Look around: Seems like everyone is pouring little packets of electrolytes into their drinks lately? Pre-workout, post-workout, no workout at all? Powders and tablets like LMNT, Liquid IV and Nuun are everywhere from TikTok ads to your office snack counter.
The idea of hardcore hydration isn’t new – athletes Their water content is added For millennia. And electrolyte-packed drinks like Gatorade have been a mainstay of sports culture for decades.
But today’s electrolyte supplements aren’t just for football players or ultramarathoners. Companies like Nuun Market their tablets For everyone from the aspiring endurance athlete to the regular folks going to a yoga class on their lunch break.
These brands are “playing into people’s perceptions of what is healthy,” he says Samantha Cooganis a nutrition science educator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. And it seems to be working: According to Priority Research, Global Electrolyte Drinks Market It is valued at $40 billion and is expected to grow to about $75 billion over the next decade.
D The concept of hydration has become onefixed pointIn wellness culture, though, experts are stillTotally disagreeHow hydrated are we?Need or the ideal way to get there. As electrolytes make their way from the world of endurance athletes to brunch cocktails, it’s tempting to believe they really could be a magic cure for everything from sore legs to hangovers.
While electrolyte supplements are great for athletes and life-saving for cholera patients, they are not magic. Here’s what you need to know about what electrolytes can and can’t do and whether you need them.
What is an electrolyte, anyway?
Our bodies need to maintain a certain balance of essential minerals to function properly: sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, phosphate and bicarbonate.
These minerals are all electrolytes, substances that carry electricity through the body, regulate fluid balance, muscle function, and communication between the brain and body. The “electro” in “electrolytes” comes from the electrical charge produced when they are dissolved in a liquid such as blood. Without electrolytes, these electrical signals are disrupted, causing muscle spasms and cramps, headaches, and trouble thinking clearly.
Sodium in particular is an important electrolyte because it helps regulate the amount of water in your blood. Electrolytes like sodium “basically help the body get water where it’s supposed to go,” he said Holly SamuelA registered sports nutritionist who works with endurance athletes.
When we sweat, we lose a lot of sodium and chloride (aka salt). But if a person sweats profusely and drinks only water without replenishing salt, it upsets the sodium and water balance in the body, pushing too much fluid into the cells. This may end Inflames those cells Like soaking raisins in water, a potentially dangerous condition called hyponatremia occurs. When you drink water with electrolytes, that water well capable To stick around where your body needs it.
Electrolytes like sodium “basically help water get to where it’s supposed to go in the body.”
It’s important to remember that “electrolytes don’t just come in a magic packet,” he said Stavros KavorasDirector of the Hydration Science Lab at Arizona State University. In addition to tablets, packets, and powders, there are electrolytes that we eat all the time, such as bananas (potassium), cheese and crackers (sodium and calcium), and spinach (magnesium). Electrolytes as pre-packaged water supplements, as we think of them today, have only been around for a few decades.
In the 1960s, assistant coach Dewayne Douglas noticed that his University of Florida Football players were struggling To recover after practice in the sweltering Gainesville heat. Athletes lost weight — Douglas recalled losing up to 18 pounds per game, when he played — but rarely felt the need to urinate.
After conducting the study with UF first-year football players as subjects, Kidney disease specialist J. Robert Cade It was found that the players felt terrible because in addition to experiencing low blood sugar after exercise, they were sweating out large amounts of electrolytes, especially sodium and potassium. So he created a new sports recovery drink for the Florida Gators, called Gatorade: basically water, salt, sugar and lemon juice for flavor. The sodium-rich drink helped athletes retain water while sweating, and the results were remarkable. “A lil’ swig of that kickapoo juice and beef, bam, sock – it’s Gators, 8-2,” The Florida Times-Union was founded in December 1966After Gatorade’s first season with the team.
Sports drinks took off and other companies began to capitalize on Gatorade’s success. All sports drinks are variations on the Gatorade theme: water for hydration, sugar for energy, and electrolytes to aid in fluid absorption, as well as flavored to water it down. Sports drinks act as “a magic bullet” for athletes, Kavoras says. “You take one thing, and there is everything.” This formula is therefore effective Recommended by the World Health Organization For rehydrating people, especially cholera patients or children with diarrhea.
At first, this was the drink Primarily marketed to professional athletes. Today, Powerade and Gatorade are advertised as a soft drink for someone
In 2024, the year of the giant water bottle, grocery and convenience store aisles feature a slew of new-wave electrolyte supplements like Nuun, LMNT, and Liquid IV, which swap out sugar for alternative sweeteners like stevia leaf extract or allulose. Target consumers who don’t want to drink extra calories. These supplements market themselves as hydration superfoods: something to help athletes, sure, but hangover cures and Overall vibe-booster For regular, health conscious people.
Coogan says that if you’re eating a balanced diet and not training for a marathon, you probably shouldn’t return the electrolyte packets.
If your body needs extra electrolytes, supplements—whether a Gatorade or a salt—can be an effective way to rehydrate. But, says Coogan, if you’re eating a well-balanced diet and not training for a marathon, you probably shouldn’t return the electrolyte packets. “Too much of a good thing is not always a good thing,” Coogan said.
OK, but what about hangovers? Pedialyte, an oral electrolyte solution for babies and children, has become the go-to hangover cure for young adults at music festivals and fraternity parties. Even college students are trying to avoid the consequences of binge drinking by swapping beers BORGs (“Blackout Rage Gallons”): A half-gallon of water mixed with a wine bottle and an electrolyte additive.
Alas, electrolytes are Not a magic hangover cure – Trying to undo a night with electrolyte supplements “is just going to be an uphill battle,” Coogan said. While pre-hydrating with an electrolyte supplement before a night out can help mitigate some of the consequences of impending alcohol-fueled dehydration, the only real hangover cure is time.
Electrolytes are great for super-sweaty periods. Otherwise, meh.
The best time to consume extra electrolytes is when you’re sweating profusely, or otherwise losing a lot of fluids through something like food poisoning. Training for long distance running? is working A construction site on a summer day in a place like Phoenix? Experts say electrolyte supplements are definitely a good call.
Many people (myself included) fall somewhere between couch potato and ultramarathoner. I asked the experts how I should think about electrolytes, as someone who spends most of the day sitting in front of my computer, then goes to CrossFit or pole dancing class after work. Samuel says that for casual gym rats and recreational athletes, how you should rehydrate depends on how much you sweat and what your sweat is made of.
Some people “go to spin class and they’re on the bike for five minutes, and there’s a pool around them,” Samuel said. “If that’s you, you’re a heavy sweater.” Sodium levels in sweat can also vary from place to place 2,000 to 200 mg per literDepends on the person. If your sweat stings your eyes or leaves white spots or crystals on your skin and clothes, you might be Salty sweater.
For casual gym rats and recreational athletes, how you should rehydrate depends on how much you sweat and what your sweat is made of.
Both heavy sweaters and salty sweaters should consider electrolyte supplementation before, during, and after exercise. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends eating At least 300 milligrams of sodium per hour If you sweat for more than an hour, you are participating in a sport or just working outside on a hot day. Also read the labels: try to stay Under 14 grams of sugar per 8 fluid ounces (that’s about half the amount of a Gatorade thirst quencher).
Be sure to check the sodium content on the label of your electrolyte supplement, though: Some popular supplements, such as Liquid IV, Contains 500 mg of sodiumWhich is essential for most sweaty endurance athletes. who are athletes People generally need more sodium than other peopleSamuel said. For everyone else, more moderate sodium (about 200 to 300 mg) supplements should be sufficient to rehydrate.
About one-third of otherwise healthy people Sensitive to saltWhich means a result of high sodium intake Increased blood pressure. “So you hear that a high sodium diet can lead to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease,” says Kavoras. If you’re sensitive to salt, you’ll want to be careful. The FDA recommends that Americans limit their sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams per day.
However, for most people, It’s next to impossible Consuming dangerous amounts of electrolytes. If you eat more carbohydrates, fat or protein than your body needs, they are stored as fat. But electrolytes are not stored – they are eliminated. “If you drink too much sodium,” Kavoras said, “you’ll urinate more sodium.”
You don’t necessarily need an electrolyte supplement after your workout. Low fat milk (or soy milk, for lactose intolerant and plant-based athletes) offers adequate electrolytes, carbohydrates and protein to rehydrate, repair muscles and stabilize blood sugar, and Smoothies Bananas, dates, vegetables, and coconut water.
Electrolytes have another opposite benefit: making you thirsty. “Electrolytes help sustain thirst drive for longer periods of time,” Kavras said. This can be helpful for those who struggle to drink enough water, either because they aren’t thirsty enough to reach for it – or because they don’t like the taste of water. “If it tastes better, and if it lasts longer, you’ll drink more yourself,” Kavoras said.
While drinking electrolyte supplements when you don’t need them is rarely dangerous, Samuel warns that taking in excess sodium without enough extra water (or sweating it out) dehydrates — say pouring two LMNT packets into a regular-sized water bottle, though that’s great. Will taste bad. “You’re basically making yourself jerky with too much salt,” he said. “We want to be a nice, hydrated steak.”
You don’t always need them, but electrolytes can help balance a sweaty body and make drinking water more palatable. Just remember that they’re hardly magic – they’re salt.
