How to Make Sports Drinks

If you're a runner or perform vigorous exercise on a frequent basis, you may drink sports drinks on a regular basis to replace electrolytes and fluid lost through sweating. Although sports drinks play an important role in preventing dehydration and maintaining good exercise performance, they can be expensive, particularly if you drink them daily. One solution is to make your own sports drink at home. Sports drink recipes are quick and easy to prepare since the ingredients are simple and readily available. What are the components of a good sports drink?

Water

When you sweat, one of the major components you're losing is water. For this reason, sports drinks are composed of a certain amount of water. When you make your own sports drink, use filtered water, if possible, to remove any unwanted impurities.

Electrolytes

The most important electrolytes lost during sweating are sodium, potassium, and chloride. These minerals play an important role in regulating a variety of bodily processes such as muscle and nerve function, as well as performance of the most important muscle, your heart. For this reason, commercial sports drinks contain sodium and potassium to replace these lost elements which are so critical to sports performance.

Sugar

During vigorous exercise, your body uses carbohydrates as a source of energy. Since carbohydrate depletion can occur during exercise, sugar is added to sports drinks to provide additional fuel and replace carbohydrate stores. Interestingly enough, sports drinks as a generalization contain less sugar than your average soft drink.

Here's a sports drink recipe to help you make your own:

Supplies

A bottle designed to hold 20 ounces of fluid

Filtered water

Salt

Sugar

Flavoring of your choice

To prepare your sports drink, mix eight teaspoons of sugar with a half teaspoon of salt. Add to sixteen ounces of cold water. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

Now it's time to add flavoring. Some options for flavoring your homemade sports drink include unsweetened Kool Aid or other drink powder, coffee syrups, or fruit juices. Simply add the appropriate amount to meet your taste. Orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit juice make particularly tasty additives to your sports drink. Have fun trying different flavoring agents and unique flavor combinations. Who knows? You may come up with a sports drink that tastes far better than the commercial ones currently available. Plus, you'll be saving lots of money in the process. Once you have the basic sports drink recipe, you're limited only by your imagination.