There’s a new health trend that’s taking social media by storm: drinking salt water. Salt water has long been used as a folk remedy for colds and sore throats, but lately it’s becoming a daily health kick. When you drink salt water, you’re consuming an electrolyte – which is just a fancy word for a mineral that helps with mood, energy and cognition. There are several types of electrolytes, and drinking salt water is just one way to hydrate yourself and keep your digestion and muscles functioning well. However, it’s important to not overdo it. Adding too many electrolytes and relying on supplements can be harmful. If you’re interested in trying this latest trend, be sure to speak to a healthcare professional before you start chugging salt water.
Benefits of Drinking Salt Water
Regulates fluid balance
Drinking salt water will help your body maintain the correct fluid balance Drinking salt water will help your body maintain the correct fluid balance. Electrolyte salts such as sodium, potassium and magnesium are responsible for making sure water is absorbed through the cell walls and retained within the cells. They are also responsible for keeping the passage of fluids across the cell membranes smooth. This is very important when exercising, in hot weather or when in a sauna.
Facilitates nerve function and muscle contractions
Electrolyte salts such as sodium, potassium and calcium are present in your body, and these salts keep your nerves and muscles working well. The reason these salts keep your nerves and muscles working is because they conduct electrical impulses to and from your nerve cells, and they also help your muscles contract and relax the right way. That is to say, when you drink salt water, it ensures that your nerves and muscles are working at a high level.
Prevents dehydration
Then, if you drink salt water, your body will be able to remain in a healthy state of hydration. When you sweat you lose a lot of water, but you also lose a lot of electrolytes. When your body is missing electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium, and chloride, it creates an imbalance that can lead to dehydration. By drinking salt water, you are able to replace the electrolytes that you will be losing through sweating. It will help your body maintain healthy hydration levels while preventing dehydration.
Aids digestion for those with low salt levels
For those people who have low level of salt, drinking salt water can help people digest food. For example, for the elders or the people working and eating in rush. Adding salt in water can increase people’s salt level, help people digest food when people lack of salt.
Risks of Drinking Salt Water
Adding too many electrolytes can lead to imbalance
The thing is, while electrolytes are vital to your overall health and functioning, adding too many to your drinks can unbalance your body. For this reason, it’s best to avoid adding electrolytes to every beverage you drink, or for that matter, to make them a substitute for water. If you do so, you risk throwing your electrolytes out of balance and causing your health to suffer.
Electrolyte drinks may contain other substances that impact goals
Some electrolyte drinks on the market will contain other ingredients, like sugar, which may affect your health goals. It’s important to be aware of what electrolyte drinks contain, and to avoid ones that contain added sugars or other substances that do not support your health goals.
Seek advise from a doctor if you’re on high blood pressure medication or have kidney problems.
If you have high blood pressure or kidney problems, for example, you would check with your healthcare provider before making any drastic dietary or hydration changes. Your health concerns might warrant a different sodium intake, and your provider would be in the best position to advise you.
Choosing the Right Salt
Sea salt contains important trace minerals
Sea salt also contains much greater amounts of trace minerals than table salt, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, and sulfur. These minerals may provide additional health benefits.
Investing in high-quality salt for optimal benefits
The best way to ensure that you get the most value from drinking salt water is to buy high-quality salt. Unrefined sea salt or other high-quality salts will give you the most nutritional value when you eat or drink them.
Pollution Concerns
Sea salt may contain traces of toxic microplastics
The ocean pollution by plastic is rapidly increasing. As a result, table salt may contain tiny, indigestible microplastics. Their composition includes pigments, amorphous carbon and plastic polymers. Consuming salt in average amounts may not affect your health, but this is a matter of concern because of the ongoing ocean pollution.
Consuming salt in average amounts is not harmful, but be aware of ocean pollution
As long as you don’t go overboard on salt, there’s nothing wrong with it: you will be fine. The big issue with the ocean is that, in the future, you need to be aware that it could have microplastics and be more conscious of the salt you are consuming.
Determining How Much Salt to Add
Individual variation based on age, gender, health conditions, and climate
How much salt to add to your water depends on factors such as your age, sex, health conditions and climate. What works for you will not necessarily work for someone else.
Physical activity and sweating may require higher salt intake
If you are an athlete, or simply have a high sweat output and tend to lose electrolytes, you might need to boost your salt levels. An athlete can lose up to several grams of sodium in a single training session – a need to replenish these electrolytes.
Recommended baseline for heart health and longevity
Studies have demonstrated that 4-6 grams of sodium per day is a reasonable daily target for good cardiovascular health and longevity. Specifically, this much salt in your diet minimises your risk of heart attacks and strokes. Yet, of course, a healthy sodium intake is something that needs to be individually tailored to your body and health, and never achieved at the expense of listening to your own body or consulting your own physician.
Eating a varied, mineral-rich diet should be the primary source of electrolytes
Although adding salt to water can help to restore electrolytes, a varied mineral-rich diet should be the main source of electrolytes. Coconut water, greens, avocados, watermelon, bananas, almonds, olives and broccoli are some of the foods that support electrolyte needs.
Supplementation
Supplements can help fill any nutritional gaps
Yes, supplements can help to fill in any nutritional gaps you might be facing, especially if you have a habit of not getting enough sodium, potassium or magnesium (electrolytes).
Common deficiencies include sodium, potassium, and magnesium
Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium are common electrolytes deficiency. If you think you are lacking of any of the electrolyte, you might want to take a supplement to maintain your health.
Individual consultation may be necessary for certain medical conditions
However, consultation with a healthcare professional may still be necessary in some situations, such as for certain medical conditions. For example, in those with high blood pressure, special considerations might need to be made for salt supplementation. A healthcare professional can give you individual advice, tailored to your needs.
Adding salt to water should be considered based on individual needs
Whether or not it’s a good idea to salt your water depends on your physiology. If you feel that you would benefit from extra sodium, or from potassium or magnesium in your diet, then you might want to salt your water. But mostly, listen to your body, and if you’re concerned, talk to your doctor.
Sea Salt vs Refined Salt
Sea salt has higher trace mineral content
Sea salt has a higher content of trace minerals than refined table salt, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, and sulfur, all of which add to sea water’s health benefits. If you want to make sure you’re getting your trace minerals, use sea salt.
Refined salt may have fewer benefits
Refined salt is usually not as good for us as sea salt, because it’s more processed, and as it goes through more refining steps, it loses some of its trace minerals. The remainder is mostly sodium chloride. Sea salt and other high-quality salts, however, have more trace minerals and offer more health benefits.
Hydration and Electrolytes
Electrolytes are essential for staying hydrated
This is because electrolytes help regulate fluid levels. They balance hydration by helping the body absorb and retain fluids. When you drink salt water, you replace electrolytes that have been lost through sweating and help your body to re-hydrate.
Maintains fluid balance and supports optimal hydration levels
Drinking salt water helps regulate fluid balance in the body, which in turn leads to normal and adequate hydration. Electrolyte salts, such as sodium, potassium and magnesium, help pull fluid into the body’s cells.
Particularly important during physical activity, hot weather, and saunas
In situations with physical activity, hot weather or activities like saunas, electrolytes become even more important for rehydration. Excessive sweat loses electrolytes from the skin and the more salt water you drink, the better the hydration level can be maintained.
Role of Electrolytes in the Body
Help regulate mood
Electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium, are mood modulators because they regulate the electrical activity in the brain that can affect mood and mental health.
Maintain energy levels
Maintaining fluid balances, enabling muscles to contract and produce energy, and delivering oxygen and nutrients to cells are some of the essential functions of electrolytes.
Facilitate cognition
These electrolytes, especially sodium and potassium, are essential elements for proper nerve function. It is these electrolytes that allow the nerve to transmit those electrical impulses along the nerve. Those electrical impulses are the basis for all brain function, including thinking, learning, and memory.
Necessary for movement and thinking
Electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium and calcium, are also needed for movement and thinking – muscle contractions, for example, lead to physical movement while nerve impulses allow us to think.
Importance of a Balanced Diet
A healthy diet rich in electrolyte-loaded foods is usually sufficient. Most people get the electrolytes they need by eating a diet based on electrolyte-rich foods, like raw coconut water and watermelon, greens and avocados, bananas and almonds, and olives and broccoli.
Intense exercise, exposure to hot climates and certain diets might warrant extra electrolyte replacement.
On other occasions, however, it makes more sense to supplement with more targeted doses of electrolytes. These could include intense exercise, hot climates, low-carb diets, fasting, heavy sweating, illness or medications.
Conclusion
So, drinking salt water can balance your fluid levels, help your nerves function properly, and keep your muscles working. It can also help digestion for those with low salt levels, prevent dehydration and more. As long as you don’t add too many electrolytes, use the right kind of salt, contend with pollution issues, figure out how much salt your body needs, and balance it out with a healthy diet, drinking salt water can be a great addition to your life. However, before you whip up a salt-water-drink, consult with your doctor to make sure your salt intake works for your medical conditions and health goals.
