A Doctor's Advice: How to Play Table Tennis Safely (Part 2)
Do you need to drink sports drinks while playing? Do they actually help?
Dr. Yang: First, functional drinks come in many types. There are taurine-based ones like Red Bull — those also contain a large amount of electrolytes, which can help relieve muscle fatigue and replenish energy during intense exercise.
For moderate-intensity exercise, the main issue is that sweating causes a significant loss of electrolytes. In that case, the priority is replenishing electrolytes — drinks like Gatorade or Pocari Sweat. You should also make sure to stay hydrated at the same time. That’s where electrolyte drinks come in.
To give an example: muscle cramps in the thighs and calves after intense exercise are caused by electrolyte loss. Replenishing electrolytes in a timely way helps delay the onset of those symptoms. At the same time, don’t forget to replenish carbohydrates — once the free glucose in your body is depleted, your body then burns muscle glycogen for energy. Muscle glycogen metabolism via anaerobic processes produces a lot of lactic acid, leading to significant soreness.
Intense exercise can also cause massive lactic acid buildup, which can in turn trigger rhabdomyolysis — a serious complication. So adequate carbohydrate replenishment is also essential. Red Bull and other functional drinks contain some carbohydrates for exactly this reason.
Here’s an excellent supplementation method I’d suggest. During intense exercise, you’re burning both glycogen and electrolytes through sweat. Eating half a banana can immediately replenish both carbohydrates and electrolytes like potassium ions. This helps reduce the cardiac impact of electrolyte imbalance while extending your endurance and improving your performance.
This approach can be seen in many endurance sports — in tennis, for instance, players in long-set matches often use a combination of sports drinks and bananas to refuel.
Some players bring a thermos of tea to the table. Doesn’t tea increase sweating — is it really suitable to drink during play?
Dr. Yang: Personally, I don’t think drinking tea significantly impacts exercise. On the contrary, a little tea can actually boost your alertness. That said, relying on tea to replenish electrolytes and fluids is nowhere near sufficient. In this day and age, exercising scientifically means replenishing fluids scientifically. In the old days, just having water was great. Now, if you have the means, electrolyte-based sports drinks are the most appropriate way to rehydrate.
So you’re saying that just drinking plain water or purified water during play isn’t enough and isn’t recommended?
Dr. Yang: Actually, during intense exercise, plain water has never been recommended — because it will only further dilute your electrolyte concentration.
Everyone’s body maintains electrolytes at a specific concentration. When we talk about electrolyte imbalance or electrolyte loss, what’s decreasing is the concentration, not just the absolute quantity. To raise that concentration, you need to increase the proportion of the corresponding components.
For example, when you sweat, you’re losing both water and electrolytes simultaneously, which means your electrolyte concentration stays roughly balanced. But if you then drink plain water, you’ve added fluid without adding electrolytes — and the concentration drops. That’s where the damage starts.
Say you play table tennis, sweat a lot, and then drink plain water before continuing. You might notice two things: first, a tightness or discomfort in the chest — possibly low potassium causing the heart rate to lag. Second, extreme muscle fatigue, cramps, or rapid lactic acid buildup.
Your body is trying to compensate and self-rescue — but what’s actually happening may be electrolyte imbalance.
If instead you replenish with something that contains both water and electrolytes, you maintain an isotonic state in your body. The fluid you lose through sweat is isotonic, and what you’re putting back in is also isotonic — keeping your body in equilibrium. That keeps your blood, salt, and electrolytes well balanced, which protects your vital organs from being stressed or damaged.