"How Chemicals Help Endurance" by June Kim

Many people believe that nutrients, physical capability, mental strength, or training are the most important factors that determine one’s performance in sports. However, not many people realize the significance of chemistry in keeping runners’ endurance thus improving their overall performance in sports, especially in races, which require much endurance. Understanding our body’s chemistry is essential for athletes to optimize their performances under extreme circumstances through the enhancement in endurance. For endurance athletes, understanding the role of electrolytes and amino acids in our bodies is essential, arguably as important as their physical training or mental strength.

Electrolytes are chemical elements that conduct electricity and support specific bodily functions. Electrolytes have several roles in our bodies. Heart, muscle and nerve cells use electrolytes to carry electrical impulses to other cells. They also regulate nerve and muscle action and hydrate the body. They also have the role of balancing blood pressure and rebuilding damaged tissue. Electrolytes found in our body include magnesium, which supports heart, muscle, and nerve function and digestion, sodium, which helps absorb fluids and muscle contraction; and potassium, which helps stabilize blood pressure and regulates heart contraction. Electrolytes are lost when we sweat, so they need to be replaced. A person lacking electrolytes causes cramps, dizziness, confusion, increased heart rate, and nausea. However, electrolyte supplements are not vital under exercise of less than 90 minutes.

There are many ways to supplement electrolytes, and one of them is drinking energy drinks. Many athletes drink energy drinks.

Since isotonic drinks contain a ratio of nutrients to liquids that correspond to that of human blood, they can be digested relatively easily, and some of them are used for restocking levels of electrolytes and water. For comparison, hypotonic drinks, such as water, have lower concentrations of salt and sugar than in the human body, and hypertonic drinks, such as energy drinks and coke, have higher concentrations of salt and sugar than in the human body. Hypertonic drinks contain high electrolyte content, and consuming too much leads to an excess, which causes side effects similar to those of a deficit of electrolytes. Excesses are not beneficial especially to runners, as excesses are filtered out through kidneys. Runners will not want their organs to be working overloaded long-distance. In the real world, examples of isotonic drinks are energy drinks.

Amino acids are chemical compounds that are the building blocks of proteins in the human body. Therefore, they are important for recovery and regeneration for athletes, especially long distance runners, who need quick regeneration for maintaining performance. Nine of the twenty amino acids are essential; humans cannot synthesize them, so they need to obtain them from food. Essential amino acids include valine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, lysine, histidine, methionine, and threonine. Although glutamine is naturally produced by the human body, unlike any other essential amino acids, intense physical exercise removes them from the body at a faster rate than the rate of the body replenishing it. Since glutamine aids the recovery of people, it is best to be supplemented after a tough race.

In conclusion, chemistry and endurance are closely related to understand the chemical materials that help the body function well and help athletes improve endurance during intense exercises. The body contains helpful elements and compounds for endurance, such as amino acids and electrolytes. Electrolytes include useful nutrients such as magnesium and potassium. Isotonic drinks are helpful chemical materials for our bodies. The ratio of nutrients to liquid in isotonic drinks is similar to the ratio of nutrients to blood in the human body, making them easily digestible to help the body function better for races.