There's not secrete here, every athlete, every active individual, heck even if you are a couch potato, we all need to hydrate properly.
I don't just mean drinking water. 💦
I mean consuming electrolytes.
During consultations with patients, water intake is something I routinely ask about. It's sounds so simple, but it's unfortunately become a bit more complicated than you'd expect.
Tap water contains a LOT (and I mean a lot a lot) of crap that I strongly do not recommend consuming. We'll go into the details of this in another post, but for now, let's talk about what it means to actually hydrate.
In order to hydrate, our cells need to actually absorb the water that we are drinking. In order to do this, we must have electrolytes or trace minerals on board.
What are electrolytes?
Electrolytes are electrically charged minerals that regulate nerve impulses, muscle contraction, fluid balance, and pH levels.
Without electrolytes, water cannot be efficiently absorbed or retained. And I see this quite often in my practice. Patients are drinking plenty of water, but still show signs of dehydration. A common one is waking up in the night to urinate. This should not be happening if we are actually absorbing the water we consume. But if we are not taking in electrolytes with our water, we aren't actually absorbing the water and it essentially goes right through our bodies.
If you remember learning about osmosis back in grade 10 biology, this concept explains why electrolytes are needed. Water follows sodium. If we want water to enter our cells, we need some solvent in there to pull it in.
5 Signs you are Dehydrate:
1. impaired memory
2. low mood
3. slow reaction time
4. poor recovery
5. decreased athletic performance
The Three Key Electrolytes:
Magnesium:
● works intimately with calcium and potassium, moving them in and out of cells
● Essential for over 700 enzyme functions, including ATP production (the energy substrate of our cells)
● Supports muscle and nerve relaxation as well as energy metabolism
● Commonly depleted by stress, sweat, and caffeine (looking at you coffee lovers!) ☕️
● Dr. Mandy's personal favourite mineral 🤩
Potassium:
● Main intracellular electrolyte
● Helps maintain heart rhythm and nerve function
● Works with sodium to support healthy blood pressure and fluid balance
● Only 3% of U.S. adults meet adequate intake levels 😳
Sodium:
Other Electrolytes:
In addition to the above three electrolytes, chloride, calcium, phosphate and bicarbonate are also important for maintaining fluid balance in the body.What I recommend for ALL my patients (the vast majority of whom are athletes or active individuals, but even the ones who are not active still get this advice), is to filter your water. Actually, my best advice is to become a "water snob" 😂.
What I mean by that is, Brita filters are not good enough. Your built-in fridge filter is not good enough. What is more than good enough? This beautiful Santevia countertop water filter 😍😍😍. This system uses gravity to move water through a very thorough filtration system (much more thorough than Brita....sorry Brita...), and then adds all the good minerals back in 🙌🏻.
Not only does this help immensely with absorption, it also makes the water taste amazing. Once you try it, you'll never want to drink tap water again.
As for electrolyte supplementation, there are a number of good ones out there, or you could make your own.
And, if you want to add 13.4% to your back squat PR over six weeks, this study recommends stacking your electrolytes with creatine monohydrate to make that happen 😉.
Are you a water snob? Let us know in the comment section below!
And if you are in need of some serious hydration, book in for a Hydration IV today!