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… I don't buy into the coffee, soda, alcohol makes things worse mantra. If that were actual reality, I'd of dried up and blown away years ago… I agree completely, DB, although I’m a little more conscious today to make sure I drink enough water during the day as I was when I was younger.  I always get amused when my high school students on our Friday workouts want to take a break after the first 10 minutes to get a drink…I usually tell them to suck it up and that they’ll survive for a little bit longer without hydrating.

Just becasue something hasn't happened to you ( yet), doesn't disprove the science, which has been extensive on the subject.
Sports drinks have there place. If your pushing hard, for extended lengths of time, like I know Mad Mat does most of the time, there valuable. For the " average consumer" even if you exercise vigorously for say an hour a day, there more marketing hype than fact. Plain old water in sufficient quantities is the best. If you need some flavor there are plenty of options to add a little taste. All these expensive sports drinks/energy drinks that are consumed in large quantities by gullible "wanna-be's" are just a waste of your money and do more harm than good over the long haul.

I Googled " Why not soda/alcohol/coffee for hydration?" and found plenty of reputable sites that explain it well. Here's one I found that spells it out and answers some of the other questions that were asked.

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