Hydration Basics: It Starts with Water
Your body is made of up to 60% water. Water’s the core building block of the cells that compose organs like your brain, heart, lungs, muscles, and skin. Without it, our bodies simply wouldn’t operate. But you already knew that.
As we go about everyday life, we naturally lose the water in our bodies, whether it’s through our respiratory tract (breathing), our kidneys (urinating), or our skin (sweating). And oftentimes, we’re not replacing it properly. About 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated because they’re not getting enough fluid intake. And congrats! Since you exercise regularly, the odds that you’re dehydrated are even higher.
As you’re hustling hard during a workout, your body loses water at an accelerated speed because you’re both breathing more rapidly and sweating. You can lose up to 3 liters of fluid during an hour of exercise. That Peloton climb, hot vinyasa class, 400m sprint repeats, burpee challenge. You get the picture. There’s a lot of sweat involved.
When You Sweat, It’s Not Just Water… It’s Also Electrolytes
But sweat is more than just lost water. It’s also lost electrolytes. And electrolytes are what keep everything functioning in your body. They create electrical charges that spark nerve impulses and muscle contractions and help balance fluids. They’re the powerhouse behind your brain functioning, heart beating, lungs breathing, and muscles moving.
So why are electrolytes lost too? Because as you work out, your body tries to regulate the sudden rise in temperature. Electrolytes get deposited into sweat glands, water follows, and then both are released onto your skin. When the sweat evaporates, the heat goes with it, cooling your body down. And that white residue that’s sometimes left on your skin post-sweat? Those are electrolytes.
The loss of both water and electrolytes combined is what ultimately causes dehydration, the effects of which can be pretty detrimental to your workout.
The Impact Dehydration Can Have
If you’ve ever felt thirsty mid-workout, guess what? You’re already dehydrated. Thirst is the very first symptom of dehydration. When you start to feel thirsty, you’re already 2-3% below the optimal hydration level. If you keep going without rehydrating properly, your energy output can significantly decrease - by up to 30%. Talk about not getting the most out of your workout.
Other symptoms of dehydration that may impact your workout include:
- Muscle cramps
- Headaches
- Heat stress
- Dizziness
- Reduced calorie burn
- Bad mood… (and no one wants to be around you when you’re cranky)
Studies have shown that a lack of hydration can also have adverse effects like fatigue, nausea, and general malaise. Not to mention declined alertness and concentration. It makes sense that when you lose two of the things your body needs to properly function (water + electrolytes), you might feel like you’re about to pass out after you’ve been sweating it out for an extended period.
The solution is simple. In order to properly rehydrate and get the most out of your workout, you need to replace both water and electrolytes.
Enter NOOMA
That’s where NOOMA comes in. NOOMA was founded by two hockey-playing brothers, Jarred and Brandon Smith, who were sick of (and getting sick from) all the sugary, artificially-packed sports drinks they drank as college and pro athletes. You know the ones. Bright blue, big plastic bottles. But those drinks are full of chemicals that basically negate your workout and make you feel worse. So the NOOMA Bros set off to create a better, healthier alternative. NOOMA provides all the electrolytes necessary for hydration, but none of the bad stuff.
Electrolytes From Real Ingredients
Our electrolytes are sourced from real, quality ingredients. We use organic coconut water and Himalayan pink salt. Both our sports drink and hydration mix use coconut water as a key source for the electrolyte potassium. And we get the electrolyte sodium from Himalayan pink salt. They also provide traces of calcium and magnesium, so you’re getting all of the essential electrolytes you need to keep on moving through your workout, and your life.
Effective Formulas
We should also mention that there’s never any added sugar in our products. The small amount that’s in there comes naturally from the organic coconut water. The low-sugar, low-carb content means our products have a low osmolality (aka there’s fewer particles and less “stuff” in it), so your body absorbs the electrolytes more quickly and effectively without it sitting in your gut.
Our real-ingredient sports drink and hydration mix are formulated with the best ingredients to help you combat dehydration, so you can feel your best through every workout. Here’s to hydrated cells and ringing PR bells!
