Why Is It Important To Maintain Electrolyte Balance In Summer?

Electrolytes are minerals that are present in our body, either in a free form or bound with other molecules. These electrolytes are very important for the body and help maintain normal body functioning. One of their functions is to maintain water balance in the body which means that these electrolytes are responsible for keeping our body hydrated, and for removing excessive water which is not needed by the body.

And, in the presence of an imbalance in electrolyte concentration, a person can feel nausea, headaches, vomiting, and in severe cases, heatstroke as well. That is why we need to maintain this electrolyte balance in the body. In summer, it becomes even more crucial to have this balance, or otherwise, the consequences can be serious.

Which are the most important electrolytes?

Although every nutrient is of certain importance in the body, sodium and potassium are those two electrolytes that are directly involved in the maintenance of water balance in the body. Sodium has been assigned the duty of restricting water within the body, whereas potassium is responsible for doing the reverse. Therefore, a balance between the concentration of these two is very important or otherwise a person may face excessive loss of water or complete retention of fluid within the body, and both situations are seriously harmful to the body.

Another important combination of electrolytes is calcium and magnesium, these two minerals are involved in the regulation of muscle movement. When any of these two nutrients are short in the body, our muscle movement can get restricted due to spasms or cramps. The thing is that calcium is responsible for the contraction of our muscles, whereas magnesium is essential for making those contracted muscles, relaxed. Therefore, both minerals or electrolytes are also very important for the normal functioning of the body.

What can cause an imbalance in these electrolytes?

As the minerals are majorly water-soluble and having a shortage of free water in the body or an inadequate water intake can lead to the deficiency of these minerals. And this will ultimately cause an imbalance between electrolytes. The risk of this kind of imbalance in electrolytes increases in the summer due to two main reasons:

•    One is the overly dominant temperature in our region that leads to excessive loss of free water from the body.

•    The other reason is not drinking enough water throughout the day, and ultimately making the body severely dehydrated.

Once the imbalance has occurred, a person may feel an increase in body temperature, cramps in muscles, or severe dehydration.

Some important guidelines to maintain the electrolyte balance

Our drinking water is naturally rich in these electrolytes, so drinking a sufficient amount of water can help maintain this balance. Not just water, a lot of foods are also great sources of these essential minerals, and having such foods in the daily diet can also be a helping factor in maintaining electrolyte balance in the body. But, most of the time, the case is like a person can’t completely have such foods in his/her diet, and thus needs an additional supply to maintain the electrolyte balance. And, for that, there are several nutritional supplements available in the market.

Magnesium is also one of those supplements and can be an important factor in assisting our body to maintain the electrolyte balance throughout the day. This dietary supplement contains a sufficient amount of Magnesium Oxide and provides enough magnesium to the body for not only maintaining electrolytes but also for proper muscle movement, nerve conduction, and a relaxed mind.

Another dietary supplement that may catch the attention is Nucal-M, this dietary supplement is a fine combination of Calcium and Magnesium, giving our body proper support in maintaining electrolyte balance. Moreover, this dietary supplement is also a good source of Vitamin D3 which not only helps in better absorption of these minerals, is also an important nutrient for a strong immune system.

References:

•    https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153188

•    https://www.healthline.com/health/electrolyte-disorders

•    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15773233/

•    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6524065/