Electrolytes are key minerals used by the body to conduct electrical impulses that send signals to your muscles, controlling the amount of water stored in the body’s cells. Electrolytes are made up of several minerals including, Sodium, Potassium and Chloride that can commonly be found in your sweat. This is why sweat has a salty taste to it as it contains sodium chloride, also known as “table salt”.
Electrolytes can be easily lost through sweating, with the average athlete losing around 5oz (0.4 litres) of sweat during 30 minutes of exercise. During one hour of exercise, the average athlete will lose 220mg of sodium, 63mg of potassium, 8mg of magnesium and 16mg calcium. That’s a lot of electrolytes to lose!
Loss of electrolytes has been shown to weaken performance and increase recovery time. When your body becomes low on electrolytes, you can experience a multitude of negative side effects including muscle cramping and heat stress, and in more severe cases, it can lead to fatigue, headaches, decreased stamina and even blood clotting.
Electrolytes are best consumed in accordance to the profile of electrolytes that your body naturally produces, your exact profile can be found through taking a sweat test. However, the Institute of Medicine recommends to keep sodium intake under 2000mg, while also consuming 4700mg of potassium, 330-350mg of magnesium, and 800mg of calcium per day.
