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Sports drinks have become a staple not only for elite athletes but for the active set who likes to get after it. They’re a standard pick-up at your local convenience store or supermarket, whether you’re training for a marathon, taking a hike, or just hydrating after a late night out. But not all sports drinks are created equal—and there’s actually a specific time and place to use them for optimal health and hydration.

Intended for sports and activities in which you sweat out electrolytes and burn off energy, sports drinks, in general, help recoup this energy through carbohydrates, sugar, and a specific amount of electrolytes—mainly sodium, potassium, magnesium, and chloride. A combination of both carbs and electrolytes during intense exercise or in extreme heat can help combat dehydration, replete glycogen stores, and delay fatigue.

Keep in mind that hydration and electrolyte needs are highly variable based on the individual. Genetics plays a role in sweat rate, but so does activity level, intensity, duration, and the environment. To find out true hydration needs, consult a sports dietitian to conduct a sweat test to gauge individual sweat rate as well as sweat sodium concentration. Some of us are saltier sweaters.

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What To Look for in a Sports Drink

Electrolytes: When you work out and sweat, you not only lose fluids but electrolytes as well. The average athlete loses 1 to 3 liters of sweat per hour. The main electrolytes lost in sweat are sodium and chloride with potassium, magnesium, and calcium present in lower amounts. Depending on the intensity, duration, and environment (e.g. season, humidity) of your workout as well as your individual sweat rate, there are various amounts of electrolytes needed. The good news is there are lots of options on the market from low levels of electrolytes to highly concentrated electrolyte mixes. The choice is based on your individual needs.

Carbohydrates (Calories/Energy): The American College of Sports Medicine recommends individuals partaking in vigorous exercise (one hour or longer) consider drinking carbohydrate-based sports beverages, especially if they’re sweating heavily. The choice, again, depends on your activity level, caloric expenditure, and energy needs for the workout. If your workout is an hour or less, then you probably don’t need much carbohydrates and can stick to electrolyte formulas. However, if you are exercising for over an hour—like for a marathon—you’ll want to choose a drink with higher amounts of carbohydrates to fuel your workout.

Make Your Own Sports Drink

You don’t always have to head to the store. This easy and effective DIY sports drink makes about 9 cups:

Ingredients:

8 cups fresh cold water

2 tablespoons honey or agave

½ teaspoon fine Himalayan pink salt or pure sea salt

¾ teaspoon calcium-magnesium powder

¾ cup freshly squeezed pineapple juice

Juice of 2 lemons

Juice of 2 limes

Instructions:

Pour 1 cup of water into a large pot.

Add honey, salt, calcium-magnesium powder.

Place pot over low heat and whisk until ingredients have dissolved.

Remove from heat and allow it to return to room temperature.

Add fresh pressed juices to the mixture in the pot.

Pour in the remaining 7 cups of water and blend.

Refrigerate until desired temperature

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Home elixirs not your thing? Check out the best sports drinks you can buy now.

Jordan Mazur, M.S., R.D., is the Director of Nutrition for the San Francisco 49ers.

Best Sports Drinks to Rehydrate After Every Type of Workout Sports drinks are a universal staple, but how do we distinguish good ones from imposters? A sports dietician weighs in on the best options.

Now, we’d never, ever, try to stand between you and your first marathon, a major weight loss, or the job of your dreams. Thinking big—and having big goals—is important, especially as you set your sights on a new year. That said, sometimes thinking a little bit smaller—in fact, maybe making just a few minor tweaks to your routine—can yield some pretty big W’s, too. That could mean just swapping out a single drink of the day for water and watching your weight plummet. Or using a simple timer at your desk that will up your productivity tenfold. Or even doing some very small, invisible exercises that will have a major impact on your s*x life. Best of all: None of these tricks costs a nickel, and none of them takes much time. Yet according to experts from a range of disciplines—productivity, nutrition, dating, finance—they all offer measurable results.

1. To get things done, try the “pomodoro” technique

You know those red kitchen timers that are in the shape of a tomato?

That’s the inspiration for this hack.

Instead of trying to focus on work for hours on end, carve your time into 30-minute chunks. Work on a task for 25 minutes, then give yourself five minutes to goof off, zone out, or screw around on the Internet. Repeat.

“It’s highly effective,” says productivity guru Michael Sliwinski, CEO of nozbe.com. “When you really focus on your task and work on it without any distractions, you’ll be surprised by how well you can perform.”

2. To trim stress, do a “2 by 4”

“The less stress you have in your body, the better you’re able to perform. Stress makes you stupid,” says Emily Fletcher, the founder of Ziva Meditation. She recommends a simple hack that requires no knowledge of Zen, meditation, or mindfulness: what she calls the 2x breath.

“If you’re getting heated with a co-worker or your partner, simply stop and take a walk about the room or down the hall,” explains Fletcher. “As you walk, breathe in for two steps and out for four. Do this for a few minutes, then come back and finish the conversation. It gives you a way to calm the vagus nerve, which connects the brain to the body.”

3. To drop some fat, swap one drink for water

“Stop drinking one soda and replace it with water every single day,” explains nutritionist Mitzi Dulan, co-author (with NFL legend Tony Gonzalez) of The All-Pro Diet. “Doing this every day saves you 150 calories, which adds up to a yearly weight loss of 15 pounds.”

You might think, “Right, but I’m smarter than that, and I already switched to diet soda years ago.” Yet the same principle applies to healthier-looking drinks like juice. I used to drink OJ every morning because it feels healthy—vitamin C, right? But the average 12-ounce glass contains nine teaspoons of sugar…or nearly as much as a can of Coke.

4. To have better s*x, do kegels (yes, really)

They might sound weird or scary or even, well, unmanly, but s*x therapist Gloria Brame, Ph.D., (author of The Truth About S*x) says that kegels are the single best thing you can do to boost your performance in the sack.

“Kegels are essential for male s*xual health. They keep your anatomy healthy, enhance virility, and assist with proper bladder and bowel function.”

Here’s how you do it: Clench down on the pelvic muscles for a few seconds, then release. Repeat three times. And you’re done. If you’re not sure exactly where these muscles are, go to a urinal. “Hold back your urine stream. Stop, let it start to flow, stop. Repeat two more times. Now you know which muscles you need to work,” says Brame. Doing the exercise is quick and easy. You can perform it at your desk, in your car, or in an elevator—whenever you have a free moment.

5. To tame your schedule, plan your day the night before

“Planning out your day the night before has significant benefits for both the early risers and the night owls,” advises Mike Vardy, founder of Productivityist. “Early risers can hit the ground running with their game plan, allowing them to be more productive from the get-go.” And if you’re a night owl? Suddenly you have an agenda that gives you direction in the grogginess of morning, letting you build momentum for later in the day.

6. To get wealthier, turn nickels into the S&P 500

A new crop of personal-finance apps will round up your purchases and invest the difference. “One of the best is called Acorns,” advises Andrew Schrage, partner and editor-in-chief of personal-finance blog moneycrashers.com. “Say you make a purchase for $4.50, then 50 cents gets invested into an ETF (exchange-traded fund) that holds a wide variety of different companies across different investing sectors.”

7. To strengthen your relationships, (always) tell women the truth

“Right now, say this sentence in your head: ‘I choose to tell women the truth, no matter what. I will be a man of my word,’” says dating and relationship coach Lindsay Chrisler. The logic? Too often we instinctively tell lies for her protection. This backfires. “Women don’t need protection. You may not sleep with the woman that night, but you will have integrity, a clear conscience, and higher-quality women surrounding you. The truth is the secret to a hot s*x life.”

That, and clenched pelvic muscles.

Jeff Wilser is the author of Alexander Hamilton’s Guide to Life. Follow him on Twitter.

7 Simple Life Hacks to Make You Happier, Stronger, and More Productive The seven simple life hacks guaranteed to make you a happier, stronger, and more productive person. Live smarter.

In the simplest sense, to brew beer, you need water, malts, yeast, and hops. That’s true whether you’re a home brewer slaving over your own little cauldron or a brewery working in vats at a much larger scale. And while each ingredient is important to the final product (and there are other ingredients based on beer styles), in our opinion, nothing impacts the overall flavor profile more than hops. This is especially true when you’re crafting robust pale ales, IPAs, and other hop-centric brews. But, even with that limited information, what do you really know about the most popular hops varieties?

In addition to aroma, flavor, and overall bitterness, “hops provide preservative characteristics to beer, enabling a longer shelf life for the liquid,” says Garth E. Beyer, certified cicerone and owner/founder of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, WI. “Hops, and the alpha and beta acids within them, are critical in the brewing process as they influence the bittering mouthfeel, final flavor, and aromatics based on the type of hop used and when it’s added to the beer.”

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Hops added earlier in the brewing process provide more flavor and bitterness, whereas hops used later in the brewing process provide the aromatic impact.

“The best brewers in the world know which hops to use together, when to use them in the brewing process, and how much to use to produce the ideal craft beer.”

Do you know how to recognize the most popular hops varieties to choose a beer you’ll enjoy? Do you know what flavors certain hops are known for? Do you know which hops impact aroma, or which gives your favorite beer its tropical tang or bitter finish? Well, you’re about to find out.

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Hops 101

First, you need to know what hops actually are. Hops are a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants (also known as the h**p family, unto which cannabis belongs to). They’re considered a flower, but are more conical in shape than a traditional bloom. They’re the reason your beer has a bitter, floral, fruity, dank, piney, resinous, or citrus flavor. Without them, your beer would be overly malty and not remotely as drinkable.

Now that you know a little bit about the importance of hops, it’s time to learn about some of the most popular hop varieties. We picked 10 of our favorites. Keep scrolling to learn what each brings to your beer.

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10 Most Popular Hops Varieties and What They Bring to the Table 1. Mosaic

An offshoot of the popular Simcoe hop, according to beermaverick.com, Mosaic was first made available in 2012. “Mosaic is used as both a bittering and an aromatic hop, but brewers tend to use it more for bittering and flavor as it lends a light tangerine aroma with blueberry and currant flavor,” says Beyer. You’ll find it in popular fruit-forward beers like Trillium Headroom, which has tantalizing tasting notes of candied peach and orange peel up front, followed by juicy pineapple, sweet white grapes, bitter grapefruit, and mango smoothies for a creamy finale.

2. Cascade

One of the most popular hop varieties in the world, according to hopslist.com, Cascade was originally created at the USDA breeding program at Oregon State University and made available to brewers in 1972. It’s the hop that elicits the classic pale ale flavor we’ve come to associate with that style here in the States (you can thank the folks at Sierra Nevada). “Cascade is often used in West Coast IPAs for bittering as it offers herbal spiciness and grapefruit and citrus rind notes,” says Beyer. “It’s best used in the tail end of a brew to give it as much grapefruit and resiny aroma as possible.”

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3. Saaz

“Saaz is a historic hop, one of the original four noble hops [classic European varieties] and is often used as an aromatic hop that gives beer an herbal, woody, and slightly spicy smell,” says Beyer. “It can also provide a subtle earthiness to flavor.” It’s often used for dry-hopping and can be found in many Czech and Czech-style pilsners, including the world’s first pale lager: Pilsner Urquell.

4. Amarillo

Like many hops, Amarillo only exists today because of a random discovery. Washington State’s Virgil Gamache Farms Inc. found it growing next to one of its other hop varieties in 1990, according to beermaverick.com. “Amarillo is a solid bittering hop that backs itself up with a light floral bouquet of tangerines, apricots, and melon flavors, but stays grounded with earthy-floral bitterness,” says Beyer. It’s most commonly used in dry hopping, when hops are added at the final stages of the brewing process to extract more of that citrus aroma. Experience it in all its glory by cracking open 3 Floyds Brewing’s Gumballhead, a tasty American wheat ale.

5. Hallertau Mittelfrüh

This classic German noble hop can be found in many beers in Germany and American craft beers hoping to emulate the traditional European flavor. “Hallertau Mittelfrüh is a hop that’ll insert herbal woodiness; aromas of sage, rosemary, and pine; and give beer a mild, clean bitterness in the mouthfeel and flavor,” says Beyer. Enjoy all it brings to the table aroma-wise in Deschutes Pacific Wonderland Lager.

20 Things You Didn't Know About Hops Read article

6. Simcoe

Yakima Chief Ranches released Simcoe hops in 2000, according to hopslist.com, and they’ve since become one of the most popular varieties in American brewing. “Simcoe is a powerful bittering hop that combines subtle stone fruit aromas and flavors with more intense pine and bitter citrus zest,” says Beyer. It can be found in countless IPAs like Ommegang Neon Lights, a hazy IPA.

7. Galaxy

One of the coolest named hops on the market, Australian-bred Galaxy hops are an offshoot of the classic Perle hop variety, according to bsgcraftbrewing.com. “Galaxy is a remarkable bittering and aromatic hop that brings big waves of peach, guava, and tangy orange to the nose and tongue,” says Beyer. It’s found in beers like Trillium The Streets.

8. Magnum

Some hops are used for flavor and some are multi-purpose, meaning they’re used for both, but some are specifically added for bittering. This is the case with Magnum. “Magnum is a unique hop that offers a broad variety of bittering and flavor elements of grass, spearmint, lemon, menthol, and green fruit like apple and pear,” says Beyer. It’s one of the main hops used in Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA to deliver a rush of hoppy goodness.

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9. Centennial

An extremely popular hop variety among American craft brewers, Centennial hops can be found in beers like Bell’s Two Hearted Ale and Founder’s Centennial. “Centennial is a well-rounded hop that brings an even layer of citrus and pine characteristics to the mouthfeel, flavor, and aroma,” says Beyer.

10. Citra

With a name like Citra, you probably have a good idea what’s in store. “Citra is the most-used hop in the world because of its intense citrus notes in both flavor and aroma,” says Beyer. “This one’s a classic.” It also pairs well with other hops and can be found in beers like Maine Beer Dinner, Three Floyds Zombie Dust, and Toppling Goliath King Sue. If you want a beer that’s brimming with bright juiciness, these all have tasting notes of mango, pineapple, and passion fruit.

Everything You Need to Know About Hops We're spotlighting 10 of the most popular hops varieties so you know what flavor, aroma, and bitterness they bring to your favorite brews.