Your sodium intake could make or break your performance.
Ever since your days on the high school sports team, you’ve likely been instructed time and time again to drink your electrolytes any time a sweat bead drips from your forehead. But those repeated reminders over the years may not have made the nutrients — or what they actually do for your health — any less mystifying.
Minerals with an electrical charge, electrolytes dissolve in water and play a handful of roles in the body, including balancing your pH level, moving nutrients into and waste out of your cells, maintaining heart rate and rhythm, and stabilizing blood pressure, according to the National Library of Medicine. The main electrolytes are sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, magnesium, bicarbonate, and phosphate.
You generally don’t need to look at your electrolyte intake under a microscope, except for one occasion: exercise.
How Electrolytes Impact Performance
During movement, your body loses water and electrolytes via sweat, which evaporates from your skin and leaves you cooler than before. The problem: Electrolytes, particularly sodium, are heavily involved in muscle contraction, says Molly Kimball, R.D., C.S.S.D., a registered dietitian and specialist in sports dietetics in New Orleans.
When your levels aren’t perfectly balanced — either because you sweat a lot or there aren’t enough electrolytes in the fluid you’re hydrating with — you’re at risk of experiencing muscle fatigue and mild cramping, she explains. (For the record, cramping can be caused by a combination of factors, including fatigue, muscle overuse, and nerve misfiring; replacing fluids and electrolytes is one element that’s within your control, she notes.)
Too low of a blood sodium level — which increases your body’s water content and causes your cells to swell — can also lead to nausea, vomiting, headache, confusion, restlessness, drowsiness, and irritability, according to the Mayo Clinic. In severe cases, there’s a risk of full-body or more extreme muscle cramps, seizures, and coma. “Our sweat is water and a lot of salt, and so when somebody is sweating heavily but they're only putting water back in, they're really creating that electrolyte imbalance, which can lead to something like full-body cramping” or more significant health events, says Kimball.
A shortage of potassium, which is also excreted through sweat, may also contribute to cramping due to its muscle contraction duties. Too little potassium in the blood can lead to weakness and fatigue, as well. That said, you generally sweat out less of it than sodium, and the nutrient is found in many of the foods you eat on a day-to-day basis, so it’s not likely to be the root cause of repetitive cramping, says Kimball. The bottom line: Make sodium your number-one priority.
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Your Electrolyte Game Plan
To prevent an electrolyte imbalance that could tank your performance, Kimball suggests loading up before, during, and after exercise. Prior to your sweaty workout, aim to get your sodium and potassium — plus energizing carbohydrates — through food. Try a tortilla topped with cheese (her favorite) or a turkey sandwich, both of which boast electrolytes and those fueling macronutrients. Or, add a pinch of salt to your oatmeal or yogurt topped with granola to check off the boxes.
During and after your workout, nab your electrolytes with fluid, Kimball suggests. How much to consume depends on how much you’re sweating and how “salty” of a sweater you are, she says. As a rule of thumb, aim to drink half of your body weight in ounces of fluid each day, plus some to account for what you sweat out during exercise. Weigh yourself immediately before your workout, drink as you need during your training, then weigh yourself again once you’ve wrapped up. For every pound you lose between the start and stop of your workout, consume another 16 to 24 ounces of fluid, says Kimball.
As for electrolytes, Kimball recommends consuming 300 to 600 milligrams of sodium per hour of exercise outdoors or in high-sweat situations. However, “salty sweaters” have a slightly different protocol. If your skin feels gritty or your dark clothing appears to be covered in white granules after a hot workout, there’s a good chance you lose a lot of sodium through your sweat, says Kimball. In that case, Kimball says to bump up your electrolyte intake.
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To kill two birds with one stone, look for a pre-made electrolyte beverage or powder that’s high in sodium (think: 300 to 1,000 milligrams) but low in carbs and sugar (Kimball recommends getting your carbs from actual food instead). For a homemade, budget-friendly option, mix a quarter tablespoon of salt and a pinch of potassium chloride (available online) into water and add flavorings, like lemon juice and ginger. Just don’t be dissuaded by the ocean water taste when you take your first gulp. “What I find is that something that might seem unpleasantly salty when someone is sipping it at rest, you chill that and give it to them when they're out in the heat losing all that salty sweat, and it's delicious to them,” says Kimball.
Importantly, don’t let the high sodium content scare you. “If someone is really having to be strict with their salt intake [due to high blood pressure or other concerns], then talk with your provider before trying to do this stuff, of course,” says Kimball. “But for the average healthy person, don’t be afraid to add that in when you are losing this large amount of sweat. Experiment with it.” It may just make the difference between a performance blunder and a personal best.