Sports Drinks or Energy Drinks?

In the last few years, a lot of debate has sparked about whether or not energy drinks make good workout drinks, and whether or not the so called sports drinks actually work. In this article, we'll try and take a good look at both - workout drinks and energy drinks - and weigh out the pros and cons of each drink type.

Sports drinks, also called rehydration drinks, are drinks that contain carbohydrate and salts to replace those lost in sweat during exercise. Their efficiency lies in the fact that an appropriate cocktail of carbohydrate, potassium, salt and sugar, together with electrolytes (electrically charged elements that ease hydration of the body) rehydrate the human body during exercise, better than water does. There are three types of rehydration drinks: Isotonic Fluid, Hypotonic Fluid, Hypertonic Fluid and they differ solely in the amounts of carbohydrate protein drinks, electrolytes and salts in them. These drinks are mainly taken during sports activities or shortly before them.

Energy drinks are drinks that contain high levels of caffeine and provide an energy boost, but, as caffeine (and other stimulants related to it, e.g. guarana on yerba mate) acts as a diuretic, dehydrating the human body, energy drinks are a no go for exercise. Energy drinks aren't workout drinks - caffeine isn't just addictive; it also dehydrates the human body, but even moderate dehydration (e.g. 1-2%) significantly reduces the overall muscle ability of the body, thus making your workout less effective.

Energy drinks also contain numerous vitamins that are thought to decrease the reaction time of the human brain. Caffeine typically sets in after two to three hours, so energy drinks are (if at all) taken an hour or two before the exercise. Caffeine acts as a stimulant and temporarily boosts your abilities--but do you really need that for workouts?

It is safe to say that sports drinks are far better for exercise than energy drinks, because sports drinks are lighter on the body; they have restorative functions; sports drinks work better on your well-being. While one might argue that an energy boost can improve the athlete's performance in competitions, there's little use to using energy drinks in sports that require a lot of energy, not to mention that all stimulants are banned from use in official competitions. Besides that, using energy drinks during longer activities like running a marathon can be plain dangerous because of the dehydration involved. Energy drinks, however, are by no means 'bad' - they are simply meant to be used at all-nighters and parties, not the gym.