Those electrifying electrolytes!

My friends and I were talking about a fellow Jazzerciser who had been hospitalized because she had passed out. Hospital personnel discovered that her electrolytes were almost non-existent (not necessarily the cause of her passing out). I knew that if you sweat a lot, you lose electrolytes, a condition that often causes muscle cramps. But one of my friends spoke of one relative whose electrolyte imbalance caused a seizure and another who became incoherent because of it. Goodness!

Electrolytes are nutrients/chemicals—including sodium, potassium, magnesium, and chlorine—that regulate nerve and muscle function, hydration levels, blood pH, blood pressure, and the rebuilding of damaged tissues. They are essential for life. That’s pretty important.

When dissolved in water, electrolytes carry a charge. Our cells (especially nerve, heart, and muscle) use electrolytes to maintain voltages across their membranes, making it possible to carry nerve impulses and muscle contractions to other cells. For example, a muscle contraction needs calcium, sodium and potassium to contract properly. An imbalance can lead either to weak muscles, or muscles that contract too severely. Your kidneys and several hormones normally keep electrolyte levels in balance.

Our electrolyte levels tend to change when water levels in the body change. For example, when we exercise and sweat we lose sodium and potassium. Drinking liquids restores your water level and your kidneys and hormones do the rest. 

Sometimes, though, the level of an electrolyte in the blood can become too high or too low for other reasons. Besides sweating, they can become low from vomiting, diarrhea, kidney disease, cancer treatment, and some drugs, such as diuretics for high blood pressure. (A study revealed that 20% of patients taking diuretics end up with reduced sodium and potassium levels.) Symptoms can include irregular heartbeat, weakness, twitching, confusion, seizures, and numbness.

But I don’t want you to worry about this! 

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