Ever since I started running, all I know is that I need to drink a sh*t ton of electrolytes. But I would like to understand why on a physiological level.
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The cells in your body only function properly when they have a certain concentration of water AND a certain concentration of salt (electrolytes). The water and the electrolytes must remain in “water-electrolyte balance” for the cells to survive. Too little water in the cells, they shrink and krinkle up. Too much water inside, they explode.
When you sweat you lose both water and salt. If you replace only the water, the system won’t survive.
The cells in your body only function properly when they have a certain concentration of water AND a certain concentration of salt (electrolytes). The water and the electrolytes must remain in “water-electrolyte balance” for the cells to survive. Too little water in the cells, they shrink and krinkle up. Too much water inside, they explode.
When you sweat you lose both water and salt. If you replace only the water, the system won’t survive.
You need two things: blood volume and blood saltiness.
If your blood saltiness goes outside of a fairly narrow range, very bad things happen to you.
If your blood is not salty enough (often because you’ve sweated a ton), your kidneys will dump water out of your blood, to bring the salt concentration back up.
However, this can end up lowering the total *volume* of blood in your body down below optimal levels, making you feel thirsty.
So you drink more water, and pee it right back out again because yikes not salty enough.
And because your kidneys aren’t perfect machines, they always leak *some* salt into your urine, reducing your total salt level even more.
Rinse (out) and repeat.
This is no fun for anyone involved.
In order to fix it, you need to consume some salt (and optionally some other salt-like chemicals) so your kidneys will let you hold onto the water you take in.
If you take in too much salt, it’s less of an issue, as you can just guzzle water to dilute yourself, and your kidneys will gradually let the excess volume out along with some of the salt. It takes longer but it gets there without too much intervention.
You need two things: blood volume and blood saltiness.
If your blood saltiness goes outside of a fairly narrow range, very bad things happen to you.
If your blood is not salty enough (often because you’ve sweated a ton), your kidneys will dump water out of your blood, to bring the salt concentration back up.
However, this can end up lowering the total *volume* of blood in your body down below optimal levels, making you feel thirsty.
So you drink more water, and pee it right back out again because yikes not salty enough.
And because your kidneys aren’t perfect machines, they always leak *some* salt into your urine, reducing your total salt level even more.
Rinse (out) and repeat.
This is no fun for anyone involved.
In order to fix it, you need to consume some salt (and optionally some other salt-like chemicals) so your kidneys will let you hold onto the water you take in.
If you take in too much salt, it’s less of an issue, as you can just guzzle water to dilute yourself, and your kidneys will gradually let the excess volume out along with some of the salt. It takes longer but it gets there without too much intervention.
Theres nothing thats magical about it (even if its got what the plants crave).
A general rule of the human body is that water follows salt. Your sweat glands excrete water to cool you down. In order to accomplish this, the glandular cells have molecular machinery for pumping out sodium and chloride. The water follows the salt.
If you sweat a lot, you can lose a significant amount of sodium and chloride. The body is good at adjusting for this (by controlling renal excretion of sodium and chloride into urine) but only to a point. If you rehydrate with just plain water after losing a lot through sweat, you can potentially have a dangerous condition called hyponatremia.
For a typical Western diet that is already quite high in salt, and assuming a reasonable amount of sweat, you can often safely rehydrate with just water. A very general and nonspecific guideline is to consider sports drink if your exercise lasts longer than an hour.
Theres nothing thats magical about it (even if its got what the plants crave).
A general rule of the human body is that water follows salt. Your sweat glands excrete water to cool you down. In order to accomplish this, the glandular cells have molecular machinery for pumping out sodium and chloride. The water follows the salt.
If you sweat a lot, you can lose a significant amount of sodium and chloride. The body is good at adjusting for this (by controlling renal excretion of sodium and chloride into urine) but only to a point. If you rehydrate with just plain water after losing a lot through sweat, you can potentially have a dangerous condition called hyponatremia.
For a typical Western diet that is already quite high in salt, and assuming a reasonable amount of sweat, you can often safely rehydrate with just water. A very general and nonspecific guideline is to consider sports drink if your exercise lasts longer than an hour.
Let’s give this a shot. Have you ever made lemonade from a mix? If you pour the mix in a glass and only add a little water, it stays pretty clumpy right? But once you add enough water, all the powder seems to disappear in the water because it dissolves. If you add too much water, you dilute it and it doesn’t taste as good. So there must be a balance of things to achieve your goal of a tasty drink. No clumps but not too much water.
Your blood is similar in a way that it works best when there is a good balance of water and the ions dissolved within it (electrolytes). If you just drink water, you will dilute all the electrolytes in your blood too much that they can not do what they are supposed to. The opposite is also true where you may be stranded in the ocean and start drinking salt water in desperation. If this manages to enter your blood, it will be much saltier than what you usually have which is a problem.
If you want to know more about what electrolytes are actually doing in the body, that is another question that we can get into. But for now just know that your blood is not just water. It is a solution made of water that dissolves electrolytes (among many other things) and exercise causes a disruption to this balance. Specifically exercise can cause you to lose electrolytes in the sweat as well as urine so you need to replenish them. Exercise can also cause you to lose water and you need to replenish that as well. It’s best to get both of these things in a nice refreshing bottle of glacier freeze Gatorade 🙂
Let’s give this a shot. Have you ever made lemonade from a mix? If you pour the mix in a glass and only add a little water, it stays pretty clumpy right? But once you add enough water, all the powder seems to disappear in the water because it dissolves. If you add too much water, you dilute it and it doesn’t taste as good. So there must be a balance of things to achieve your goal of a tasty drink. No clumps but not too much water.
Your blood is similar in a way that it works best when there is a good balance of water and the ions dissolved within it (electrolytes). If you just drink water, you will dilute all the electrolytes in your blood too much that they can not do what they are supposed to. The opposite is also true where you may be stranded in the ocean and start drinking salt water in desperation. If this manages to enter your blood, it will be much saltier than what you usually have which is a problem.
If you want to know more about what electrolytes are actually doing in the body, that is another question that we can get into. But for now just know that your blood is not just water. It is a solution made of water that dissolves electrolytes (among many other things) and exercise causes a disruption to this balance. Specifically exercise can cause you to lose electrolytes in the sweat as well as urine so you need to replenish them. Exercise can also cause you to lose water and you need to replenish that as well. It’s best to get both of these things in a nice refreshing bottle of glacier freeze Gatorade 🙂
Electricity doesn’t like pure water. Without free ions that are able to move easily the bodies microvolt impulses to do things like tell your heart to pump or your lungs to breath don’t work so well.
Also you constantly use up electrolytes through sweating and peeing so your body needs to replace that.
Electricity doesn’t like pure water. Without free ions that are able to move easily the bodies microvolt impulses to do things like tell your heart to pump or your lungs to breath don’t work so well.
Also you constantly use up electrolytes through sweating and peeing so your body needs to replace that.
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