In recent years the world of sport has seen athletes become increasingly more concerned with maximizing their performance and doing anything within the rules, and sometimes outside of them, to assure that they have any upper hand on their competition. Proper hydration is not a new concept to any sort of activity, but ever since Gatorade was introduced at the University of Florida in 1966 there has been a debate over whether or not sports drinks are superior to regular water for athletic performance. Today there are countless companies that produce sports drinks like Gatorade and the power of advertising can lead people to believe that these products will help them achieve the same levels as the celebrities that promote them, however there are many factors that must be taken into consideration when trying to determine if these drinks will actually be beneficial for the athlete. With the annual sales of Gatorade alone last year at about two-hundred million dollars (Waldie, 2003), it is no secret that the competition for sales is very intense, so proper knowledge of the products the athletes are buying is vital. The purpose of this study is to determine if sports drinks are more effective than water for overall athletic performance and recovery. .
Proper hydration is extremely important during exercise. Adequate fluid intake for athletes, even the recreational kind, is essential to comfort, performance and safety. The longer and more intensely you exercise, the more important it is to drink plenty of fluids. Inadequate water consumption can be physically harmful. Consider that a loss of as little as 2% of one's body weight due to sweating, can lead to a drop in blood volume (Quinn, 2002). When this occurs, the heart works harder in order to move blood through the bloodstream. Prehydration and rehydration are vital to maintaining cardiovascular health, proper body temperature and muscle function (Quinn, 2002).