Is Water Better Than Sport Drinks?

In some cases yes. For exercise lasting one hour or less, water is still the best sport drink around. The nutrient you most need to replace during and after a workout is water.

“Sports drinks” do have their place, mostly for exercise lasting more than an hour, and especially for use by endurance and ultra-endurance athletes. These products are a mixture of water, carbohydrate, and electrolytes. Electrolytes are dissolved minerals that form a salty soup in and around cells. Electrolytes carry electrical charges that let them react with other minerals to relay nerve impulses, make muscles contract or relax, and regulate the fluid balance inside and outside cells.

In hard workouts or athletic competitions lasting an hour or longer, electrolytes can be lost through sweat. Sports drinks do two things: replace water and electrolytes lost through sweat, and supply a small amount of carbohydrate to the working muscles. The best time to swill one of these drinks is during an aerobic workout or during any period of exertion, especially if you're exercising or working in hot weather. That's when fluid loss is greater than any other time of the year.

 Where sports drink may have an edge over water is in their flavor. A lot of people just don't drink much water because it doesn't taste good. If you are an avid water drinker and really like water, you will benefit just as much from water as you will from using a sports drink unless you are exercising more than an hour.