In the video above, Nikki discusses how to use simple and inexpensive supplements (salt and potassium) to prevent the symptoms you can experience from too much heat, or from sweating too much during exercise, sauna use, etc. Note that we have found a really great brand of Potassium that is actually 300mg per capsule! You can find it on our online store under “K+2 Potassium” by Designs for Health.
What are Electrolytes?
Electrolytes are charged minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, and phosphorus. You may recognize most of these from a hair mineral analysis. They are essential for proper digestion, energy production, building and maintaining strong bones and teeth, maintaining blood sugar levels, and so much more!
Sodium, chloride and potassium are key electrolytes that help regulate many vital functions. They are crucial for controlling the balance of fluids in the body, making sure we have the right amount of water inside and outside our cells. They are also critical in nerve signaling and muscle contraction. Potassium is particularly important in helping to regulate the heartbeat and ensures that muscles, including the heart muscle, contract properly. Together, sodium, chloride and potassium keep our muscles moving, our nerves communicating, and our hearts beating regularly.
Sweating = Electrolyte Loss
Sweating, whether due to hot weather, saunas, or during physical exertion, leads to loss of water, sodium, chloride and potassium. A little sweat equals a little loss. A lot of sweat equals a lot of loss!
If a person doesn’t replace the water, sodium, chloride, and potassium that are lost, the body struggles to maintain muscle function, heart rhythm, energy levels and nerve communication. If too much water and electrolytes are lost and not quickly replaced, it can strain the body’s cooling mechanisms and lead to heat exhaustion.
Symptoms of Heat Exhaustion
Remember that sweat can evaporate almost instantly in warm, dry climates, making it hard to realize just how much fluid and electrolytes are being lost. We have had many people tell us that they didn’t even feel sweaty while gardening, and then suddenly they felt a little bad, then VERY bad! This “invisible” sweating can give a false sense of hydration, so it’s essential to watch for symptoms of heat exhaustion (listed below) rather than relying solely on visible sweat. While noticing how much you sweat is helpful, understanding the symptoms of heat exhaustion can be even more crucial.
The earliest symptom of heat exhaustion is usually fatigue, as the body begins to struggle to maintain normal functions. Additional symptoms include:
- Inability to think clearly
- Dizziness
- Weakness
- Excessive sweating, often with cool, clammy skin
- Muscle cramps
- Nausea or vomiting
- Rapid heartbeat
If not addressed, heat exhaustion can escalate into heat stroke, a more severe and life-threatening condition.
Preventing Heat Exhaustion with Salt and Potassium
We have been talking about the electrolytes sodium and chloride. Nature combines these electrolytes into one, taste-enhancing particle called “salt.” That’s right! Salt is sodium chloride! Whether it comes from the ocean (as in sea salt), or from salt deposits (which are processed into table salt), all salt that you buy in the store is sodium chloride with tiny amounts of other minerals. This is an interesting article all about salt collection and production: https://www.foodunfolded.com/article/salt-production-how-its-made
This is great news when it comes to preventing heat exhaustion, as most people have salt (sodium chloride) in their kitchen! But what about the potassium? Well, there are inexpensive supplements you can buy. Our current favorite is “K+2 Potassium” by Designs for Health, which we carry in the office and have available on our online store. The K+2 Potassium is 300mg per capsules.
So what do you do to prevent heat exhaustion? Well, in the summer, you can add a little more salt to your food, drink a little extra water throughout the day, and add more high-potassium foods (artichokes, avocado, sweet potatoes, potatoes, leafy greens and mushrooms) or veggie juices. Some fruits even have a decent amount of potassium, but don’t overdo fruit because it still has a lot of sugar. (If you have done a hair test with us and we have told you to avoid all sugar, please avoid fruit and all other sugar.) Fruits with decent amounts of potassium are durian (the world’s stinkiest fruit), bananas, pomegranate, cantaloupe, honeydew and guava.
You can even make your own electrolyte drink! If you have kids that are playing sports in the summer and want to help them out, you can take a bottle (16 oz or more is fine), add a pinch of sea salt, the juice of one lemon and one lime, and empty one of the K+2 Potassium capsules (300mg) into the bottle. Fill it about half way with water and shake it up. It will fizzle a bit, but then you can finish filling it with water. You can pack 2 or 3 of these for older/bigger children or on very hot days. If you want to sweeten it a little, you can add a little bit of stevia or monk fruit (not Lakanto, which is actually erythritol, not monk fruit). Because it has lemon/lime in it, you will want to keep it cool, so add ice, or keep it in a lunchbox with a cool pack or in a refrigerator. You can even partially freeze it the night before in a plastic bottle so it stays cold the following day.
If you start to have symptoms of heat exhaustion, you must act quickly. First, get cool, sit or lay down, and take one capsule of K+2 Potassium (300mg), put a small pinch of sea salt in your mouth, and start sipping on water. If you start to feel better within 30 minutes, stay cool and keep sipping on water until you feel better. If after 30 minutes, you still feel off, take one more capsule of K+2 Potassium (300mg) and one more pinch of salt, and keep sipping water.
It’s important to be prepared for heat exhaustion, so bring water bottles, sea salt and potassium with you in the summer! It’s no joke! You can keep, in your pocket or purse, a little baggie with sea salt, and another baggie with a few capsules of potassium, Then, if you are out running errands in the summer, or watching your kids play soccer, or anything like that, you can act quickly if you or your kids, or anyone around you, starts showing signs of heat exhaustion.
Do not have more than a teaspoon of salt per day! Too much salt has potentially dangerous side effects! Usually 1/2 teaspoon of salt per day is more than enough, even on very hot days.
If you are on medication, have heart or kidney disease, consult your doctor or pharmacist before supplementing with salt or potassium.
Vomiting and Diarrhea
It is worth noting here that information in this article applies to vomiting and diarrhea as well! When you are throwing up or have diarrhea, you lose water and the same electrolytes as when you have excessive sweating. The same recommendations to replenish your hydration and electrolytes apply to sweating, vomiting and diarrhea. In fact, you can have almost the same symptoms from vomiting and diarrhea as you can from heat exhaustion with one notable exception: In heat exhaustion, sweating is often present, sometimes accompanied by cool and clammy skin. This symptom may or may not be present during episodes of vomiting/diarrhea depending on the cause. For instance, if you have a stomach flu or food poisoning, you may have a fever and be sweating which may result in cool, clammy skin.
So if you have had vomiting and/or diarrhea, be sure to follow the instructions for Vomiting and Diarrhea.