Athletes do anything they can to protect their bodies. Stretching, warming up before events and wearing protective equipment are all things done to ensure a healthy season. What some people tend to overlook, though, is how important it is to pay attention to what you drink. When doing physical activity, you have to keep hydrated. This doesn’t mean you should just drink any beverage. Drinking sugary drinks such as tea or pop while exercising does a lot more harm than you would think. When it comes down to it, pop isn’t good for you at all in any situation. Drinking it while exerting yourself won’t hydrate you as well as other liquids would, and you can get addicted to the caffeine. If you care about your teeth, which you should, sugary drinks are the worst for dental health. The acids used to carbonate it not only damage your teeth, but can also weaken your bones. Although sugary drinks may taste good at the occasional party or event, it should not be consumed before or during exercise. Teas are even worse for hydration. Like, pop, iced tea also contains caffeine. Caffeine dehydrates you, so drinking any amount of it while exercising is not a good idea. Looking around Freedom, it’s pretty obvious that students enjoy their iced tea, but it’s not the best choice while participating in sports. Water is definitely the best beverage to choose because it doesn’t have anything added to it. Even if you want to add something to it like flavor packets, you’ll be more hydrated than if you were to drink anything else. Water also helps to energize muscles. When muscles aren’t energized, they may become fatigued. Increasing water intake during exercise is important and beneficial to not only your exercise performance, but in reducing risks of medical injuries and internal body problems, such as heat exhaustion. Sports drinks are good, too, because they help to regain electrolytes and carbohydrates that you are losing. While they are not always the best choice of beverage while not exerting yourself, they are very helpful to have during exercise and sports activities. You are also more likely to drink a larger quantity of sports drinks because they taste so good, which will in turn keep you hydrated. Next time you want to grab a sweet tea for practice, you should seriously consider drinking a sports drink or water.