What are electrolytes and what do they do for you?

If you’re a health-conscious person, you’ve likely heard the buzz about electrolytes by now. But perhaps you’re not 100% sure what they are, how they work, or what they do for you.

If any variation of those questions is running through your head, you’ve come to the right place. As a former biochemist who’s passionate about electrolytes and health education, I’ve spent decades researching this stuff and breaking down these complex topics. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do today.

To summarize up front: Electrolytes are charged minerals that are essential to life. They conduct electricity between cells and balance fluids — and these functions support our energy, keep our cells properly hydrated, support our heart beating and muscles contracting, balance our mood, and much more.

The latest science shows that optimal health outcomes occur at 4–6 grams of sodium, 3.5–5 grams of potassium, and 400–600 mg of magnesium daily, but many of us are deficient in these “big three” electrolytes. These deficiencies can contribute to fatigue, muscle cramps, brain fog, headaches, and mood disruptions. That’s why this topic is so important. I spent years slogging through an electrolyte deficiency myself, and my energy, sleep, mood, and performance in the gym improved drastically when I began getting enough of these key minerals.

So today I’ll explain what electrolytes are, share more about sodium, potassium, and magnesium, cover how electrolytes work in the body, and then unpack how these workings impact our energy, exercise, mood, and organs. Don’t worry, we’ll keep it jargon-free — this isn’t a graduate-level chemistry course. If you want to delve deeper, I’ll link to additional resources.

So, What Are Electrolytes?

Electrolytes are minerals that conduct electricity between the cells inside your body (hence the name “electro”-lytes). They allow cells to “talk” — passing along the electrical messages that get you to move, think, or speak.

There are seven electrolytes: sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphate, and bicarbonate. They all play different roles in the body. Sodium, chloride, and potassium are your chief cellular communication and hydration electrolytes. Magnesium, calcium, and phosphate support bone health, among other functions. And bicarbonate helps your body maintain its pH, which is essential for delivering oxygen to tissues and countless biochemical reactions.

Most of us get enough phosphate through diet. Calcium should ideally also come through diet, but many folks need to get more (read this article for more info). And our bodies make our own bicarbonate (cool, right?). Which leaves sodium (and chloride, which appears alongside sodium in nature to create salt), potassium, and magnesium, which is where we’ll focus today.

We’re constantly losing sodium and potassium through urine, feces, and sweat. Your body also chews through magnesium like a puppy through sneakers. These are the electrolytes you’ll want to pay attention to consuming in your diet — or use electrolyte drinks to fill in any dietary gaps.

Let’s zoom in on these big three and why they’ve caused so much chatter on the internet.

Sodium

Most fundamentally, sodium keeps you hydrated and allows cells to communicate. It’s essential to life itself (and not just human life — bugs, trees, animals, and all other cellular organisms).

Outside of keeping us alive, sodium is also essential for brain, heart, bone, hormonal, and immune system health. We’ll give an overview of each of those below.

Many folks use “sodium” and “salt” interchangeably, but there’s a difference. Sodium is the electrolyte we’ve been speaking about. Salt is composed of sodium and chloride — they’re almost always paired together in that salty form, and chloride has similar functions to sodium, so you need not worry about it separately. If you’re consuming enough sodium, you’re consuming enough chloride too.

Unfortunately, many people who consume whole foods diets don’t get enough sodium (after all, salt isn’t abundant in apples and chicken in the same way it is in ultra-processed foods like chips and hotdogs). Sodium is also the main electrolyte lost through sweat. As a result, sodium deficiency — and the corresponding symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, muscle cramps, and headaches — are common in the health-conscious community and active folks.

The evidence suggests most people benefit from consuming 4–6 grams of sodium daily as a baseline, which is higher than most people expect given the misguidance from health authorities. Of the electrolytes, sodium is the hardest to get through a healthy diet, so being generous with the salt shaker and consuming electrolyte drinks like LMNT can help fill the gaps.

Potassium

Potassium is the yin to sodium’s yang, and the two often work in tandem to support a myriad of processes in our bodies. Together, they:

Keep your blood flowing, skin moist, and brain floating in your skull.
Keep your cells talking so you can perform complex actions like emailing your boss while standing on one leg and humming your favorite song.
Shuttle nutrients in and out of your cells.
Support healthy bones.
Keep your blood pressure within healthy ranges.

The science suggests the sweet spot for potassium is 3.5–5 grams per day. Read this article to learn more about potassium’s benefits and best sources.

Magnesium

Magnesium is the Swiss Army knife of electrolytes. It supports over 300 enzymatic reactions that drive energy production, bone building, muscle growth, blood sugar regulation, DNA repair (from UV damage to the skin, for instance), and many other functions.

Research suggests that 10–30% of people are magnesium deficient based on blood levels, but since magnesium deficiency doesn’t always show on blood tests, the actual figure could be higher. Deficiency is troubling because it increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, immune system issues, and many other health problems. You can learn more about the benefits and best sources of magnesium here.

The science suggests the optimal intake of magnesium is 400–600 mg daily.

The Science of How Electrolytes Work

With the “what” out of the way, we can talk about the “how” — how these minerals work in the body. There are two broad categories of what electrolytes do:

Maintain fluid balance
Regulate the sodium-potassium pump

I aim to cover these “textbook topics” without putting you into a coma. If you want a deeper dive — or a safe and effective sleep aid — grab a biochemistry textbook.

#1: Fluid balance

Fluid balance refers to how water is distributed in your organs, cells, and other tissues. Maintaining the right distribution keeps your blood flowing, brain functioning, sweat glands sweating, and cells chatting. 60% of your bodyweight is water molecules (closer to 50% if you’re over 60), and that H2O needs to be in the right places!

You also need electrolytes (especially sodium) to maintain that fluid balance. Sodium is the chief regulator of fluids outside of cells, and disruptions in sodium status and therefore fluid balance can cause cardiovascular, neurological, and other issues.

Your body keeps water in the right places through a complex system of receptors and hormones. But while fluid balance is mostly an unconscious process, your conscious self also plays a role by choosing how much water and electrolytes to consume.

Choosing how much water and electrolytes to consume to keep everything balanced is relatively simple: Drink electrolyte water to thirst. This will give your body the “raw materials” it needs to get water in the right places. To learn more about how to maintain this balance, you can read this article.

#2: The Sodium-Potassium Pump

Remember how I said earlier that electrolytes are essential to cellular life? The sodium-potassium pump is largely to thank by allowing cells to communicate with one another. Without it, we can’t do anything — we can’t even breathe.

The pump sits in the wall of all animal cells. It has a handful of jobs, but one of the biggest relates to cellular communication. Some explanation will help.

Think of the sodium-potassium pump as a revolving door to the cell. For one cell to communicate to another, an electrical impulse fires — the cell’s doors spin open, with sodium ions rushing in and potassium ions rushing out (ions are molecules carrying an electric charge). Afterward, the pump “resets” the electrical charge of the cell by ushering sodium ions back out and potassium ions back in. This reset prepares the cell for its next electrical communication.

This function supports all nervous system activity (including brain activity), muscle contraction, and cardiac function, but the pump has other jobs: It also supports sugar and amino acid transport between cells, sperm cell health, and kidney function. Your body allocates 20–40% of its cellular energy (ATP) to running the sodium-potassium pump. It’s that important.

As I said, we couldn’t live without the pump. And you need adequate sodium and potassium levels to keep it running smoothly.

What Electrolytes Do For You

That fluid balance and pump stuff is fascinating, but what does that actually translate to in “real life” terms? Let’s explore the specific health benefits.

#1: Energy levels

Electrolytes don’t directly provide energy, but they do affect the feeling we call energy. Here are three ways how:

Sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium help convert stored energy (food) into cellular energy (ATP).
Sodium and potassium are the main electrolytes that regulate fluid balance, and fluid balance correlates with energy levels. For instance, fatigue is a common symptom of both sodium deficiency and dehydration, both issues of disrupted fluid balance.
Sodium and potassium drive your nervous system via the sodium-potassium pump.

To learn more, read the article: Do electrolytes give you energy?

#2: Exercise performance

Sodium is the primary electrolyte lost through sweat, which means sweating can skyrocket your sodium needs. And few things make us sweatier than intense or sustained exercise.

How much sodium are we sweating out, exactly? Based on sweat rate and sweat sodium concentration data, it seems folks lose on average ~1 gram of sodium per hour of sweaty activity, but it could be higher or lower depending on the situation. On the more extreme end of things, athletes exercising in the heat can lose up to 7 grams of sodium through sweat daily, and I’ve worked with professional hockey players who have sweat ~10 grams in just two hours of an intense game. My point is: Sweat losses can vary greatly, but there’s no doubt that folks may be losing more sodium in their sweat than they think.

Replacing the electrolytes lost through sweat helps keep your body firing on all cylinders. Consuming electrolyte water during exercise also helps prevent athletes from overhydrating with plain water, which can dangerously dilute blood sodium levels.

To learn more, read the article: Performance hydration: The role of water, sodium, and glucose in exercise.

#3: Heart health

Sodium, potassium, and magnesium all support your heart. Let’s start with sodium.

Sodium supports your heartbeat via the sodium-potassium pump. Getting enough sodium is also important for maintaining healthy blood volume and blood pressure. Despite misguided public health recommendations, the science suggests 4–6 grams is optimal for heart health.

Potassium and magnesium are less controversial. Potassium supports healthy blood pressure through several mechanisms, including the relaxation and widening of blood vessels to promote better blood flow. Good magnesium status is linked to lower inflammation, possibly explaining its heart-protective effects.

To learn more, read the article: Why electrolytes matter for cardiovascular health.

#4: Brain health and mood

As you’ll recall, sodium supports fluid balance. Your brain depends on this balance to keep your brain suspended in your skull and your cells the right size. Sodium deficiency can lead to headaches, brain fog, and other cognitive issues. More pronounced sodium imbalances can cause brain swelling and brain damage.

Electrolytes can influence your mood, too. In terms of sodium and mood, we have better rat studies on this than human studies currently. For instance, a 2015 review summarized how sodium deprivation tends to make typically pleasurable things (like drinking sugar water) less rewarding for rodents. A 2020 human study found low serum sodium was linked to depression symptoms in 200 patients on dialysis. Magnesium supplementation, on the other hand, has been shown to improve depression and anxiety in animals and humans.

To learn more, read the article: Why your brain needs electrolytes.

#5: Immune health

Magnesium is a friend to your immune system. It reduces chronic inflammation plus supports cancer defenses, among many other aspects of immunity.

We need more data on other electrolytes. Regarding sodium, the evidence suggests high salt intakes may improve immunity against skin infections but could exacerbate autoimmune disorders.

To learn more, read the article: Why electrolytes matter for immune health.

#6: Hormonal health

Electrolytes directly influence hormones, and vice versa. Disturbances in one cause disturbances in the other.

Here’s a quick look at how key hormones interact with sodium, and how sodium supplementation can play a role:

Cortisol: This stress hormone has a two-way relationship with sodium: Low sodium causes high cortisol, and high cortisol depletes sodium levels.
Epinephrine (adrenaline): When your body’s low on sodium, you produce more epinephrine, which helps retain sodium.
Renin, angiotensin II, and aldosterone (RAAS): Low sodium levels trigger the release of these three hormones, which helps the body hold onto sodium and stabilize sodium status – but excess levels of which can also unnecessarily raise blood pressure.

To summarize: Consuming enough electrolytes can help keep these hormones in healthy ranges. To learn more, read the article: How electrolytes and hormones work together.

#7: Bone health

Speaking of hormones, magnesium supports healthy levels of estrogen, parathyroid hormone, and vitamin D (yes, a vitamin and a hormone), all three of which are essential for strong bones.

Your skeleton is mostly calcium, so you need plenty of that mineral. Bones also require sodium, potassium, and phosphorous to stay solid and dense. Notable too, when we don’t get enough of these electrolytes, our bodies will move electrolytes from bone into our blood to keep our blood electrolyte levels stable — important to keep us functioning in the short-term, but detrimental to bone health in the long-term.

To learn more, read the article: How to prevent osteoporosis and improve bone density.

Getting Enough Electrolytes

Let’s circle back to those science-backed daily targets of the heavy hitters: 4–6 grams of sodium, 3.5–5 grams of potassium, and 400–600 mg of magnesium.

To determine whether you’re getting enough, you can start with a dietary analysis. Use an app like Cronometer to log all your meals (including salt intake) for a few days, and pay attention to your daily intake of sodium, potassium, and magnesium. With this data in hand, you can adjust your diet and supplement routine accordingly.

If you need more potassium, magnesium, or calcium, you can consume more electrolyte-rich foods like vegetables (especially leafy greens), meat, fish, fruit, nuts, and chocolate. Read this article to learn more.

You can hit your sodium target by eating salty foods like pickles or cheddar cheese, becoming good friends with the salt shaker, and filling in any gaps with an electrolyte mix like LMNT Drink Mix or LMNT Sparkling, which contain 1000 mg of sodium each. Be sure to factor in sweat losses (around 1 gram of sodium per hour of vigorous activity) to feel and perform your best. LMNT can also help you hit your other electrolyte targets, providing 200 mg of potassium and 60 mg of magnesium per stick pack and can.

Most importantly as you adjust your electrolyte intake, take note of how you feel. If you’re more energized, sleep better, perform better in the gym, or notice other positive benefits with more electrolytes in your diet, you’re on the right track. You feel the difference when you get it right.

That should be plenty of info to get you started, but here are three more resources to fine-tune your electrolyte intake:

If you have questions we didn’t cover here, check out our full library or don’t hesitate to reach out. And most importantly — Stay Salty!