Athletes practising any sport can easily relate to the adversities of dehydration, especially during hot summers. Even at times, the most experienced sportspersons ignore the importance of intra-drill hydration strategies. This leads to common issues like slower recovery and average performance which are only the early-stage symptoms of dehydration.
Disregarding the role of essential minerals and still going all out can eventually cause heart-related illnesses in the long run. What you may do instead is pack on some exceptional hydration drinks to boost recovery and ensure matchless performance.
Purpose of Having Sports Drinks During Extreme Humidity
Sports drinks turn out to be a life saviour, particularly in humid conditions. You consume them to replace the electrolytes and fluids that are lost through sweat.
Our sweat is composed of water and minerals, including sodium, potassium, chloride and magnesium. When sweating under sultry conditions, your body loses a greater amount of these electrolytes than it does in dry conditions. This, in turn, causes an electrolyte imbalance, which quickly leads to fatigue and dehydration.
A genuine hydration drink provides an easily absorbable source of electrolytes and carbohydrates and helps the body to rehydrate more quickly. They also help to replace the essential vitamins lost through sweat.
The carbohydrate composition in the drink provides your body with energy, which helps to maintain performance while practising. Additionally, the inclusion of natural flavouring extracts helps make the drink more enjoyable. This encourages you to rehydrate more often while sweating.
In a nutshell, sports drinks are an indispensable part of sports nutrition, particularly in humid conditions.
Immediate Effects of Hydrating Properly
The following advantages can be realised if you consider drinking fluids while exercising or playing any outdoor sport:
Enhanced Performance
Whether you are aiming for a marathon recovery or striving to restore the lost minerals from your previous workout, adding sports drinks will be highly beneficial. Rehydration strategies lift your physical performance and restrict fatigue, muscle cramps, concentration loss, and hasten reaction times.
Restrict Illness Caused by Heat
Rehydrating while sweating can significantly lower the risks of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and other heart-related illnesses.
Improved Blood Flow
Rehydration heightens the overall blood volume, which increases the amount of oxygen and nutrients delivered to your muscles. This directly boosts your endurance while performing aerobic activities.
Ideal Way to Consume Sports Drinks
When sipping a sports drink in summer, it is important to consume in small amounts at a time. Taking large sips of the drink may result in an uncomfortable shock to your system due to abrupt coldness. Additionally, some people reported that too much fluid at once had previously caused them to cramp. Thus, it is recommended to take a few small sips every 10-15 minutes.
Now as you know the scientific benefits of hydration drinks, it will be much easier to select the right product. Cautiously check the ingredients and consume them as per the directions given above.