Everything you need to know about Electrolytes your body needs for sport

Did you know your body is made up of 40-70% water, based on your mass? Water is essential for keeping you hydrated and helping supply essential nutrients to cells, protecting your joints and organs, and maintaining homeostasis. 

But when you take on any endurance sport, you risk losing water through sweat and respiration. And if you're doing an intense one, such as an ultra, then you need to get those essential nutrients lost from the water back into your body quickly! 

How?

One word. 

Electrolytes. 

Electrolytes are essential minerals vital for high-intensity endurance sports. Today, learn everything you need to know about the electrolytes your body needs and their role in endurance sports. 

Electrolytes defined 

Before discussing electrolytes' role in sports, let's quickly define them. Essentially, electrolytes are minerals found in the bloodstream that carry a positive electric charge. 

Electrolytes are good for you because they help your body function by supporting: 

• The amount of water in your body
• Regulation of PH levels in your blood
• Nerve and muscle function 
• Help repair tissues 

The main types of electrolytes are: 

• Calcium
• Potassium
• Sodium
• Chloride 
• Phosphate
• Magnesium
• Bicarbonate

Ultimately, electrolytes help your body generate electrical charges to perform the core functions, but to do that, they need to be dissolved into water. You can only replenish your electrolyte balance by drinking water alone. 

What happens when you don't get sufficient electrolytes? 

When you don't get enough electrolytes during exercise, your body may experience mild to severe effects, such as:

• Dehydration
• Muscle cramps
• Fatigue 
• Irregular heartbeat
• Numbness 
• Muscle spasms
• Breathing problems
• Confusion
• Depression 
• Weakness
• Low anxiety 

If you feel any of these and only drink water, thinking you're dehydrating, then it's not going to cut it. Drinking water would dilute your internal electrolyte concentration on the trail, track, gym, sea, or anywhere else. Water can often put your body more off balance, which is why you need electrolytes to help support the rehydration process. 

How are electrolytes good for you?

As an athlete, you produce sweat as a by-product of exercise, which means you're losing electrolytes mainly in the form of sodium (Na+), Chloride (CI-), Potassium (K+), Magnesium (Mg2+), and Calcium (Ca2+). And you must have electrolytes to help support your muscle contraction and fluid balance over several hours to sustain your performance. 

While you can replenish your electrolyte levels through natural food sources, such as bananas, sweet potatoes, spinach, broccoli, etc., it's not always sustainable to get them into your bloodstream quickly during exercise.

What's the best way? 

Well, consuming electrolytes in powder form mixed with water- but more later.

Situations you may need electrolytes

Now you know about the electrolytes your body needs, let's explore the situations when you might need them. Here are five areas where you might need to top up and replenish your levels of electrolytes:

Endurance Sports 

If you love to run or cycle over long distances or time frames, you may need to increase your electrolyte intake. Otherwise, you can lose lots of sodium and electrolytes through sweat, causing dehydration and hyponatremia if you don't replenish. 

High intensity fitness 

If you're a fan of HIIT workouts or participate in high-intensity team sports that prioritise quick bursts of energy, you may want to consider adding more Natural electrolytes from Australia or electrolyte powder to your routine. Quick sweating from these sports can increase the likelihood of muscle cramps and fatigue if not properly replaced. 

Hot weather 

Competing in hot or humid environments encourages sweat production and a higher loss of electrolytes. To prevent dehydration and the risk of heat-related illnesses, it might be wise to increase your intake of electrolyte-rich food and drinks. 

Recovery 

Electrolytes also play a crucial role in your recovery, helping you get back to the tasks you love to do at a quicker pace. Sodium helps retain water in your body, whereas potassium supports muscle recovery. Eating electrolyte rich foods or drinks following exercise can increase recovery and reduce soreness. 

Illness 

When you're sick or unwell, you may need electrolytes, as they can help restore essential minerals and fluids. They can also help rehydrate you, restore nutrients, and get you back on your recovery. 

When is the right time to replace electrolytes?

Honestly, there's no "right time" to replace electrolytes. Everyone is different and so is each situation. However if you notice yourself losing sweat so quickly, then it might be wise to take electrolytes. You can also take them before and during workouts too. Drinking an electrolyte before your workout isn't always a bad idea either as it can prepare you. 

Sometimes, it's also good to know your baseline sweat rate! This knowledge can give you an idea of when you might need to replenish with electrolytes.  

While there are a range of formulas for calculating your sweat rate, one of the simplest ways to determine your hydration is to weigh yourself before and after exercise. If you have lost weight, you will need to drink more during your next training session. 

Doing this will give you an immediate idea of whether you need to increase your intake of water and electrolytes. 

If you want to get specific, the US Center of Diseases (CDC) states you can calculate your sweat rate with this formula: 

Pre-exercise body weight - Post-exercise bodyweight + fluid intake -urine volume/exercise time in hours) = sweat rate. 

This formula can be applied to various environmental conditions, practices, intensities, and competitions. 

But if you don't have time to calculate technicalities, you can add electrolytes to your water before, during or after exercise.

After all, it's better to be safe than sorry, right?

Try Go Nutrition Electrolyte Powder 

Overall, electrolytes are good for you and can sustain and enhance your performance and recovery, too! At Go Nutrition, we have fast-friendly electrolytes for Australia, and we're not just biased—they deliver! 

Our electrolytes are nutritious and tasty! With a refreshing watermelon flavour, they help replenish lost electrolytes, support muscle function, and maintain optimal hydration, allowing you to push through intense workouts and races and recover quickly. 

Want to know more about how to optimise your performance? Check out our post - Everything you need to know about the science behind BCAAs.