Sweating it Out at the Gym

Getting in a good workout at the gym is rarely accomplished without breaking a sweat. Those seemingly inconsequential drops of salty sweat may not seem very important to your workout, but when it comes to your body’s overall level of fitness, it is that sodium that helps balance the right amount of water in and around your cells and in your blood too. Salt is made up of electrically charged sodium and chloride particles commonly known as electrolytes and salt is one element that your body absolutely cannot do without.

It is natural to feel a bit thirsty after working out, but if you drink too much water it can actually dilute the sodium content outside the cells, as well as permit too much water to leach into the cells themselves. The result is that the body’s cells can swell excessively and make a person feel weak and nauseous. In extreme cases, long distance marathon runners and triathletes have died of hyponatremia or low blood sodium, due to excessive water intake. And if you think your salty sports drink will provide adequate salt replenishment, you’d better think again because most sports drinks contain far more water than sodium and most only have 20% of the sodium concentration of the body’s normal blood serum balance.

Balance is the key to the proper salt intake as too much salt in the diet can cause high blood pressure. If you intake too much salt at any given time, your kidneys will help regulate the amount needed in the body and the excess will be shed through urine. However, when people get older their salt sensitivity can increase to the point where their body retains too much salt in the blood and their blood pressure will increase as a result. It doesn’t help that even though U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend that normal people should only consume between 500 mg and 2400 mg of sodium per day, most Americans now consume 3,000 to 5,000 mg of salt daily in the processed foods they eat. The obvious result is that most people consume more than enough sodium every day without adding salt to their food regardless of whether they are working out regularly, or not.

Although athletes who work out and sweat more than sedentary people can allow a bit more sodium into their diets, most normal people would do better not to add any salt to the meals. A low-sodium diet can help reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure and adding small amounts of calcium, magnesium and potassium can help your body deal with the negative effects of the salt you do eat.

Benefits of Salt:

Salt helps balance the fluid distribution inside and outside of the cells.

Salt is necessary for the proper function of the adrenal glands.

Salt is needed by the kidneys to balance the body’s acidity-alkalinity ratio.

Salt helps the body shed excess acidity from the cells, particularly in the brain cells.

Salt is required for the generation of hydroelectric energy of cells in the body.

Salt allows nerve stimulation, brain function, and the communication between nerve cells.

Salt stimulates the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and helps the absorption of food particles in the intestinal tract.

Salt is necessary for muscle contraction and expansion.

Salt is needed to make bones firm and solid.

Salt helps prevent inflammation of the joints and arthritis.

Salt prevents varicose veins and spider veins from developing.