
When dehydration is between 2% and 3% of your body weight—for example, if you weigh 50kg and your weight drops by 1-1.5kg after exercise—you need to replenish with a saline solution with a concentration lower than 0.9%. Only when dehydration exceeds 4% of your body weight do you need a sports drink. At this point, you have lost a large amount of water, and electrolytes, sodium, and potassium have been depleted along with it. Replenishing with a sports drink can help restore your body's functions.
When hydrating, be sure to follow the principle of drinking small amounts frequently, and hydrate before, during, and after exercise.