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Salt and Potassium: How They Relate to Exercise and Sweating
Your body sweats to regulate its temperature. You sweat when the body is warm and needs to cool off. You sweat everyday and in all kinds of weather. You even sweat sitting still.
When you sweat you lose salt (sodium). How do you know when to replace that salt? If there is no visible sign of perspiration, adding salt is not necessary. However, if you are exercising, sitting in a sauna, or performing even moderate physical activity, you will need to supplement your diet with salt, and drink water.
For every minute you sweat you need to drink approximately one-half ounce of water. For every 16 ounces of water you drink, you need 500 milligrams of salt (1000 milligrams per liter). This is in addition to the eight glasses of water a day you should already be drinking.
Potassium is used to help regulate salt. If you don’t have enough salt, the body must discard potassium to prevent an imbalance. This occurs through urination. If you have too much salt, the body combines potassium with salt and eliminates it through the urine. Since either way potassium is lost through urine, the general rule is you need approximately 100 milligrams of potassium for every time you urinate in a day. You should take your potassium whether or not you sweat.
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How Much and When?
So, how do you know how much to take when? Simple. Follow this formula: (S)weat = (S)alt and (P)ee = (P)otassium. Take salt when you sweat (and drink water). Take potassium when you pee (urinate). So, if you have been sweating for one hour, you should drink about 32 ounces of water and take roughly 1000 milligrams of salt (2 salt tablets) . . . and don’t forget your potassium.
Reaching your Fitness and Health Goals
Correct exercise in proper form is important to prevent injuries and proper technique will maximize exercise time to achieve your fitness goals. Incorrect exercise can lead to injuries that prevent you from achieving your exercise goals. Peggy Price is a certified personal trainer and works closely with Dr. Price to assist in the prevention and rehabilitation of injuries. The combination of proper exercise, nutrition and a fitness goal allows you to increase your quality of life.
If you are interested in a complete handling of diet, exercise and nutrition, schedule a comprehensive evaluation with both Peggy Price and Dr. Price. Together they will evaluate your body, your muscle function and review of general nutrition and give you guidance on how to reach your fitness and health goals. Contact Peggy at (818) 419-1245 to make your appointment today.
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