Science Behind Sports Drinks: Electrolytes, Hydration & More

There are at least 70 easily findable brands on the Internet. what happens to the body when you consume a Sports drinks the effect it has on the autonomic nervous system and how that will then have a cascading effect on nearly every system in the human body. It’s going to be an energetic one.

Hypotonic and Hypertonic

These all relate to the concentration of a drink in comparison to your blood first up some terms to understand you are osmolarity or osmolality which are essentially interchangeable terms used to describe the concentration of a solution you’ve also got tonicity which is another way of expressing this and it’s where we get hypotonic and hypertonic from in Sports Nutrition.

Drink Tonicity: A Full Guide to Sodium and Carbohydrate Content

Two main things can change the tonicity of a drink and that’s sodium and carbohydrates with carbohydrates being the most significant the more sodium or carbohydrates in a drink so essentially the more stuff it has in it the more concentrated that drink will be so we say it has a higher osmolarity less sodium and carbohydrates the lower the concentration the lower the osmolarity.

Perfect Example of Tonicity

So now let’s put these into practical examples for you if a drink is hypotonic it has a lower concentration of stuff in it and it has a relatively higher amount of water in it compared to your blood because of osmosis water will move from that solution to any adjacent fluid in our case it will move from your gut into your bloodstream this means you get a relatively rapid movement of water into your bloodstream and so hypotonic drinks are great for maintaining your hydration but because they have a relatively low amount of carbohydrate in they’re not great at providing energy one thing to remember here is that even though.

Hypotonic Drinks

Hypotonic drinks will be lower in carbohydrates they can still have a high amount of sodium in them and still be classified as hypotonic drinks so their use is primarily where hydration and sodium are your focus rather than energy there’s a relatively low risk of abdominal symptoms from hypotonic drinks because they get absorbed so well.

Hypertonic Drinks

Hypertonic solutions, on the other hand, have a higher amount of stuff in your blood mostly from carbohydrates which means they have a relatively lower amount of water compared to your blood because of osmosis water first has to move from your bloodstream into your gut to dilute that solution and balance things out technically in the short term this dehydrates you it also means a higher risk of gastrointestinal symptoms because of more water being present however they can be fantastic for providing carbohydrates so it might be great during long-distance events where hydration isn’t your main focus or after exercise to help with recovery isotonic drinks have the same concentration as your blood.

Difference Between hypotonic and hypertonic

so there shouldn’t be any immediate fluid shift and the absorption rate is somewhere between hypotonic and hypertonic drinks they’re a bit of a middle ground and will provide more carbs than a hypotonic drink but fewer carbs than a hypertonic drink this does depend on the intensity that you’re exercising at but they should cause relatively little in the way of gastrointestinal symptoms because they should be absorbed well so as a sum up hypotonic drinks are the best for hydration but the worst for providing energy.

Hypertonic drinks are the best at providing energy but the worst for hydration Isotonics are in the middle and do a fair job of providing both carbohydrates and maintaining hydration which one you use depends on what your exercise is how long it lasts and what your main priority is so that’s the end of this nutrition Made Simple.

What do Electrolytes Actually do When you Drink?

Salts serve as electrolytes. In fact, they are salts that humans ingest, usually through food. In water, electrolytes carry electricity and break down into both positive and negative charges. These are other common electrolytes in your body, but sodium chloride, commonly referred to as regular table salt, is the most prevalent one. Their charges, typically referred to as ions, are vital because they regulate the movement of water within our cells and the impulses sent by our nerves. The movement of positive and negative charges within cells is modulated by ion channels found in the cell membranes.

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