How can electrolyte water improve your performance?

We all know it’s essential to consume fluid before, during and after sporting activities, but is there any benefit from drinking electrolyte water instead of standard H2O? And, is there a noticeable increase in performance when replacing H2O with electrolyte water?

First, we need to know what an electrolyte is and what it does...

What are electrolytes?

Electrolytes are essential salts and minerals that can conduct electrical impulses within the body. When minerals dissolve in fluids, they form electrolytes. Minerals that contain electrolytes in your body are sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. For normal function your body needs to receive adequate amounts of electrolytes from the food or water you consume.

They are important as they help to maintain pH levels in your body. Not only do electrolytes help your organs, muscles and nerves to function properly, but they also assist with moving essential ions in and out of cells, transferring goodness around the body to where it is needed.

What are electrolyte waters?

Electrolyte water is a drink that has heightened levels of electrolytes. Each electrolyte water is infused with electrically-charged minerals.

Electrolyte drinks are specifically designed to improve hydration and other bodily functions by having optimal concentrations of only the most beneficial electrolytes. Some electrolyte drinks are specifically created for post-exercise recovery.

How do electrolytes affect your sports performance?

Electrolytes carry electrical charges between cells. This means that all the minerals you consume helps the transmission of immune signals, nerve impulses and many other communications within your body.

During physical activity you'll need additional fluids to replace the water lost through sweat. You can lose 2.5% of body weight through perspiration, and this can lead to experiencing physical impairments and a lack of cognitive functions. These include mood state, performance and reaction time.

Electrolytes are crucial for the nervous system and muscle function. Electrolyte water is fantastic for a greater hydration intake.

Nervous system function

Maintaining good fluid levels is extremely important for brain health. Your brain, after all, is an incredibly important part of your body; it sends out electrical signals through your nerve cells to communicate information to all the other cells.

The signals sent by the brain are called nerve impulses; they are created by changes to the electrical charge of the nerve cell membrane (movement of electrolyte sodium travelling across the nerve cell membrane). This then creates a chain reaction which moves more sodium ions along the nerve cell axon.

As well as electrical charges, electrolytes help regulate fluid balance throughout your body, including the amount of water inside and outside of your cells. If your electrolytes are too low or too high, it could have a neurological effect such as confusion, muscle weakness, muscle spasms and cramps.

Muscle function

Muscle function relies on the electrolyte calcium. Calcium is needed for your muscles to contract. The muscle fibres glide together and move alongside each other as the muscles shorten and contract.

The other electrolyte your muscles need is magnesium, as it facilitates muscle fibres to slide outwards and relax after contracting.

Proper hydration

Electrolytes are essential for a fully functioning hydrated body. Electrolytes contain vital minerals that are responsible for directing water to areas of your body that require it most.

The electrolyte sodium particularly helps to maintain fluid balance through osmosis. The process of osmosis helps to prevent the cells in your body from shrivelling, due to dehydration. During osmosis, water moves through the wall of a cell membrane from a dilute solution (which contains more water than electrolytes) to a greater concentrated solution (which contains more electrolytes than water).

As already mentioned, it is important to replace water and electrolytes lost through sweat in order to keep a healthy electrolyte balance. To do this we recommend you drink electrolyte water while exercising to ensure a healthy balance. This will also help to improve the brain, heart, muscles and nervous system.

How electrolyte water improves performance

Electrolyte water plays an important role in rehydrating the body. Drinking water during exercise/activities prevents excessive dehydration and changes in your electrolyte balance. The added benefits of electrolyte-enhanced water are that it helps to improve athletic performance while helping to prevent health conditions like an irregular heart beat, fatigue, nausea and, in extreme cases, seizures.

Electrolyte drinks are especially designed to help improve your mental focus and increase your energy levels. This is achieved by essential electrolytes (sodium, chloride, calcium, potassium, magnesium) helping to move important ions in and out of cells, transferring goodness around your body. Amino acids (Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine) are also a benefit from consuming electrolyte waters, greatly helping to reduce fatigue and improving muscle functions.

WOW HYDRATE electrolyte drinks also contain a range of vitamins (B6, C, D). These are great for helping to keep your immune system healthy as well as boosting your metabolism, generating more energy and improving your performance.

We believe the most effective way to replace electrolytes lost through sweat,is by drinking electrolyte water while exercising. Not only will this keep you hydrated during activities, but it will help keep your nervous system, brain, muscles and heart healthy, which is especially important for an active person.

What are the benefits of electrolyte water?

An electrolyte imbalance often happens when you are dehydrated. This is why it is so important to remain hydrated throughout the day, especially when you are sick or when you are exercising. Although water is great for rehydrating, electrolyte water is a much better alternative with many more benefits.

When we become dehydrated our body cannot perform all of its vital functions, leaving you feeling tired, experiencing muscle weakness and cramps, headaches and much more. This can be harmful to your health and leave you with further complications such as convulsions.

This is where electrolyte water really excels. Not only does it regulate your hydration levels, but also moves nutrients into your cells and waste out. It also plays a huge part in regulating your brain function, nerves, heart and muscles.

The importance of a good electrolyte balance isn't just for people taking part in sports or other activities, it is important for anyone and everyone on the go. Without electrolytes running through your body and brain, your performance is severely affected.

How are electrolyte waters different from sports drinks?

Electrolyte waters, like sports drinks, have added electrolytes for greater hydration, but sports drinks often contain large amounts of sugar and calories.

Sports drinks will provide you with energy through a carbohydrate source. They also include a few electrolytes to help ease fatigue so you can exercise for a longer amount of time. Sports drinks often have a high sugar content which may help at first, but will shortly be followed with a hard crash. This is due to your blood-sugar levels dropping which will leave you feeling fatigued – possibly with a headache.

Electrolyte drinks contain a wide range of electrolytes, vitamins and amino acids (mentioned above). They improve your mental and physical performance by keeping your electrolytes and hydration levels balanced, reducing the risk of fatigue, cramping, headaches and much more.

Why WOW HYDRATE?

WOW HYDRATE electrolyte waters boast state-of-the-art push-cap technology. Our bottle cap contains vital vitamins waiting to be released into the electrolyte water. The cap is designed to maintain all the goodness of our vitamins, keeping the ingredients at their best until they are released into the water.

Once the vitamins have been released, a blend of sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium and other minerals create a delicious, healthy electrolyte drink for all to enjoy. These come in two flavours; Orange and Lemon & Lime After you have pushed the red button on our bottles, you have a 24 hour time frame to consume the drink in order to benefit from our ingredients.

WOW HYDRATE electrolyte waters have been created for all to enjoy, no matter whether you are exercising in a gym, working outside in the sun, or even recovering from being ill. Our electrolyte enhanced waters have you covered for your health and hydration needs.