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While most people are familiar with the term "electrolytes," far fewer have a real understanding of what they are or why they're important. Technically, electrolytes are minerals that are found in the human body, and the three primary ones are sodium, potassium, and magnesium. These minerals play an important role in several processes that keep your system functioning properly, and ingesting them can provide multiple benefits for athletes and fitness enthusiasts. To capture these positive effects, many people add supplements like our electrolyte powders and hydration capsules to their regular routines.
At Key Nutrients, we offer a variety of natural supplements to help people live healthier, happier lives, and many of our products prominently feature electrolytes. Here, we'll cover the specific benefits of electrolytes and the most impactful times to ingest them.
Why Are Electrolytes Important?
When your body is running low on electrolytes, it can cause all sorts of negative effects, and some of them are quite serious. If you lose too many bodily fluids without replacing enough of the lost minerals, it can result in symptoms like fatigue, irregular heartbeat, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, muscle cramps, and even convulsions or seizures. Electrolytes help regulate the balance of fluids in your body, meaning that running short on them can result in dehydration. The minerals also play a part in regulating your blood pressure and the contraction of your muscles.
Ultimately, having a healthy level of electrolytes in your system is crucial for you to feel good and function properly. So, to keep yourself healthy, energetic, and operating at peak performance, when should you drink electrolytes?
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Electrolytes During and After Exercise
A couple of the most beneficial times to drink electrolytes are while you're exercising and directly after an exercise session. It doesn't matter what type of exercise you're participating in; whether you're playing a high-intensity sport, running, riding your bike, lifting weights, or doing anything else that gets your heart pounding, it's important to replenish your body's electrolytes.
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How Do Electrolytes Help With Exercise?
If you've ever had your sweat accidentally get into your mouth, you've probably noticed that it tastes salty. That's because your sweat contains quite a bit of sodium, which is an important mineral for your system. In addition to sodium, you're also losing other electrolytes like potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
Hydration is extremely important during exercise to keep your body going and performing well. However, when you lose too many electrolytes, it's harder for your system to stay sufficiently hydrated, which can result in some or all of these negative effects:
- Dizziness
- Sudden fatigue
- Muscle cramps
- Nausea
- Increased heart rate
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Exercising in Extreme Heat
Drinking electrolytes is always a good idea when you're exercising, but it's especially important if you're doing so in extreme heat. When you're in a very hot environment, your body's natural cooling system may start to fail. Typically, you release some of that heat from your system by releasing it through your skin and sweating. However, when this stops happening, it can result in your body temperature rising to unsafe levels—especially if you're exercising.
To make sure that your internal temperature doesn't get out of hand while spending time in intense heat, it's very important to get plenty of fluids and electrolytes. That will help your body stay cool and prevent you from suffering heatstroke.
Electrolytes While You're Sick
It's also important to drink electrolytes when you're sick. While common illness symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea aren't serious issues on their own, you're losing significant amounts of fluids and electrolytes whenever they happen. And if you don't make a point to replace those lost fluids and electrolytes, you'll be at risk for severe dehydration.
When you're feeling under the weather, a typical sugary sports drink may not be the best choice. Not only are those beverages unhealthy, but the high sugar content could also make certain symptoms worse. Instead, replenishing your electrolytes with our keto electrolyte powder could be a wiser choice. Since you can easily dissolve it into water, you'll be getting the fluids your body needs as well as the minerals, and it's entirely sugar-free.
Quality Natural Supplements From Key Nutrients
Obviously, there's nothing wrong with drinking water on its own. In fact, it's something you should make a point to do regularly every day. However, there are certain times when water alone just doesn't cut it. Sometimes, your system needs helpful electrolytes to keep functioning and performing properly, and in those situations, you can't go wrong with our many hydrating and electrolyte-replenishing products at Key Nutrients. Among our powders and capsules, you'll find keto electrolytes, exogenous ketones, collagen, and several excellent health supplements. Check out our high-quality offerings now at Key Nutrients!