Do hockey players need to drink sports drinks in order to perform their best?

With high-profile athletes promoting these drinks on TV and every rink vending machine selling them, it might seem like they are essential for hockey performance.

While drinking plain-old water is much better for staying hydrated on a regular basis, there is a time and place where sports drinks can be used effectively.

You may have heard that these drinks are necessary because they help athletes replenish their “electrolytes”.

Before I get to whether that is true or not, I am going to take a second to explain what an electrolyte is.

An electrolyte is defined as a substance that conducts an electric current in solution. Electrolytes help us contract our muscles, regulate our blood pressure, conduct our nerve impulses, and complete other metabolic processes.

Our sweat also contains electrolytes – mainly sodium, but also potassium, calcium, and magnesium.

And most sports drinks contain similar electrolytes to the ones in our sweat.

Therefore, if we are losing electrolytes through our sweat, and sports drinks have similar electrolytes in them, we should use these drinks to replenish our electrolyte levels, right? It seems like an effective way to keep players performing their best.

Again, there is a time and a place.

In general, normal daily sweat losses DO NOT lead to an electrolyte deficiency. Research shows that, for the general population, sufficient water intake and a healthy diet ensures electrolytes are replaced.

But what about for young hockey players?

It is suggested that sports drinks be consumed when an athlete is participating in an intense activity lasting more than 60 minutes.

So if you are a highly competitive hockey player, who is going through intense practices and games on a daily basis, you may benefit from using sports drinks for “recovery purposes”.

Having a sports drink immediately AFTER a game or practice will help you to replenish electrolytes and also take in some simple sugars quickly to start the recovery process. Beware of drinking before a practice or a game since this may cause a spike in your blood sugar and actually make you “crash”.

Bottom line:
Stick with water most of the time and save the sports drinks for after a tough workout.

For a step-by-step nutrition plan specific to the needs of female hockey players, check out Game Winning Nutrition.

Kim