Electrolytes- do we actually need them?
Last week, I Googled “should you drink electrolytes every day”.
That might seem a bit random, but I was curious not only from my perspective as a running coach, having noticed more of my runners routinely adding electrolytes to their drinks, but also because my own interest was piqued when I read an article that claimed there was a spike of 900% of people asking Google the same question!
The article went on to say that Google had replied with a resounding “Yes, you should!” and then provided lots of affiliate links to the amazing electrolytes we should all start taking everyday, asap!
Funnily enough, when I asked Google myself, the response I received was less enthusiastic and more conditional… Here is what it said: “While electrolyte drinks can be beneficial, especially during exercise or illness, you likely don't need to drink them every day unless you have specific needs or are engaging in intense physical activity”
Despite this, social media is also (of course) telling me on a daily basis how much I must have electrolytes in my life, not only to improve my running performance, but to basically live, you guessed it, my best life!
The headlines and marketing spiel for electrolyte products are punchy, eye-catching and enticing- “Summer running hack”, “Electrolytes cramping 101”, etc etc. And it’s all appealing, of course it is, I mean who doesn’t want to run faster and find that perfect, quick fix hack that gives us the edge over the competition?
And I’m by no means any more immune to the chatter than my clients, at times I’ve absolutely been a marketer’s dream with cupboards full of supplements, everything from creatine to cherry juice clogging up the kitchen- I think there’s even a bottle of apple cider vinegar gathering dust somewhere!
But what I try to do now is resist the initial urge to splurge immediately, and do some of my own digging into the actual science of all the supplements that are following us around the internet, shouting that they are essential for us just to be human (news flash- they aren’t). Today, I thought I’d share with you my detective work into this latest cure-all, and try to answer (without affiliate links!), if we do, in fact, actually need to be spending our hard earned money on yet another supplement…
So, let’s start with the basics- what actually even are electrolytes?
Electrolytes are the minerals- sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium- in your body responsible for helping keep you hydrated, aiding muscle function and nerve signalling, which are all important functions for keeping us active and energised on a day-to-day basis.
The body doesn’t “make” electrolytes, and we absolutely can get all we need from a balanced diet. Here’s just a few easy, everyday food sources for each below:
• Sodium: Salt, pickles, and olives
• Potassium: Bananas, sweet potatoes, and spinach
• Calcium: Dairy products and leafy greens
• Magnesium: Nuts, seeds, and dark chocolate
In an ideal world of course, we’d all eat the recommended daily allowance of all food groups to keep our bodies functioning at an optimal level, however data shows that adults in the UK don’t meet full nutrient guidelines through diet alone, which is what has resulted in a lucrative market of additional supplements.
The pitch is that your diet may not only be lacking in electrolyte nutrients, but additional imbalances can occur when training for long-distance races, such as a marathon, where excessive sweating, frequent urination, sickness, and diarrhoea are quite common. And electrolyte imbalances, if not quickly addressed, can result in confusion, seizures, and, in severe cases, death. All of this makes sense.
Chatter I’m also hearing from runners is that just plain water doesn’t cut the mustard, so to speak, and it’s therefore essential to add in electrolytes, hydration tablets, and salt tablets because, drinking too much plain water is, well, dangerous.
And I get this to a degree, it’s true, if you over hydrate with plain water you can increase the risk of being “intoxicated with water” otherwise known as exercise-associated hyponatremia or EAH - when too much water moves into the brain cells causing them to swell. And as the brain is encased in a rigid skull, the swelling can lead to an increase in pressure and then boom, your brain has drowned, which is of course, less than ideal! From a running perspective, while this is unlikely and quite rare – about 14 confirmed deaths from EAH since it was first identified in 1981.
The dilemma is because it’s well documented that endurance runners (marathons/ultra-marathons) who are known to run intensely over long periods of time, particularly in hot conditions, they can benefit from electrolyte supplements due to their extreme running conditions.
But is it necessary to apply this to every run, race or event that we train for, and the million dollar question is how do we know if we need to or not? We know the dangers of over hydrating (EAH) and electrolyte imbalances, but what are the dangers of too many electrolytes in our system?
The goal of sports nutrition is to supply your body with enough energy, fluid and electrolytes necessary to achieve optimal performance, which just means doing your best and reaching your peak potential on race day. Thankfully brands have designed small and easily consumable products that make it easier for us to do this, but has the balance of what we need and what is simply just very marketable tipped over?
I honestly don’t think you have to feel shit when you run a marathon. I have run marathons where I’ve had the time of my life, that’s why I love running them, but it’s all about finding the balance between burning fuel and replenishing with enough energy, and that’s the tough bit. Consuming too little often leads to feeling like shit and underperforming, but consuming too much, particularly sodium, and it can lead to a whole host of health risks, from tummy distress to an increase in blood pressure.
You have to find what works for you and not blindly add in products because you’ve seen (and want to believe) that they’ll make THE difference, especially when there is so much individual variation of how you might lose electrolytes. We don’t lose the same quantity at the same time, you might be a particularly sweaty runner or you might be someone who doesn’t sweat at all.
And I’m sorry but the research I’ve found on this one is so contradictory- some studies show that electrolyte loss is really very small when running, and a balanced diet throughout your training cycle will absolutely supply enough replacement electrolytes on your longer runs and race day without any supplementation needed.
There’s also the fact that current sport science suggests we don’t actually even need to replace 100 percent of sodium lost in sweat, that we all have sodium reserves in our skin, with the best estimate anywhere from 50-80%. Of course, that’s quite a range and, how do you know what your starting point might be? How do you know how much you’ve lost and how much you need to replace?
Is replacing electrolytes really an issue for runners or just a bit of genius marketing? I’m leaning towards the latter. With its liberal sprinkling of pseudoscience and OTT promises that electrolytes will solve all your problems, it’s the same old sales tactic us hopeful running consumers get sold over and over again- THIS is the silver bullet, the final, perfectly fitting, jigsaw piece in our running and wellness routine.
Of course, do what works for you, if you know you are a heavy sweater no matter what the weather, or that you’ll be running for a long period of time, then being cautious and sensible, trying and testing on your training runs what works and doesn’t work is the best place to start, but my advice (boring as it may be to many!) is to always first see if there are any gaps in your diet or your training that you can fix, so that you don’t need to bridge the gap with the latest ‘hacks’.
And yes, in an ideal world we do need personalised hydration strategies with starting and finishing points, but most of us have full time jobs and care responsibilities and busy lives and are not, in fact, elite athletes- which of course is exactly what makes us easy targets to cut corners with promises of a quick fix.