Madison Ansari

Dr. Sharity Nelson

ENGL 1302

2 September 2022

Gatorade: An athlete’s best friend

Introduction

The regulation of fluids in an athlete’s body is vital to their performance. Electrolytes help your

body to maintain chemical reactions, which in turn means balance the fluids in and out of cells

and the body. The body gets electrolytes from the foods and liquids it consumes. Electrolytes

are essential minerals like sodium, calcium, and potassium, the body needs these minerals to

function. One energy drink high in sodium, carbohydrates, and potassium is Gatorade. Many

athletes run out of energy before the completion of their athletic performance because the

body gets rid of the essential minerals via sweat. On average athletes lose 2%-5% of their body

weight in water during an athletic performance (Latzka, Montain). In this water are the essential

minerals (electrolytes). An effect of mineral loss tracked in this experiment is short term

memory. When the body exerts such high levels of minerals, some cognitive skills are affected,

including short term memory. When athletes maintain their mineral levels properly, their

cognitive and physical functions aren’t affected in a negative way. Therefore, the goal of the

experiment is to determine whether an athlete can maintain their essential minerals throughout

an entire athletic performance after drinking a singular Gatorade.

Methods

This study aimed to test maintenance of essential minerals after an athletic performance. The

methods included observing and gathering data from two members of the Texas A&M
International Women’s basketball team. The gathered data was based on observations, and a

series of questions given before and after their performances. The athletic performances

consisted of 30-minute sessions over the span of four days. The first day of the experiment was

a control day, where the athletes had no restrictions to how they hydrated before their

performances. The performances consisted of an everyday basketball practice. The basketball

practices consisted of six stations. Two stations consisted of three-point shooting, one station

consisted of layups, one station consisted of elbow shots, one consisted of free-throws, and the

last station consisted of ball-handling. Each station was exactly three minutes long for a total of

eighteen minutes at stations. The rest of the thirty minutes was spent doing transitional work.

The transitional work consisted of running up and down the court while being given situations.

Each player ran down the court approximately thirty times. These athletic performances stayed

consistent throughout the four days. The material used were Gatorades, specifically cool blue

flavored. There was also a survey given. Each day the test subjects were given a cool blue

flavored Gatorade exactly an hour and a half before their athletic performance. The athletic

performance started at 11 am every day. The subjects were given a Gatorade at 9:30 am each

day. The time in between hydration and performance was a factor to account for before starting

the experiment. The ideal time to hydrate before a performance is 1-2 hours before (Duvillard,

Braun). This gives the athletes time to digest the liquid and allow the electrolytes to travel to

their respective destinations in the body. Their performance output was observed during their

workouts. Right before the test subjects got onto the court, the athletes were asked to

remember a word. The words given were mother, bottle, fish, and ladder (the words came from

a random word generator from the internet). Each on a different day, for example mother on

the first day, bottle on the second etc. The subjects were given different words on different days

to keep the experiment as unbiased as possible. Exactly ten minutes after their athletic
performances, the subjects were given a survey that consisted of the following questions: what

was the word given before your workout? Did you experience a headache at all during the

workout? Did you feel energized before the workout? Did you feel energized after the workout?

The first question was given to see if their short-term memory loss was affected from the

workout, the second was to try to give a perception of how many essential minerals were lost,

the last two were to observe how the subjects felt about their energy levels. It is important for

athletes to be aware of their mineral loses during performances.

Results

Trends were noticed from the results of the experiment.

The first day (control), where both athletes had free reign over their hydration, both athletes

took a significantly longer time to remember their respective words (approximately 7 seconds

for both). Both athletes also answered “yes” to the “did you experience a headache during your

workout?” question. The first subject said they had energy levels throughout the entire

workout. The second subject said they felt their energy levels had declined throughout the

workout.

The second day, both athletes were given a cool blue Gatorade. Test subject one had

remembered their word in less than a second, the second test subject took approximately two

seconds to remember their word. Both subjects said they had felt energy through the entire

workout.
 The third day, both athletes had remembered their respective words in less than a second.

Neither of them had experienced a headache during the workout, and both had felt energy

throughout their entire workout.

Results for last day have not been recorded yet

Works cited

Latzka, William A., and Scott J. Montain. “WATER and ELECTROLYTE REQUIREMENTS for
EXERCISE.” Clinics in Sports Medicine, vol. 18, no. 3, July 1999, pp. 513–524, 10.1016/s0278-
5919(05)70165-4. Accessed 20 Sept. 2020.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278591905701654

von Duvillard, Serge P, et al. “Fluids and Hydration in Prolonged Endurance

Performance.” Nutrition, vol. 20, no. 7-8, July 2004, pp. 651–656,
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900704001029, 10.1016/j.nut.2004.04.011.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900704001029