We all want to improve our physical performance, reduce the negative effects of high-intensity workouts, and ensure that endurance and strength gains follow our expectations. But without external help, that’s pretty much impossible. When working out, your body loses essential minerals such as sodium, potassium and magnesium, which are absolutely crucial for the proper functioning of our internal systems.
Electrolytes are involved in pretty much all processes governing our body, and they regulate the balance of fluids inside our cells, support nerve signalling, and even have an effect on maintaining our heart rhythm within normal parameters. Electrolytes are naturally occurring minerals that have either a positive or negative electrical charge when dissolved in water.
They help the body absorb and process fluids, they control the contractions of our muscles, and they maintain the blood’s pH level. In other words, without electrolytes, we are toast. But replenishing them naturally takes some time, which is why the usage of electrolyte drinks, for recovery, is now ubiquitous.
A Fragile Balance
Typically, your body’s electrolyte levels remain constant and are not influenced by external factors. That is, until you are subjected to significant stressors, such as illness, high-intensity efforts, or heat/humidity that makes us sweat profusely. A healthy individual should have blood sodium levels between 135 and 145 mmol/L, and a potassium blood balance between 3.5 and 5 mmol/L. But these values are unfortunately prone to change if you don’t replace lost minerals with electrolyte drinks or a high-quality electrolyte supplement.
When sweating your body doesn’t just eliminate water. It also loses a high quantity of chloride, magnesium, potassium, calcium, and most importantly, sodium. Now, typically, this is not a big deal. Electrolyte depletion is common and easily treatable with hydration, rest and proper nutrition. But it will not exactly be pleasant. Have you ever felt significant cramps after a workout? Felt dizzy or experienced mental confusion that persisted for hours on end? It’s possible that symptoms like this were linked to a deficiency in your blood’s electrolyte levels.
A Miraculous System with a Fatal Flaw
Even if we don’t exactly show it nowadays, humans are one of the most impressive long-distance runners in the animal kingdom. Alongside our enhanced intelligence, made possible by the dense synapses in our brain, humans have evolved the capability to chase prey for distances of tens of miles on end, which made us a force to be reckoned with in ancient times. We were never the fastest or the strongest. However, we did run the farthest, and this is pretty much how, at the beginning of our early history, we became this planet’s apex predators.
What made this endurance possible? Sweating. Humans have one of the most efficient cooling systems in the mammal family, and unfortunately, electrolyte loss is a consequence of the way we adapted to the environment. Electrolyte-free sweating is not possible, and for the longest time it wasn’t exactly a problem, as our ancestors ran at lower intensity levels than what we currently associate with modern sports. And here’s the issue.
Inside you, there’s an Apex predator that is perfectly capable of jogging for miles and miles on end. But when we combine our sweating ability with the high-intensity exercises we engage in, we start losing more electrolytes than we can realistically replenish from natural water sources and salt-containing food. It’s still possible of course to get you required electrolytes largely from food, but it takes a bit of time.
Can’t You Just Drink Water?
Well, no, because your body cannot properly absorb and make use of water without electrolytes such as sodium. In fact, if you want to hydrate yourself quickly, your best bet would be to get a couple of electrolyte drinks. Water follows osmotic gradients, but the issue is that these cellular gradients are formed by electrolytes, not by water itself. Where there are electrolytes, water follows. No electrolytes? The water stays in the blood without entering cells.
An electrolyte supplement helps with hydration by acting at the level of the sodium-glucose cotransporters, which are a family of membrane proteins that have the role of moving glucose and sodium inside cells. The basic principle is quite straightforward. With the aid of SGLT-1, sodium is able to enter the intestinal cells, alongside glucose and then water. This process works with plain water as well, as normal sources of water also include traces of the minerals required for hydration. But the process is slower.
Top-shelf electrolyte drinks are a way to trick our cells into receiving more water, and thus, they contribute to faster hydration. Moreover, liquids enter the bloodstream much faster than ingested food. So, while electrolyte-rich foods are fantastic for supporting your health, only with a water-based electrolyte supplement do you have any chance at minimising the pain and soreness felt after intense workouts, in just mere minutes.
How Should You Feel After Electrolyte Drinks?
It depends on the characteristics of your body and your natural electrolyte levels. That said, in my case, the first thing I immediately notice is a substantial decrease in thirst and a gradual increase in energy levels. With plain water, I often feel absolutely drained after intense exercise, and in some cases, I even have to deal with mental fogginess that’s a nightmare to handle, especially if I still have some errands for that day.
An electrolyte supplement, at least in my case, reduces the immediate post-workout effects I usually experience after intense exercise, eliminates severe cramping, and increases my energy levels. Now, electrolytes are not exactly magical. My muscles still hurt, I still get tired, and I do still need a break from time to time. But personally, I think that modern exercise routines and electrolyte concentrate go hand in hand.
When not using an electrolyte supplement, I often feel a thirst that can’t be satisfied, severe muscle cramps, experience brain fog, and I deal with dehydration headaches that don’t get better no matter how much water I later drink. At first, I thought I was simply out of shape and that symptoms like these were previously normal. However, I was wrong, as the moment I started to invest in electrolyte drinks, my post-workout performance improved.
