Electrolytes

Does it work?

• -Only if you're going long, hot, and sweaty. For a normal gym session or a sub-60-minute run, you don't need an electrolyte product — a normal salted diet covers it. But across long, hot endurance sessions (90+ minutes, heavy sweating), replacing sodium helps you hold fluid, stay comfortable, and avoid the cramps-and-fog end of dehydration. It is not a performance booster and it does not prevent the dangerous problem (hyponatremia) — overdrinking does that, not low salt.

How much · when

• -Trigger: sessions over ~90 min, hot weather, or if you're a salty/heavy sweater (white crust on kit). Below that, skip it.
• -Aim for ~300-600 mg sodium per hour during long efforts; potassium and magnesium add little on top of sodium and a normal diet.
• -Drink to thirst, not on a schedule. Sodium helps you retain the fluid you drink, but it can't undo overdrinking.
• -After a sweaty session, salt your food and rehydrate with fluid plus sodium; you don't need a branded powder to do it.

The catch

• -For short or moderate training, electrolytes don't beat plain water plus a normal diet — the deficit you'd replace is tiny.
• -They don't directly improve power, speed, or endurance; the benefit is staying hydrated and comfortable on long efforts, not a performance edge.
• -Branded electrolyte powders are often just expensive salt — a pinch of table salt and some food cover most needs for far less.

Better option

• -For anything under ~90 minutes, plain water and a normally salted diet do the job; save the electrolytes for long, hot, sweaty days.

Safety

• -The real endurance danger is hyponatremia from drinking too much water, not from too little salt — don't overdrink. Drink to thirst.
• -If you have high blood pressure, kidney disease, or are on a sodium-restricted diet, talk to your doctor before adding sodium products.
• -Sugary sports drinks add calories you may not want; if you only need electrolytes, plain water plus salt is cleaner.

Key research

• American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exercise and fluid replacementMed Sci Sports Exerc · 2007 · Position stand
• Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia: 2017 UpdateFront Med (Lausanne) · 2017 · Review
• Effect of exercise-induced dehydration on time-trial exercise performance: a meta-analysisBr J Sports Med · 2011 · Meta-analysis
• Does Hypohydration Really Impair Endurance Performance? Methodological Considerations for Interpreting Hydration ResearchSports Med · 2019 · Systematic review
• Impact of dehydration on perceived exertion during endurance exercise: A systematic review with meta-analysisJ Exerc Sci Fit · 2022 · Meta-analysis

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