We all know hydration is vital, but water is only one part of the hydration equation. Alongside it, our bodies need the right balance of electrolytes - those crucial minerals that help control fluid balance, muscle function, and nerve signalling.
Ever wonder why you sometimes still feel tired or foggy, even after chugging water? It’s probably because your body needs electrolytes as well. But what are they exactly and why and when do you need them? Here’s everything you need to know.
WHAT ARE ELECTROLYTES & WHY DO YOU NEED THEM?
Electrolytes are essential minerals, such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, and phosphate, that are vital for performing important functions in your body. When dissolved in water, these minerals produce an electrical charge, hence the term “electrolytes”. They play a crucial role in:
+ Fluid Balance: They help maintain the proper balance of fluids in your cells, tissues, and blood, which is essential for normal bodily function.
+ Nerve Function: They enable the transmission of electrical signals across nerve cells, facilitating communication between the brain and other parts of the body.
+ Muscle Function: They are necessary for muscle contractions, including the heartbeat. In other words, they help your muscles perform better, whether you’re running, doing a deadlift in the gym, or standing up from a chair.
+ pH Balance: They help balance the body's pH levels (the measure of acidity and alkalinity), which is vital for normal cellular function.
During physical activities or times of stress, you can lose electrolytes through sweat, urine, and other body processes, making it necessary to replenish them.
Without sufficient electrolytes, you may experience muscle weakness or cramps, fatigue, persistent headaches, brain fog and even irregular heartbeats.
WHAT CAUSES AN ELECTROLYTE IMBALANCE?
Your body needs a precise balance of all the electrolytes to maintain fluid balance, muscle contraction, and neural activity—all essential to high performance and basic bodily functions. An electrolyte imbalance means that the level of one or more electrolytes in your body becomes too high or too low.
Electrolyte imbalances can be triggered by several factors:
+ Excessive Sweating: One of the most noticeable ways we lose electrolytes is through sweat. Intense or prolonged exercise or exposure to high heat leads to significant loss of electrolytes through sweat, particularly sodium, chloride, and potassium.
+ Illness: Conditions like vomiting or diarrhoea deplete your body of both fluids and key electrolytes.
+ Heavy Alcohol Consumption: Alcohol acts as a diuretic, which means it makes you urinate more than usual leading to a subsequent loss of electrolytes.
+ Medications: Certain medications, like laxatives and diuretics, can deplete electrolytes.
+ Underlying Health Problems: Conditions such as kidney disease, liver disease and diabetes can lead to electrolyte imbalances due to their impact on fluid regulation, hormone production and metabolic processes in the body.
+ Poor Diet: Inadequate intake of electrolyte-rich foods can lead to deficiencies over time.
Signs of an imbalance can include muscle cramps, fatigue, headaches, and even more severe symptoms like irregular heartbeats or difficulty breathing.
WHEN DO YOU NEED TO REPLENISH ELECTROLYTES?
While every situation and body is different, there are a few common instances where electrolyte replenishment may be necessary, such as:
+ During or After a Workout: Prolonged and/or strenuous exercise, particularly in hot or humid conditions will likely result in higher fluid and electrolyte loss through sweat. Electrolyte loss varies from person to person. For example, some people are “salty sweaters” and exhibit higher losses of sodium during exercise than others. If you sweat heavily and you see a white chalk on your clothing, then you're likely losing a lot of sodium. In extreme cases, drinking a large volume of water without sufficient electrolytes can lead to dangerously low levels of sodium in the blood, a potentially life-threatening condition known as hyponatremia. This condition has been observed in athletes participating in endurance sports, such as Marathons, Ultra-Marathons, and long-distance triathlons.
+ During or After a Sauna Session: Exposure to high temperatures can lead to significant fluid and electrolyte loss through sweat.
+ During Illness: If you’re sick with a fever, vomiting, or diarrhoea, you’re likely losing fluids and electrolytes rapidly.
+ After Drinking Alcohol: Alcohol supresses the antidiuretic hormone (ADH) that usually helps your body hold onto water and electrolytes instead of losing them through urine. This can lead to dehydration and an imbalance in electrolytes. Drinking water with electrolytes can help prevent dehydration and hangover symptoms.
+ While Traveling: Long flights can lead to dehydration, making electrolyte balance crucial.
+ In Everyday Life: 66% of Britons are dehydrated, and many of us don’t even know it. Staying hydrated and maintaining electrolyte balance can help with mental clarity, energy levels, and overall health.
DO ELECTROLYTE SUPPLEMENTS REALLY WORK?
In short yes. Research shows that electrolytes help with improved hydration, better athletic performance, enhanced recovery of muscles and tissues, and healthy cellular, brain and nerve function.
Aid Hydration & Performance:
When you engage in physical activity, your body loses water and electrolytes through sweat. Studies show that even mild dehydration (sweat loss of 1-2% of your body weight) can have a detrimental impact on performance and result in reduced strength, speed, energy, and focus. And, drinking plain water isn’t going to be enough to rehydrate you—the water won’t absorb well enough, since you need electrolytes to help keep the fluid in your body’s cells. Without them, the fluid will end up passing through your body too quickly via your urine. Studies show you need a balanced ratio of water and electrolytes to maintain proper hydration and better overall performance. For example:
+ A 2021 study involving male participants found that an electrolyte drink before and after exhaustive exercise increased body capacity to retain water (meaning it would take longer to become dehydrated), plus the group showed improved exercise ability, and reduced exercise-related fatigue versus drinking regular water.
+ A 2016 double-blind study found that athletes who supplemented with electrolytes before and during a half-Ironman improved their race times by an average of +8%.
In fact, the ISSN (International Society of Sports Nutrition) states that limiting dehydration during exercise is one of the most effective ways to maintain exercise capacity. It recommends individuals drink enough fluids pre-exercise to prevent dehydration, during exercise to maintain body weight and soon after exercise to completely replace lost fluid and electrolytes.
Alleviate Muscle Cramps:
Research shows that drinking electrolyte water can help prevent and alleviate muscle cramps – especially during strenuous physical activity. This is because electrolytes facilitate muscle contraction and relaxation and promote normal muscle function. For example, a 2022 study involving young men found that those who drank an electrolyte solution several times whilst performing downhill running had a decreased susceptibility to exercise-associated muscle cramps.
Promote Tissue Recovery:
Electrolytes—especially sodium—allow nutrients to move to healing tissues through a cellular process called osmosis, promoting faster recovery. Calcium also plays a vital role in blood clotting and bone health, essential for healing post-exercise, injury, or surgery. This is why surgical patients often receive IV fluids to efficiently restore electrolytes.
Boost Cellular Function:
Electrolytes are crucial for every cellular activity in the body. They facilitate the transport of nutrients into cells and the removal of waste, helping cells function efficiently and reducing the workload on the kidneys and liver.
Support Brain Function:
Research shows that even mild dehydration can lead to reduced cognitive abilities, diminished concentration and alertness, and slower reaction times. This is because the nervous system is a complex network of nerves and cells that transmit signals and messages between the brain and the rest of the body, and electrolytes play an integral role in that communication process. For example, a 2019 study found that dehydration had negative effects on fatigue, attention and focus, reaction speed, and short-term memory.
Facilitate Recovery from Illness:
Severe and/or on-going vomiting and diarrhoea can cause your body to lose fluids and important electrolytes, and lead to dehydration quickly. Drinking water enhanced with electrolytes can help prevent dehydration and help your body to recover and regain normal function more quickly. In fact, the NHS advises that if you are vomiting or have diarrhoea, and are losing too much fluid, you need to put back the salts and minerals your body has lost by taking oral rehydration solutions.
Support Digestion:
Proper hydration is crucial for digestion. Electrolytes help maintain the body’s fluid balance, ensuring there is enough water for digestive processes, such as breaking down food and moving it through the intestines. What’s more, staying hydrated can prevent constipation and help keep bowel movements regular. So, whilst electrolyte solutions don’t directly aid digestion in the way enzymes or probiotics do, drinking electrolyte water can support better overall digestive health.
Manage Weight:
We’ve already established that electrolytes matter when it comes to staying hydrated, but did you know that drinking electrolyte water may help you manage your appetite and eat fewer calories? Moreover, a review of studies found that chronic dehydration was associated with obesity, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
HOW DO YOU REPLENISH ELECTROLYTES?
For optimal hydration, consider supplements like SURGE, a sugar-free drink mix that contains all six essential electrolytes, plus vitamins C, B6, B12, and creatine to keep you hydrated, enhance your physical performance and endurance, and help you recover faster.
SURGE can be taken before, during, and/or after exercise to help you replenish electrolytes lost through sweat.
Sodium chloride (salt) is the primary electrolyte in sweat, with potassium, magnesium, and calcium present in smaller amounts. The average person loses about 500mg to 1,500mg of sodium per litre of sweat during intense exercise. Since individual sweat rates vary widely—from 0.5 to 2 litres per hour—this means that sodium loss can range from 250mg to 3,000mg per hour, depending on factors like fitness level, exercise intensity and duration, environmental conditions (temperature and humidity), genetics and body mass.
Each serving of SURGE provides an optimal dose of all six essential electrolytes including 240mg (10% RI) of Sodium (as Pink Himalayan Salt). So, if your exercise sessions are between 30-90 minutes and you’re eating a balanced and nutritious diet, 1-2 stick packs of SURGE should be sufficient to replenish what you lose.
One advantage of SURGE electrolyte powder is, you can add as much or as little, as you need to your water. Furthermore, SURGE is not over indexed on Sodium which means you can take it to maintain daily hydration even when you’re not hitting the gym.
It’s important to note, the NHS recommends no more than 6g of salt (2.4g of sodium) a day. Consuming excess amounts of salt can have an adverse effect on your health so it’s important to only replenish what your body needs to maintain balance. For example, some of the higher-dose sodium products on the market could aggravate blood pressure. What’s more, most electrolyte powders are incomplete and contain only two out of the six essential electrolytes our bodies need, and they can be high in sugar and calories. SURGE is a complete electrolyte formula and contains zero sugar and just 2 calories per serving.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Electrolytes help with hydration and rehydration - and incorporating electrolyte-rich supplements like SURGE into your routine can help keep your body functioning at its best - so you can go harder, recover faster, and feel your best every day.
Advice is for information only and should not replace medical care. Consult a healthcare professional if you have any questions or are taking any other medications before you try any remedies or supplements.
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