Hydration and Its Link to Cardiac Arrest
It is extremely important to stay hydrated, especially when working in physically demanding environments. This is the link between hydration and cardiac issues.
Did you know not all sports drinks are created equal? While you may understand the importance of hydration, do you understand how to hydrate properly?
When you are choosing a sports drink for hydration, you want to choose one that will not only replace electrolytes but do so in a healthy way. Keep reading to find out what you should be drinking.
Electrolytes
Electrolytes are minerals that play an
important role in the body. Electrolytes are in your urine, blood, tissues, and other body fluids.
They help balance your body’s pH levels, balance the amount of water in your body, move nutrients into your cells, and move waste out of your cells. All of these functions are important. However, electrolytes have another very important function.
Electrolytes also ensure your muscles, nerves, heart, and brain work properly.
Electrolytes include minerals such as magnesium, sodium, phosphate, calcium, chloride, and potassium. When the electrolyte balance in your body shifts, it can have many effects.
Some of these effects include abdominal cramping, confusion, headaches, irritability, muscle weakness, and even
cardiac arrest.
Sports Drinks
Choosing a sports drink should not be brain surgery. However, typical sports drinks may help with electrolyte imbalance but they also include ingredients that are unhealthy.
A good sports drink should be drinkable PPE for your body and use simple ingredients to fuel your performance. To help you decide what to fuel your body with, let’s take a look at the ingredients in your typical sports drink.
Typical Sports Drinks
Typical sports drinks include drinks such as Gatorade and Powerade. These drinks do have the potential to help hydrate you and replace electrolytes, but at what cost?
Many ingredients in your typical sports drink can be unhealthy for your body. These drinks often have preservatives, additives, acids that erode teeth, artificial colors, and high amounts of sugar.
All of these pose risks to your health. However, we are going to cover two ingredients you will see in every typical sports drink that you consume.
Sugar
A typical 20-ounce sports drink contains around 34 grams of sugar. The recommended amount of sugar intake is no more than
24 grams a day for women and 36 grams a day for men.
If you drink one 20 ounce sports drink, you will have already consumed more than that as a woman or about as much if you are a man.
This doesn’t even include all of the bad effects sugar has on your teeth, weight, and overall health. Typical sports drinks are guilty of often providing empty calories and being fueled with sugar.
There are also concerns that drinks like this are contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic due to the sugar in these drinks.
These drinks can actually dehydrate you as well because of the high content of sugar. They do this by drawing out water from the cells to help dilute the drink in the stomach before digestion.
While there are low-calorie options for many of these drinks, the low-calorie versions contain artificial sweeteners. There are still a lot of critics out there who worry about the long-term safety of these artificial sweeteners.
Food Dyes
Sports drinks utilize food dyes in order to get those pretty colors that you see in the cooler case at your local convenience store. While they look pretty, different food dyes have been linked to increased hyperactivity in children and other behavioral problems.
Because of this, actions have been taken in many
European countries that have caused the reduced use of food dyes in products. However, the risks do not stop here.
Ingestion of food dyes also increases the risk of cancer. This is because these dyes contain a
carcinogen named benzidine. When the FDA tests for benzidine in products they test for free benzidine not bound benzidine
Studies have shown that the amount of bound benzidine in these dyes is higher. When bound benzidine is ingested your intestinal enzymes release the benzidine into the body. This means your body can be exposed to more carcinogens from benzidine than the FDA tests for.
Other studies have shown that, in high doses, food dyes can also cause
organ damage and birth defects.
The only use for food dyes is to make our food and drinks “pretty.” So why would you want to ingest food that is pretty but over time would make you sick?
SWORD Performance
In contrast to your typical sports drinks, you have drinks such as SWORD Performance. These drinks are built using science to fuel the body in a healthy manner.
When you look at a bottle of SWORD Performance you are going to find simple ingredients and a drink that is natural to fuel your performance. This is the ideal drink for staying hydrated. An extra perk is that this drink is made in the United State of America.
SWORD Ingredients
In contrast to typical sports drinks, you are not going to get artificial flavors, sweeteners, or artificial preservatives. This drink also does not contain caffeine which can cause dehydration and increase your heart rate.
It has no B Vitamins or metabolic stimulants. In a generation where food sensitivities are very common, this manufacturer makes sure that their drinks are Gluten-free and Vegan-friendly.
This drink also contains far less sugar at 12 grams and is sweetened with fructose. Fructose when ingested in moderation is considered a safer sweetener than the sugar used by more traditional sports drinks.
Get Your Hydration
Maintain your hydration with a drink that fuels your body and replaces the essential electrolytes your body needs to function. SWORD Performance is a great drinkable PPE that protects your body from the inside out.
Marelly AEDs & Safety is here to provide your workforce with safe, healthy, and effective hydration products. Call us to schedule a virtual taste and learn or visit our shop to stock up today.
