Fit Tip of The Day:
When playing sports on a hot day here is the proper method of consuming a sports drink like gatorade.
Never drink gatorade prior to playing sports, drink water. Once the sympathetic nervous system is activated
through light to moderate activity for about 10-15 minutes and blood sugar is being utilized through the
muscle, then is the time to start consuming gatorade or other electrolyte / glucose mixtures. As the
body's internal source of sugar begins to deplete, causing muscle and brain fatigue, the sports drink
will help support the sympathetic nervoussystem for longer duration throughout the sport.
Drinking a sugar substance prior to warming up the body, while the body is still in the parasympathetic
nervous system, will cause an adverse affect on blood sugar levels. Insulin will be released to clear
out the extra sugar, causing the blood system to be depleted. So when the athlete starts to
activate the sympathetic nervous system they are already depleted of sugar and they are at a
higher risk of getting fatigued, have poor physical performance or get injured.
Daryl Conant, M.Ed.
