Why Electrolytes Are A Game-Changer

Everyone should be supplementing them.

To provide you education on electrolytes, what they are, why we need them, how they support brain function and health, and keep you working and feeling at max capacity.

The information below is pulled directly from LMNT, a leading electrolyte supplement based on facts and true Science. Their writing makes the information digestible to the everyday user.

Electrolytes are the driving force behind energy production in our cells, nerves, and muscles. Living without electrolytes is like operating your remote control without batteries. You’re going to be stuck on the same channel. The battery analogy is suitable because electrolytes like sodium, chloride, and potassium carry electrical charges that power your nervous system. Significant electrolytes include sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, calcium, phosphate, and bicarbonates.

Sodium and potassium, for instance, help conduct the electrical signals that tell our muscles to fire. These electrical signals also transmit messages between brain cells, allowing us to think. Magnesium, on the other hand, is a key cofactor in ATP production. ATP is the energy we use to power our cells (and it works hand-in-hand with sodium and potassium to charge cells up to fire the next nerve signal).

Electrolytes also contribute to our subjective feeling of energy - being well-rested, regulating stress hormones, maintaining healthy blood pressure. When muscles "pump" during a workout, the cells are filling with fluid But fluids don't move on their own - electrolytes, especially sodium, attract water and move it across cell membranes by a process called osmosis. Increased blood flow also contributes to muscle pumps.

Sodium plays two important roles in the brain: Balancing fluids and enabling cellular communication.

In terms of fluid balance, sodium influences the distribution of water in and outside cells. This helps keep the brain a proper size — pretty important.

Cellular communication-wise, sodium helps conduct the electrical signals that brain cells use to talk to one another.

Short your electrolytes, and you short the system - leading not only to headaches, but cognitive impairments like brain fog and I fatigue. Consuming enough sodium is an easy way to prevent headaches related to electrolyte imbalances.

We've also heard from many in our community that drinking LMNT has helped them prevent headaches' tougher cousin, migraines. Most of us think of food as our source of energy. That's true — but there's more to the energy story. Our bodies convert food (stored energy) into ATP (usable energy). ATP then powers the sodium-potassium pumps in our cells, which tell nerve impulses to fire. Those nerve impulses allow our hearts to beat, muscles to contract, and thoughts to form. In other words, sodium-potassium pumps help turn energy into action.

An electrolyte deficiency compromises this system. And you best believe that affects our ability to turn energy into action, whether that's sprinting around a track or concentrating at work.

The short of it: Eat well and Stay Salty to stay energized.

So what do I do?

Athletes exercising in warm climates lose between 3.5 and 7 grams of sodium per day through sweat so ideally 4 - 6 grams of salt in total per day. ½ teaspoon salt provides about 1 gram sodium Institute of Medicine’s daily target for potassium (4.7 grams) but can shoot between 3.5 - 5 grams.

Magnesium deficiency is also pervasive in society—we should be shooting for around 400–600 mg daily.