How do electrolytes keep you hidrated and why they are necessary?

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A lot of drinks claims that electrolyte salts (like Na, Mg and K) keeps you hidrated, if you have diarrea or if you are a professional athlead.
And those salts are essencial in long fasts as well.
I don’t understand why

In: Biology

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Your body loses electrolytes when you sweat (or lose a lot of water in general).

The problem is, your body uses those electrolytes for signaling in the body: your nerves pump electrolytes in and out of themselves to send electrical signals through your body, your muscle cells use them to control movement. It’s essential to replace them as your body loses them.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Your muscles and nervous system don’t function properly without adequate sodium, potassium, and chloride, and if you’re rapidly losing fluids through sweat or diarrhoea your supply of these is going to be depleted. Rehydrating with water alone is better than not rehydrating, but it can have the effect of diluting the remaing electrolytes in your body that are necessary to function (if sufficiently diluted, it can be fatal – see ‘water intoxication’). So, adding electrolytes means that muscle and nervous system function is supported as you rehydrate.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Very short explanation: They balance out the fluids in your body. If you don’t have enough electrolytes, the water will flush out of your tissue and cells, leaving you dehydrated. So, they sort of funktion like magnets to water (not really but its the easiest way to understand osmosis)

Anonymous 0 Comments

Brawndo has electrolytes.

(Really though…water is attracted to salt, like a magnet, so having plentiful salt in your system helps lure water away from your digestive track and get it to the important areas.)