Why do sports drink that hydrate you have so much sodium in them?

Question

Doesn’t salt / sodium dehydrate you?

In: 2

Answer 1

It’s a bit of a misunderstanding of what those drinks are supposed to do that gets reinforced by the marketing.

Water hydrates you, and hydrates you best. The drinks are actually for a slightly different thing. When you sweat a lot, you also lose a lot of electrolytes (basically salts for ELI5 purposes) in the process, and those will need to be replaced to keep operating at high athletic levels. Hence, the drinks have those salts in them.

But as a regular person in most situations where you’re thirsty and getting dehydrated, just water is a much better option.