‘They do it on Purpose’,Why footballers spit out their drinks on the Pitch

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Why do footballers spit out their drinks during games? Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane and even Lionel Messi, they’ve all done it at least once! But is there really a scientific explanation for doing it or is it simply a bad habit?

Drinking and swallowing water needs to be limited during a game. Intake water at a minimum along with any electrolytes to hydrate. The spitting you see is rinsing in an effort to keep the inside mouth and throat areas wet to a certain extent.

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While it’s unclear exactly why any given player may need to swig and spit, some players may be practicing what’s known as “carb rinsing,”

According to a study done by the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, “rinsing the mouth with a carbohydrate-containing solution is associated with improved high intensity endurance exercise performance.”

In other words, rinsing a carb-induced sports drink in your mouth (versus swallowing it) can actually make athletes perform better at their prospective sports.

Swallowing too much water during a game can cause a player to become “water logged” (wow haven’t used that term in a while).

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Although I have yet to see anybody collapse from water, but I have seen my fair share of players unable to walk or move due to cramping. Cramping is normally caused due to lack of hydration. This is why players are instructed to drink plenty of fluids prior to a game at a moderate rate.

One is thirst, and that can be solved by drinking water, or maybe a gatorade, if you are in a situation that requires that.

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The other is drymouth, sometimes when you are at a demanding body activity, say a sport, for example, you breathe sometimes from the mouth (or a lot of times, depending on the person) and you get that drymouth feeling, to solve that, it´s enough to just moist the mouth with liquid, but you´re not required to drink it.

Besides, if you keep drinking a lot of liquid you end with your stomach full and that can be really annoying and get in the way of your performance.

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Researchers aren’t sure how carb rinsing improves performance. One hypothesis is that carbohydrate receptors in the mouth activate certain areas of the brain, which in turn improve motor function, or movement of the body, Poddar told Live Science.

Studies also show that when people have a sweet taste their mouths, it can change the perception of how hard they’re working, Joyner said.

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So, even without swallowing the liquid, a sweet carbohydrate solution might help people feel refreshed or more motivated, Joyner said. (Studies that test carb rinsing typically use a solution of glucose, which has a sweet taste, or maltodextrin, a food additive that’s colorless and tasteless.)

However, most studies on carb rinsing have been conducted in lab settings and have focused on cycling, so it’s unclear how the benefits might translate to “a high-stakes situation like the World Cup,”

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