The Ultimate Guide to Hydration: Why Water Alone Isn't Enough

Even if you haven’t been a lifelong devotee to athletics or exercise, you’re probably still generally aware of how important it is to remain hydrated. Between elementary school general science classes, high school health courses, commercials for sports drinks, and standard public service announcements, you’ve been inundated with messages that encourage you to stay hydrated throughout your life, along with the advice to drink more water to replenish any fluid lost through sweat.

Given this understanding of the way nutrition information is handed down, no one would blame you if you believed you could simply drink plain water and remain adequately hydrated. 

Unfortunately, you might physically feel otherwise in the aftermath of training, and also feel like you’ve been cheating yourself out of many of the other nutrient elements that contribute to proper hydration. 

While drinking more water is a commendable first step, as most people fall well short of basic hydration marks regardless of their other nutrition habits, it’s important to account for hydration within a focused nutrition and supplement strategy that addresses a wide variety of needs.

With this in mind, we’re going to explain why water alone isn’t enough to ensure adequate hydration. We’ll also look to accomplish this while providing you with a nutrition strategy that addresses all of your hydration concerns within the broader context of a healthy, balanced diet, and potentially reaching for a little help from a fruit-flavored electrolyte supplement.

The Importance of Hydration for Health and Performance 

Realistically, drinking an adequate supply of water is more important for your short- and long-term health than getting enough fuel for your workout in the form of calories from carbohydrates, protein, and fat. 

Most people can recall that the human body is 60-70 percent water, which also means that it usually isn’t difficult to explain to someone the benefits of replenishing liquid throughout the day, since they’re providing the body with its most abundant element.

Yet, the specifics of how hydration specifically improves your physical functionality and causes you to feel more mentally secure in the process is often glossed over. Well, we’re going to un-gloss the narrative and explain precisely how hydration improves your life.

The Fundamental Role of Water 

Part of the significance behind the observation that you are composed primarily of water is the fact that water is the liquid conveyance system through which you receive every nutrient that you need, and discard all of the waste that you don’t.  

To put it another way, water manages the delivery of all essential nutrients and micronutrients — including vitamins and minerals — to the systems and cells of your body. It also collects waste products and excretes them through the creation and elimination of urine. 

Beyond that, water also regulates your temperature. Whether it’s owed to the presence of extreme heat, or prompted by exercise, your body often perspires, and when the sweat evaporates from the surface of your skin, this process helps to cool you down. 

Finally, water plays a prominent role in joint lubrication, as it is the predominant ingredient in the synovial fluid that acts as a buffer between bones and keeps their otherwise hard and rough edges from coming into contact with one another. The presence of water preserves the synovial fluid, and prevents all of your movements from resulting in extreme pain, and drastically reduces your odds of becoming injured. 

Hydration and Physical Performance

While an average of 60 percent of your body is composed of water, your muscle tissue is upwards of 80 percent water. Not only does this mean that hydrating yourself is a requirement if you wish to preserve the volume of your muscles, but you need to replenish your muscles’ water content simply to avoid issues like muscle cramps, fatigue, and especially decreased strength.

One study showed that trainees approaching strength-based exercises with a less than adequate state of hydration were immediately handicapping their strength by two percent, their power by three percent, and their capacity to engage in high-intensity exercise of under two minutes by 10 percent. (1)

Outside of fitness activities related to strength, a lack of hydration also compromises cardiovascular performance. Understandably, human blood is more than 80 percent water, which means that improper hydration reduces blood volume, and compromises your ability to deliver oxygen and vital nutrients to your muscles during exercise. This can lead to a startling depletion of energy and a sudden loss of motivation to continue your fat-burning cardio sessions.

Part and parcel to this is your body’s overall capacity to sustain itself during prolonged physical activity. With your optimal strength level and cardiovascular efficiency already reduced, you can also expect to find yourself beset by a reduction in energy. This means that not hydrating properly is likely to cause a massive dropoff in your endurance compared to what you might have expected otherwise.

In research involving athletes engaging in three to five sets of resistance training, the research subjects experienced a much steeper decline in performance during every set following the first set if they were in a state of suboptimal hydration. (2)

In short, while it’s basic knowledge that you should fill your menu with carbohydrates and fat as the primary energy sources to fuel your workout, failing to fill your daily water quota can be even more damaging to the quality of your training.

Last but not least, research suggests that the simple act of maintaining optimal hydration has been shown to aid lipolysis. In other words, simply by keeping yourself hydrated, you are more likely to be successful in your efforts to shed unwanted fat. (3)

Understanding Dehydration

Everyone has experienced a lack of hydration at one point or another, whether they have been involved in athletic endeavors or not. Stated simply, dehydration occurs when your body loses more fluids than it takes in, which is especially common during exercise.

Whenever you feel the first discomfort of thirst — including the sensation of having a dry mouth — this is an early sign that you are experiencing suboptimal hydration. In addition, if you notice dark urine when you use the bathroom, this can also be a sign that you are short on the liquid required to dilute the waste products it is excreting. 

In the short term, episodes of severe water depletion can lead to dizziness, confusion, and fainting. However, even long-term scenarios where you are constantly dehydrated — albeit to a lesser degree — can result in harsh consequences, including kidney stones, urinary tract infections, and even potential kidney failure. This is all in addition to a noticeable impairment to your basic cognitive function and physical performance.

Athletes are one of the populations that are at an enhanced risk of problems associated with poor hydration, as their voluntary activities are all but guaranteed to dehydrate them on a routine basis. As previously discussed, an absence of water brings about performance shortfalls on several fronts, and can also decrease coordination and increase the likelihood of muscle cramps.

The Role of Electrolytes in Hydration

In order to properly grasp why drinking plain water usually won’t be sufficient to ensure proper hydration, you’ll need to understand the tasks performed by the various electrolytes in your body.

Electrolytes are a category of minerals that carry an electric charge, and are critical for achieving your optimal physical functionality. As a category, electrolytes are often invoked in advertisements for sports drinks, but their importance extends far beyond a marketing pitch. 

As a subgroup under the electrolyte umbrella, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium are essential minerals that help maintain your fluid balance, nerve function, and muscle contractions, in addition to performing other very important functions.

For example, magnesium plays specific roles in regulating blood pressure, improving mood, prompting relaxation, and also permitting easier absorption of calcium. In essence, without magnesium helping with the absorption of other electrolytes, other issues can emerge, like a reduction in bone health due to a dip in calcium efficiency. 

In addition to the specific functions electrolytes perform, they also play a role in maximizing the absorption of new water into your cells. To put it simply, as you lose electrolytes through the act of perspiring, you become less efficient at capitalizing on the presence of whatever new liquid you imbibe. 

Therefore, not only is plain water incapable of restoring the electrolytes that your sweat disposes of, but you become even more inefficient in the use of the inbound water due to the loss of the electrolytes that you once had.

The Science Behind Water vs. Electrolytes

One of the overlooked differences between water and electrolytes is that electrolytes are ordinarily solid minerals that are often absorbed into liquid, but which function as solids once they enter your system. 

Another way of putting this is that it’s far more likely to organically encounter electrolytes through solid foods. So, while water is quickly absorbed through the walls of the small intestine directly into your bloodstream, most electrolytes are first processed by the duodenum structure of the small intestine, which is where many nutrients are commonly extracted from digested food. 

Simply stated, the digestion and distribution of electrolytes is a more complex and less immediate process than the absorption of water.

Situations Where You’re Most Likely to Feel the Absence of Electrolytes

There are certain involuntary circumstances where you’re likely to feel as if you’re glaringly short on electrolytes. If you happen to have a fever, or you have ongoing concerns like diabetes or specific gastrointestinal issues, water alone won’t provide you with the necessary electrolyte quantity to recover..

Another involuntary case of electrolyte loss involves the water dispensed through sweat in climates that are extremely hot or humid. Since the induction of sweating prompts the loss of electrolytes no matter what is causing the perspiring to occur, drinking water won’t restore you to a state of peak hydration all on its own.

Of course, athletes are likely to lose a great deal of fluid through prolonged or high-intensity exercise, in which case water alone will not help them to maintain optimal hydration. All of the problems that might hinder performance — including reductions in strength, endurance, and peak heart function — become increasingly more likely if exercise persists without electrolyte replacement.

What Are Hydration Supplements?

As their names suggest, hydration supplements compose a category of health and wellness supplements that are intended to maintain a user’s status at optimal levels. Most hydration There are several varieties of hydration supplements available in a wide range of natural flavors, and with various administration methods that can be tailored to the lifestyle and convenience requirements of the user.

For example, hydration supplements run the gamut from preformed tablets and preallocated stick packs containing flavored powders that are intended to be dropped into water to containers that allow you to personally choose your own quantity of electrolyte powder. There are also ready-to-drink options — including sports drinks — that simply require you to unscrew the container’s lid and begin drinking an electrolyte-infused beverage. 

In most cases, electrolyte powders will include some combination of calcium, chloride potassium, magnesium and sodium, which are all electrolytes considered critical to the rapid restoration of hydration levels. 

It is important to note that the many electrolyte powders contain added sugar. Although sugar-free powders might be appealing to several people, and especially to those who like to justifiably limit the amount of sugar in their diets, the added sugar in some electrolyte powders can help you capitalize on the cotransport of sodium and glucose to quickly boost your body’s energy levels. 

Therefore, in situations where the objective is to maintain your peak performance level and also restore your lost energy, the inclusion of added sugar in electrolyte powders can be a welcome addition.

How Hydration Supplements Work

Hydration supplements work by capitalizing on the specific properties of their individual ingredients in order to restore hydration to the person who consumes them. In order to understand this, it can be useful to delve into the individual attributes of each electrolyte likely to be present in electrolyte powders, tablets, and drinks.

Sodium

Many people are so accustomed to hearing the term sodium tossed around that they believe it to be a synonym for salt, and there’s a good reason for that. Sodium is the sixth most abundant element on earth, and it’s so prevalent in food sources that even the nutrition labels of ordinary drinking water provide columns just to let you know that the water contains no sodium.

Because sodium is so abundant that an average fruit or vegetable is likely to contain at least trace amounts of it, it’s rare for people to suffer from a sodium shortfall. This is important, because even a slight shortage of sodium can cause irritability and weakened reflexes. Sodium is also the most critical nutrient for helping you maintain your fluid balance and deliver nutrients to your cells. 

Chloride

It’s common to see chloride listed right alongside sodium, and this is because sodium and chloride are the two most common ingredients in table salt. Much like sodium, chloride is also essential for helping you maintain your fluid balance, while playing the additional role of maintaining your pH balance. Specifically, the presence of chloride prevents you from becoming too alkaline.

When you’re suffering from a lack of chloride, it’s common for the absence of chloride to become obvious through your impaired muscle function. Signs of a chloride shortage include an irregular heartbeat, muscle twitching, and general loss of muscle control. 

Magnesium

Although magnesium is not as important as sodium and chloride for purposes of restoring hydration, it still aids in the rehydration process just like all electrolytes. On the other hand, magnesium is famous for its ability to affect your blood pressure by way of reducing it. This trait alone has made magnesium a popular independent supplement for people with high blood pressure.

Missing out on adequate magnesium can reduce the absorbability of other nutrients — including calcium — and it can cause general restlessness and unease, and a loss of muscle and nerve function. This is why there are several reasons why it is critical to restore the magnesium that you lose when you sweat during athletic performances.  

Potassium

The interplay between potassium and sodium is vital to the proper functioning of your body, since the two electrolytes work with one another to sustain the proper circulation of blood. The presence of potassium in a cell triggers the movement of sodium into the cell, which helps maintain the proper fluid levels in your cells.

To put this another way, the presence of potassium is necessary to prompt a steady flow of blood through your system. Without it, the buildup of potassium in your cells will leave you dealing with high blood pressure and all of the problems that accompany it.

Without potassium present, the communication between your muscles and nerves will also be disrupted, resulting in one of the most frequent causes of cramping. This is also one of the reasons why potatoes are a popular carbohydrate source, as they contain sufficient potassium to keep cramps at bay. However, other carbohydrates that contain potassium are bananas, spinach and beets.

Calcium

Most people’s understanding of calcium begins and ends with its role in preserving the health of bones. In addition to this, calcium also plays an essential role in sending signals to muscles, and can affect blood pressure by helping blood vessels contract to control blood flow. 

This means that you will feel additional drawbacks to low calcium levels aside from weakened bones. Inadequate calcium can contribute to increased blood pressure, and without its signaling activities taking place, muscle spasms and twitching may become more frequent.

The Personalization of Hydration Supplements

No matter what form of electrolyte supplement you prefer, whether you find powders or tablets to be more convenient, there is almost certainly an appealing natural flavor option that you can mix into your drink.

At this stage in the progression of electrolyte supplementation, you can find powders and tablets in traditional flavors like lemon lime, or you might find a more exotic natural flavor, like peach mango, tropical fruit, or another enticing fruit blend.

The point is, if you’re in the market for an electrolyte supplement, you can rest assured that there are probably several tablets and powders available that can make your electrolyte drink appealing.

The Difficulty of Getting Adequate Electrolytes Through Ordinary Food

Consuming a balanced diet is often discussed in terms of the consumption of carbohydrates, fat and protein, and with some thought applied to other areas of nutrition like vitamin and mineral consumption, and the minimization of unnecessary calories. 

While the thought of maintaining a balanced diet along these lines is certainly helpful, an analysis of the nutrition plan it would take to acquire the advised levels of key electrolytes often reveals just how difficult it can be to acquire all of these nutrients through a standard diet.

The general exceptions to this rule are sodium and chloride. Not only are both of these electrolytes contained in ordinary table salt, but they are also present in trace amounts in several foods — including fruits and vegetables — and in large amounts in others.

Aside from sodium and chloride, many people struggle to acquire daily reference intake levels of the other essential electrolytes through a standard diet — as advised by the National Academy of Medicine — without relying upon some sort of dietary supplements. 

For instance, the most abundant food sources of magnesium tend to have surprisingly low levels of the nutrient on a food-by-food basis. Nearly all of the food types that could honestly be touted for being high in magnesium are not widely eaten — like pumpkin seeds. In addition, to get a full day’s worth of the recommended magnesium from a food source like almonds requires the consumption of roughly 1,000 calories of that single food item.

Likewise, calcium is very difficult to acquire in high quantities from non-dairy sources, with “calcium-rich” spinach requiring you to eat 10 servings just to surpass 60 percent of the advised threshold of daily calcium.

With respect to potassium, you would be required to eat seven to 10 potatoes or bananas, respectively, over the course of your day to ensure that you achieved your daily dose of the potassium-friendly items that can be most easily included in a standard diet.

For the majority of well-meaning people, acquiring sufficient electrolytes using natural food sources — even through a structured nutrition plan — is simply not a practical solution. This is why the use of dietary supplements is strongly advised for making up this shortfall.

Improper Solutions to an Electrolyte Shortage

Because fatigue is a common symptom of an inadequate electrolyte supply, you might be tempted to seek a drink containing caffeine in an effort to remedy your problem. 

While caffeine can safely boost strength, power, and alertness, it is often the case that caffeine is only temporarily masking your problems if they are caused by insufficient nutrition. In fact, relying on caffeine to mask a fatigue problem caused by an electrolyte imbalance or shortage might make matters worse in the long term.

Aside from caffeine, it may seem like an attractive solution to drink beverages containing high quantities of sugar as a way of acquiring calories. Although glucose and dextrose are forms of sugar that can play important roles when taken strategically in relation to workouts, ingesting too many calories can cause a litany of problems, including forcing you to store the unburned calories as fat. In this way, the benefit of downing a drink full of sugary calories is offset by unwanted fat accumulation.

Finally, you might be tempted to reach for certain vitamins that are known to boost vitality levels. While it’s absolutely true that there are vitamins that can help you recover your strength and vigor — with B-complex vitamins being particularly notable for having this association — an overreliance on vitamins is unlikely to solve a problem caused by an absence of the right minerals.

Situations Where You Should Have Hydration Supplements On Hand

There are certain situations where you should undeniably have a source of nutrition on hand that specifically includes electrolytes so that your functionality is not drastically impaired.

Athletes participating in endurance sports — or engaging in exercise scenarios intended to prepare their bodies for competition — will feel a noticeable dip in their performance levels if they do not take explicit action to restore lost electrolytes. 

This is also true of athletes who frequently participate in high-intensity workouts that induce a great deal of sweating, as repeated bursts of activity can result in the rapid accumulation of sweat, and electrolyte loss is tied more closely to the volume of liquid lost from your body as opposed to the consistency of its elimination.

Outside of fitness activities, if you find yourself struck by illnesses that prompt diarrhea or vomiting, this sudden loss of fluids — and in some cases, undigested solids — can deplete your electrolyte supply. In these instances, electrolyte restoration is crucial, as it can accelerate your ability to rejuvenate yourself.

Potential Risks and Considerations

While achieving optimal hydration is an objective shared by both athletes and non-athletes alike, since inadequate hydration usually results in obvious discomfort, there are clear risks involved with the regular overconsumption of hydration supplements.

First, there is such a thing as achieving a state of overhydration, at which point every benefit to being sufficiently hydrated is eliminated, and the symptoms of overhydration begin to overlap noticeably with the symptoms of inadequate hydration. These symptoms include cramping, confusion, and vomiting.

Then there are the problems that emerge when you experience an electrolyte imbalance. This occurs when you have consumed too much or not enough of one or more electrolytes, which can throw your body’s signaling system off-kilter.

Again, the general symptoms of an electrolyte imbalance — the most common of which are likely to be caused by eating too many foods with high sodium content — are similar to those of electrolyte absence. Fatigue, headaches, cramping and vomiting are common in such cases, and you may need to seek assistance from your healthcare provider and take medicine specifically crafted to reset your electrolyte levels.

On the other hand, you may have an allergic reaction to a hydration supplement caused by an undetected component hidden within the ingredient list of one of the powders or tablets you decided to take to quench your thirst. This can be especially common in flavored supplements, the contents of which often include chemical ingredients that are intended to mimic natural flavor, but do not contribute directly to the supplement’s performance.

In the same vein, if you are already taking certain medications, you should preemptively consult your healthcare provider to ensure that there are no unintended consequences that await you when you mix supplemental powder with whatever medicine you’re presently taking.

A problem of a less alarming nature includes the concern of indulging in hydration supplements with too much sugar. While sugar can be a welcome source of rapid energy that can capably assist you during your training or athletic endeavors, consuming too many drinks containing added sugar can have the detrimental side effect of causing you to gain body fat. This commonly occurs in almost any circumstance in which people consume more calories than they can burn off.

Finally, athletes in particular need to be concerned about other things, like taking supplements containing banned substances. This is because there are supplements that contain physically beneficial products that are perfectly legal that have still been banned by an athletic regulatory body. If you are an athlete taking any nutritional supplements, you are encouraged to consult the list of banned substances provided by whichever governing body oversees your sport of choice.

Hydration is Your Secret Weapon

As we’ve seen, hydration is essential to reaching and preserving the peak functionality of your body and mind. It maximizes your strength, power, endurance, and cardiovascular capacity, and even helps to keep your brain operating at the highest level. 

Between the practice of drinking enough water and accounting for electrolyte minerals through meals and supplementation, you’ll be doing more to ensure your hydration than the overwhelming majority of people. In fact, by adding yourself to the small percentage of people who hydrate correctly, you may find yourself becoming one of the most productive people in all walks of life with one very simple step.