Electrolytes: The Unsung Heroes of Physical Performance

Electrolytes are minerals with an electric charge, crucial for keeping our bodies in top shape. They include sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and chloride. These little legends help with hydration, nerve and muscle function, blood pressure, and even tissue repair.

Hydration and Performance

Staying hydrated isn’t just about guzzling water; it’s about keeping your electrolytes balanced. This balance is key for transporting nutrients, getting rid of waste, and keeping your nervous system in check. If you’re feeling dizzy, fatigued, or getting muscle cramps, you might be low on electrolytes.

Results from studies highlight the importance of adequate hydration during full body resistance exercise sessions (Kraft et al., 2010).

Studies examining the impact of dehydration versus optimal hydration on intermittent sprint performance found that dehydration hindered sprint performance, worsened perceived recovery status before exercise, and elevated both the rate of perceived exertion and heart rate response (Davis et al., 2015)

Muscle Function and Energy

Electrolytes are vital for muscle function, helping with contraction and relaxation. For athletes, maintaining this balance can prevent cramps and fatigue, ensuring peak performance. Dehydration can seriously mess with your strength and endurance, so staying hydrated is a must.

Heat Stress and Electrolytes

When you exercise, your body temperature increases. Electrolytes assist in cooling your body through mechanisms like sweating. Keeping a balanced level of electrolytes is crucial to avoid heat-related exhaustion and performance decline. Research on anaerobic cycling shows that the combination of heat exposure and dehydration significantly impacts athletes more than either factor alone. (Kraft et al., 2011)

Sources of Electrolytes

You can get great sources of electrolytes from foods like:

• Potassium: Bananas, salmon, white beans, avocado
• Sodium: Dill pickles, clams, table salt, cheese
• Magnesium: Spinach, pumpkin seeds, lima beans, brown rice, almonds
• Calcium: Milk, cheese, spinach, tofu, yoghurt

You will notice that most foods are great for providing singular electrolytes, so to get all of your electrolytes from diet alone would require eating quite a variety of food and in decent quantities of each.

For a convenient boost, check out our Purelyte electrolyte drink mix. They pack a punch with sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium without any sugar or caffeine and tastes purelicious.

Conclusion

Electrolytes are essential for hydration, muscle function, and energy production which has a huge impact on physical performance. Whether you’re an everyday athlete or a pro, keeping your electrolytes in balance is crucial. Natural sources are great, but supplements can be handy too. Particularly to ensure you are "fully loaded" prior to exercise, replenishing during exercise (hard to eat Spinach while playing a game of basketball), and recovering optimally afterwards.

References

Kraft JA, Green JM, Bishop PA, Richardson MT, Neggers YH, Leeper JD. Impact of dehydration on a full body resistance exercise protocol. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2010 May;109(2):259-67. doi: 10.1007/s00421-009-1348-3. Epub 2010 Jan 12. PMID: 20066432.

Davis JK, Laurent CM, Allen KE, Green JM, Stolworthy NI, Welch TR, Nevett ME. Influence of Dehydration on Intermittent Sprint Performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2015 Sep;29(9):2586-93. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000907. Erratum in: J Strength Cond Res. 2018 Aug;32(8):e10. PMID: 25774626.

Judelson DA, Maresh CM, Anderson JM, Armstrong LE, Casa DJ, Kraemer WJ, Volek JS. Hydration and muscular performance: does fluid balance affect strength, power and high-intensity endurance? Sports Med. 2007;37(10):907-21. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200737100-00006. PMID: 17887814.

Kraft JA, Green JM, Bishop PA, Richardson MT, Neggers YH, Leeper JD. Effects of heat exposure and 3% dehydration achieved via hot water immersion on repeated cycle sprint performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Mar;25(3):778-86. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181c1f79d. PMID: 20512070.