Electrolytes are essential minerals in the body. Runners need electrolytes in order to maintain their overall electrolyte balance of electrolytes, which is especially important during exercise and in hot weather.
Here’s what runners need to know about electrolytes.
WHAT ARE ELECTROLYTES?
🫀 Electrolytes are natural minerals that our body needs to help regulate many crucial basic functions, including heart beat, muscle contraction, nerve function and cognition.
⚡ Electrolytes, as the name suggests, are electrically charged, and they pass nerve impulses all around the body to regulate functions.
🪫 If we’re low on electrolytes, it’s like we’re low on power and those impulses cannot fire as they should.
🍌 We get electrolytes from food and drink, and our body tries to maintain a constant balance of all the electrolytes. If we’re unbalanced it can lead to serious health issues.
💦 Electrolytes are water soluble and travel around our body in the blood. We lose electrolytes in our sweat – so if we sweat a lot, it’s essential that we replace lost electrolytes. Vomiting and diarrhea also cause us to lose electrolytes (Pedialyte and Dioralyte are just electrolyte replacements).
🧂 The main electrolytes include sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium and chloride.
WHAT DO ELECTROLYTES DO?
Electrolytes maintain fluid balance. This means they regulate fluid movement around the cells, keeping blood volume and blood pressure stable.
Electrolytes support muscle function. They are crucial for our muscles contracting and relaxing, and when unbalanced we could suffer from muscle weakness and fatigue, and perhaps muscle cramp.
Electrolytes transmit nerve signals. They pass messages all around the body and that can impact every heart beat, every movement and every thought we make.
Electrolytes support the cells. They are able to help produce energy in cells plus they get nutrients to the cells and remove waste products.
WHY DO RUNNERS NEED ELECTROLYTES?
The key thing to remember is that the body wants to maintain a balanced electrolyte profile. If we sweat a lot, and/or drink a lot of plain water (or other drinks, like alcohol), then we change our electrolyte balance.
Sweat is mostly water, but it also contains electrolytes, primarily sodium and chloride. Sodium chloride is salt, which is why we may feel salty or have salty skin after exercise. The more we sweat, the more electrolytes we lose.
If our electrolytes become unbalanced during exercise it can cause numerous issues:
Muscle weakness, fatigue and potentially muscle cramps.
Dehydration, which can lead to reduced blood pressure and blood flow, plus can make it harder to regulate body temperature and can lead to heat stress.
Reduced nerve function, which could cause coordination issues and slower reaction times.
Reduced cognitive function which can make decision making harder.
In extreme cases it can lead to an irregular heart beat or even collapsing and cardiac arrest. This is serious, but can be managed by ensuring you take on electrolytes before and during exercise.
WHEN TO TAKE ELECTROLYTES
Take electrolytes before a run. If you’re going for a long run, or if it’s a hot day, then take additional electrolytes with you to stay hydrated during the run.
If you feel cravings for salt after a run then it’s a sign that you may need more electrolytes. Likewise, if you feel brain fog or mental fatigue after exercise then it may mean you need more electrolytes.
The amount of electrolytes you need will depend on the amount you sweat and the ‘saltiness’ of your sweat. If you want to know more about your sweat you can do a sweat test.
If you live in a hot place or are very active, then you can supplement with electrolytes every day.
There are numerous types of electrolytes that runners and athletes can take:
Electrolyte tablets which dissolve in water (or other liquids)
Sports drinks which contain electrolytes (Gatorade, Lucozade, etc)
Energy drink mix powders with electrolytes
Electrolyte salt pills
Or electrolytes from food, including adding salt to food, or foods which are naturally high in electrolytes like cow milk, salty snacks, bananas, potatoes, cheese, a slice of pizza, french fries…
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT SWEATING AND ELECTROLYTES
Everyone has a different sweat rate and different ‘saltiness’ of their sweat – if you want to know exactly how much you sweat then it’s possible to do a sweat test.
Harder exercise equals more sweat. Hotter weather equals more sweat. Hard exercise in hot weather equals lots of sweat and that makes it especially important to hydrate and consider electrolytes in those conditions.
In humid weather we sweat more because we don’t feel the cooling effects of evaporation, so may require more fluid and electrolytes to rehydrate.
We get most electrolytes from food. Highly processed foods can be high in salt, while whole foods can be low in salt.
CAN LOW ELECTROLYTES BE DANGEROUS?
Yes, being very low in electrolytes can be very dangerous – and even fatal.
If you sweat heavily and hydrate with only water, then you can dangerously unbalance and dilute your electrolyte levels and this can cause a potentially fatal condition called hyponatremia.
Drinking alcohol without also having electrolytes can also be dangerous (which is why we crave salty snacks when we drink). We’re also advised to drink water alongside alcohol (which is good advice to follow), but this further dilutes the electrolytes, making it even more important to consume salt or electrolytes.
It’s important to hydrate with water and electrolytes, especially if we’re consuming more fluids or sweating more than usual.
This is relevant to everyone, and not just people who exercise a lot: if you drink too much water (or other fluids) without having electrolytes, you can imbalance your electrolytes and that can affect your cognition, concentration and fatigue levels.
It’s also possible to have too many electrolytes. Confusingly, the symptoms of too many electrolytes are very similar to too few electrolytes: fatigue, confusion, muscle weakness, nausea, unusual heart rate. If you suspect you’ve taken too few or too many electrolytes then seek medical advice.
