Your body needs more than just water to stay properly hydrated. Essential minerals called electrolytes help regulate fluid balance, produce energy, control muscle movement, and impact nerve signals. Electrolyte drink mixes like DripDrop incorporate these minerals to help support hydration.
To understand more about the importance of electrolyte balance, we created this guide. You’ll learn about the main types of electrolytes, how they work in the body, and when you need them most.
What Are Electrolytes?
Electrolytes are minerals that carry an electrical charge when dissolved in water. That charge allows them to power bodily functions, including:
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Regulating fluid balance
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Supporting muscle contractions
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Enabling nerve signals
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Maintaining healthy blood pressure
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Helping cells produce energy
Food and drinks like DripDrop are all valuable sources of electrolytes. But your body can lose them quickly through sweat, urine, and even breathing. Maintaining the right electrolyte balance is important. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), even small electrolyte imbalances may affect muscle, nerve, and heart function.
Why Electrolytes Matter for Hydration
Consuming enough water is important for cognitive and physical functions. However, hydration is also about how effectively your body uses and retains that water. Electrolytes play a role in this as they help regulate fluids, moving water into cells where it’s needed.
Electrolytes like sodium create an osmotic gradient, which allows your body to absorb water from the digestive tract into the bloodstream. DripDrop’s precise ratio of sodium to glucose helps speed up this process by unlocking the sodium-glucose cotransport system, a hydration shortcut that helps fluids and electrolytes pass rapidly from your intestines into your bloodstream. DripDrop also includes three times the amount of electrolytes found in traditional sports drinks with just half the sugar.
Electrolytes are also important to maintain cellular hydration, which directly affects energy levels, endurance, and cognitive function. Properly hydrated cells are better at producing energy, regulating body temperature, and communicating through nerve signals. This is particularly important during exercise, heat exposure, or illness.
Electrolytes help:
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Pull water into the bloodstream
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Maintain proper fluid distribution
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Reduce dehydration risk during fluid loss
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Support endurance and recovery
Electrolyte solutions are commonly used during:
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Intense exercise
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Hot or humid weather
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Illness (vomiting, diarrhea, fever)
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Travel
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Prolonged sweating
The 7 Major Types of Electrolytes
The human body relies on seven key electrolytes. While each one has a unique function, they work together to maintain fluid balance, support muscle and nerve function, and regulate energy production. Understanding what these electrolytes do in the body can help you make more informed hydration choices.
1. Sodium
Sodium is one of the most important electrolytes for hydration. Because sodium is the main electrolyte lost through sweat, it’s very important to replenish your body with sodium after an intense exercise or hot day to avoid an electrolyte imbalance.
Key functions of sodium:
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Regulates fluid balance inside and outside cells
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Supports nerve impulses
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Enables muscle contraction
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Helps maintain blood pressure
Signs of low sodium (hyponatremia):
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Headache
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Fatigue
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Nausea
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Muscle cramps
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Dizziness
2. Potassium
Potassium works alongside sodium to maintain fluid balance and help regulate how water moves in and out of your cells. Potassium impacts water inside cells while sodium manages fluid outside cells. When these electrolytes are balanced, water stays where it should, supporting proper hydration and preventing cells from shrinking or swelling.
Key functions of potassium:
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Supports muscle contractions
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Maintains healthy heart rhythm
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Helps balance sodium levels
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Supports nerve signaling
Low potassium symptoms:
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Muscle weakness or cramps
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Irregular heartbeat
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Fatigue
Many foods are rich in potassium, including:
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Bananas
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Avocados
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Sweet potatoes
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Spinach
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Beans
3. Magnesium
Magnesium regulates blood sugar, helps with energy production, supports muscle recovery, and more. It’s also involved in hundreds of enzymatic processes in the body, including nerve signaling and heart rhythm regulation. Maintaining proper magnesium levels supports overall hydration and electrolyte balance, which may help reduce muscle cramping and support steady energy throughout the day.
Key functions of magnesium:
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ATP (energy) production
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Muscle contraction and relaxation
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Nerve function
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Protein synthesis
People who may need more magnesium:
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Athletes
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Highly stressed individuals
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People with high sweat loss
Athletes and people under high stress may need more magnesium because physical exertion and stress both increase magnesium loss through sweat and urine. At the same time, the body uses more magnesium during periods of intense activity or stress to support muscle function, energy production, and nervous system balance.
Symptoms of magnesium deficiency:
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Muscle cramps
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Fatigue
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Weakness
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Sleep disturbances
4. Calcium
As the most abundant mineral in the body, calcium supports various essential functions beyond bone health. While the majority of calcium is stored in bones and teeth, smaller amounts circulate in the blood and cells, where they help regulate muscle movement, nerve signaling, blood flow, and normal heart rhythm.
Key functions of calcium:
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Muscle contractions (including the heart)
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Nerve signaling
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Bone health
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Blood clotting
5. Chloride
Typically lost through sweat and urine alongside sodium, chloride works closely with sodium to keep cells hydrated and functioning normally. It also supports essential everyday processes, from transporting carbon dioxide in the blood to the lungs to forming stomach acid that helps break down food and absorb nutrients. By contributing to healthy pH levels and immune defenses, chloride plays a quiet but important role in overall health.
Key functions of chloride:
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Maintains fluid balance
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Helps regulate blood volume and pressure
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Aids in digestion and nutrient absorption
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Transports carbon dioxide
6. Phosphate
Phosphate supports energy production and helps cells function efficiently. While most of the body’s phosphate is stored in bones and teeth to provide structure and strength, the remainder works inside cells to generate energy and maintain healthy cell membranes. Proper phosphate levels support hydration balance, cellular repair, and processes that keep muscles, nerves, and organs working properly.
Key functions of phosphate:
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Forms ATP (known as the body’s “energy currency”)
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Supports bone and teeth structure
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Helps maintain pH balance
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Aids in cell repair
7. Bicarbonate
A less commonly known electrolyte, bicarbonate is essential to maintaining the body’s acid-base (pH) balance. It acts as part of the body’s buffer system, quickly neutralizing excess acids or bases to maintain a stable pH level and protect cells and organs from damage.
Primary function:
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Regulates the body’s pH balance
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Prevents blood from becoming too acidic
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Bicarbonate keeps enzymes and cells functioning optimally
Electrolyte Imbalances: When They Happen
Even with a healthy diet, it’s easy to lose electrolytes under certain conditions. Sweating heavily during exercise, heat exposure, or prolonged outdoor activity can deplete important electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Illnesses that involve vomiting or diarrhea, limited fluid intake during travel, and certain diets can also cause an electrolyte imbalance.
When electrolyte levels drop too low or too quickly, the body can struggle to maintain fluid balance, muscle function, and nerve signaling, leading to fatigue, cramps, dizziness, and other symptoms. Consuming foods high in electrolytes and drinking electrolyte mixes can help maintain proper balance.
How to Choose an Electrolyte Solution
The most effective electrolyte drinks contain essential electrolytes, the right balance of sodium and glucose to encourage fast absorption, and low sugar content.
DripDrop uses a precise ratio of sodium to glucose to initiate a hydration shortcut, helping your body absorb water and electrolytes faster than water. Our formula incorporates other essential electrolytes, including magnesium and potassium. DripDrop has three times the amount of electrolytes found in the leading sports drinks and half the sugar.
If you’re looking for a sugar-free option, DripDrop Zero has the same great flavors while still offering fast hydration.
Optimize Hydration and Performance with DripDrop
Electrolytes are minerals essential to fluid balance, muscle function, nerve signaling, and overall hydration. Understanding the different types of electrolytes and how they work together can help you stay hydrated, energized, and perform at your best under a variety of conditions. Hydrate smarter with a doctor-developed electrolyte solution like DripDrop, designed to replenish the electrolytes your body needs when you need them most.
