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 and 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

experiment included observing and gathering data from two members of the Texas A&M International

Women’s basketball team.

Background

Each day the basketball team is highly encouraged to track their water consumption throughout the

days. Their goal is approximately 100 ounces of water a day or about 7 plastic water bottles. This is to

maintain their hydration levels for optimal performance. The team dynamic stretches 10 minutes before

their workouts, then continues with their workouts starting at 11 a.m. Both members of the team who

are being tested are 21 years old. Test subject one is 6’1 and test subject two is 5’6. They go through the

same workout at the same time.

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 materials 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 and 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 questions. An example of a question asked was: Did you

experience a headache at all during your workout? The questions were designed as indicators for

mineral loss. It is important for athletes to be aware of their mineral loses during performances.

Results Fix results, don’t match table

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. 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.

The fourth day, both athletes remembered their words as soon as the question was asked. Like

day 3, neither had experienced headaches, and both had mentioned that they had felt energy

throughout their entire workout.

Subject 1 TTRW (seconds)

Day 1 (mother) 4.01

Day 2 (bottle) .91

Day 3 (fish) .95

Day 4 (ladder) .86

*TTRW = Time to Remember Word

Subject 2 TTRW (seconds)

Day 1 (Ladder) 3.31

Day 2 (mother) .81

Day 3 (bottle) .83

Day 4 (fish) .86

 Discussion

The result from the experiment suggests athletes should drink a Gatorade or some other form of

electrolyte to replenish their mineral loss during a workout. The control day the results had shown that

the two athletes had taken a significantly longer time to remember their respective words compared to

the days when they were drinking the Gatorade before their performances. Since short term memory

loss is an indication of the loss of minerals in the body, the control day signifies the athlete’s loss of their

essential minerals.

There were a few conflicts that could have swayed the results. The subjects were not being

observed outside of the window between when they were supposed to drink the Gatorade and after the

survey was given post performance. The subjects could have been consuming foods and beverages that

increased or decreased their energy levels outside of that window. There were no restrictions to what

the subjects were consuming outside of the window. There also could have been a conflict with

intensity. The subjects could have been moving

 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
 Unit 1 Peer Review Workshop: Content/Madison
Directions: Mark your responses directly onto the paper you are editing. Or, you can write your
answers here. If you are unsure, simply state that something seems off but you are unsure of
what.

1. Does the author make a conclusion as an expert of this topic? Does this claim reveal
something to you that you did not know before? What is the claim? Mark it in the essay.

A= She doesn’t use that of a formal writing as an expert would but anyways she knows
exactly about what she’s talking about.
2. Is the author’s thesis statement clear and direct? Does it make a claim about the findings
and come at the end of the literature review? If not, give the author suggestions for
revision.

A= She was clear and direct, did not had problems to show her findings. Easy to
understand.
3. Does the author use elements from his/her experiment and two outside sources to support
the findings from the experiment? What are they? Where could the author use more?

A= Yes, she had two quoted sentences from her sources. Maybe she can use more, the
quotes are brief but still very concise and clear.
4. Are the two sources peer-reviewed? Mark them in the text. Tell the author if the sources
are not peer-reviewed so they know to find other sources.

A= They are peer reviewed.

5. Where could the author use more detail to further illustrate his/her claim? Where could
the author use examples to demonstrate his/her point? Mark these in the text.

A= I think she can extend her discussion part. I don’t really think she needed something
in that section but I feel an extension can make a favorable change.
6. Does the author maintain objectivity during his/her essay? Does the author establish
his/her ethos as an author? How can he/she be more reliable? Mark in the text where the
author tends to be subjective.

A= She maintained objectivity throughout the essay. However, she only had two citations
along the essay, making it lack support for her credibility and reliability.
7. What are three things that this author does very well?

A= The author continued to stay on track while demonstrating the process of the whole
experiment. She maintained a very well structured essay in which its very difficult to not
understand. Very clear and direct
8. What are three revision suggestions you have for the writer?

A= I made the suggestions in the essay document.