Picture this: a hot August day in New Hampshire, you are sitting by the lake in the baking sun, or maybe you are playing some pickleball outside or you are sitting on your boat. It is 90 degrees and so humid you could be swimming in the air. What drips down your forehead? Sweat! And what happens when that sweat then drips into your eye? It burns! This is due to the salt content of your sweat.
What is the point of sweating? It can be frustrating when you sweat through your clothing or sweat starts dripping down your arm or face, but there is a very good reason why we sweat. Not only does sweating help to eliminate toxins from our body, but it also helps us to regulate our body temperature so that we do not overheat. Sweat is mostly made up of water (hence the dripping), but it also contains some waste products like urea and ammonia along with sodium and chloride. This is why some sweat may smell worse than others due to the amount of toxins your body has to release. It is also why it’s great to rinse off your sweat by jumping in the lake or showering as your skin (your largest organ) can reabsorb those toxins your body just tried so hard to get rid of! If you are someone who never sweats, this may not be good because your body is unable to eliminate toxins the way it needs to. On the flip side, if you are someone who works out and sweats almost daily, you may find it easier to begin sweating because your detox pathways are more open.
Now, how salty is your sweat? This actually depends on the individual, how active you are, how hot it is, and your diet. Hotter climates tend to lead to more sweating so your body can maintain its optimal temperatures of about 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Exercise, specifically cardiovascular exercise that gets your heart rate up, also leads to more sweating due to the heat released from your muscle contractions. This brings up your core body temperature, leading to the need to sweat more. If you consume a lot of salt in your diet, your body tends to sweat more salt out than “normal” to help balance your electrolytes.
It is very important to note that electrolytes are more than just salt or sodium. An electrolyte is a molecule that contains a charge. When it is dissolved in something, that charge is used to make electricity that our body’s cells can use for vital reactions and processes. When we have enough electrolytes, our body is able to hold more water in the cells (which they need to thrive) and not excrete as much water through our sweat or urine. When we do not have enough electrolytes, our cells (which make up everything in our bodies) can have a disproportionate amount of water inside vs. outside the cell. These cells can literally shrivel up if they don’t have enough water or burst if they have too much. Electrolytes are the gate agents that sit on your cell walls dictating what goes in and what comes out of the cell, keeping them healthy.
Electrolytes are also vital for conducting electrical impulses which allows for contraction of muscles and conduction of nerves. You can see now why chiropractors care so much about electrolytes! Without enough, your nerves will be less efficient at sending their electrical impulse signals to the rest of your body to tell your bicep to contract, your stomach to digest, or even your heart to beat. There is a ratio of electrolytes we want to maintain to ensure these impulses work best. The most vital electrolytes for these processes are sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Without all three of these in the right quantities, our bodies are going to start to become compromised. One of the reasons we recommend LMNT electrolytes is due to their correct ratio of sodium, magnesium, and potassium in their formula. These ensure that your body is going to be able to use those electrolytes the way it is designed to.
The average American gets the majority of their sodium from processed foods and table salt. So people who switch to a more healthy diet of whole foods and prepare more food at home tend to actually need to consume electrolytes even more. We used to be able to get natural electrolytes from the soil our food was grown in and fresh water sources from springs or streams, but the majority of the population now drinks water that has gone through some sort of processing that strips it of these electrolytes and may even add unnecessary things back in to our water.
A question we get asked a lot is can you take electrolytes if you didn’t sweat that day? And the answer is yes! One of the most prevalent ways we modern day humans lose electrolytes is not actually through sweating, but through stress. Our adrenal glands are in charge of many important functions in our body including blood pressure regulation and the production of cortisol and other stress hormones. If the adrenals do not have enough electrolytes, they will not be functioning at their prime to lower blood pressure (which already raises when we are stressed) and we may have an imbalance of stress hormones being produced, making our stress symptoms longer and lead to other adverse health outcomes. Therefore, one of the best ways to aid in your body’s stress response is to drink electrolytes!
Another great use of electrolytes to note is the power of them to help with blood sugar regulation. If your blood sugar is high, that means exactly what it sounds like: you have too much sugar in your bloodstream. One of the most effective ways to remove that sugar from your blood is for your body to be able to transport it into your muscle tissue to be used later for muscle contraction. How is that sugar able to get from the blood stream to the muscle fibers? Through gateways regulated by electrolytes! A great way to help with blood sugar levels is to drink daily electrolytes, especially around your meal times.
Whether you add electrolytes one day a week or every single day, know that you are doing a great thing for your body. Let us know in the office if you have any questions on electrolyte use for you!
Read our last blog post on healthy sun exposure and vitamin D: https://awakeningchiropractic.com/blog/2025-05-19/healthy-sun-exposure/