Why does salt water dehydrate you, but saline/sodium chloride/electrolytes hydrate you?
In: Chemistry
Electrolytes… don’t hydrate you. They just make it so that hydrating isn’t counterproductive. Your body needs sodium and potassium ions for your nervous system to send and receive electrical signals, but you lose some when you sweat, which is why sweat is salty. The idea behind drinking in electrolytes is to replace the ones you lost through sweat. Otherwise, if you just drink plain water, you just further dilute whatever electrolytes you already had.
Salt water – by which I assume you mean ocean water – has *waaaaay* more salt than sports drinks, way more than you need to replenish. The high concentration of salt causes water in yours cells to bleed through out to equalize the solute concentration on either side of the membrane. Your body interprets this as not having enough water which makes you feel thirsty.
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