Lyte on Hydration.
Sweat. S W E A T!!! If you love hot 26/2, you probably love to sweat. It feels good to be able to purge everything out to feel empty and be able to start over again with all of the post-yoga good feelings you have, right?
Most people know that they probably should be drinking plenty of water. If you sweat a lot, you probably should drink more to stay hydrated. And most people have an opinion on whether or not they practice good habits for drinking enough water (for instance, I know that for me, it’s easy for me to just never drink water even though I like water and I have no problems drinking it— such that unless I actively remind myself to drink water, I never will so there will be times that I drink water habitually before doing and after teaching a class or the moment I wake up or sometimes if I’m super busy, I will set an alarm to remind me to drink a glass of water). Drinking water and staying hydrated is paramount, of course, but that’s not the whole story.
Sweat is primarily comprised of water, but it also contains electrolytes, minerals that are generally involved in essential processes in the body, such as contracting muscles, proper nerve function, and making sure that your pH levels are regulated. Your body needs electrolytes to work well just as it needs to have water to work well. This means that if you sweat it out, YOU NEED TO PUT IT BACK IN!
Many people don’t really hear about electrolytes until they start some regimen where they start to sweat a lot or expend a lot of calories. And understanding electrolytes can be complicated if you get into the ionic charges of chemicals and all that. The way I think about it for practitioners of hot yoga is that if you think that it is healthy to sweat and you sweat a lot, you must pay attention to your electrolytes because electrolytes do the work in the body to help keep you hydrated! Yes, read that again. Electrolytes help keep you hydrated! Therefore, just water is not enough. You need to make sure that you have these essential minerals in your body in proper proportion. Some of the electrolytes found in the body include, sodium, potassium, and magnesium.
If you have a mild electrolyte imbalance, you likely will not experience any symptoms at all. But more severe imbalances can cause symptoms like fatigue, headaches, muscle weakness and cramping, and numbness and tingling, among other things. Sound familiar? If so, please think about some solutions that are best for you.
If you want to go down that rabbit hole, electrolytes can be a very big deal. If you really want to see how much people care about this subject, online discussions about electrolytes for marathon runners are copious. There are mineral packets, tablets, and drops available for restoration of electrolytes, but there are also simpler ways of getting some of these minerals. One is to take a pinch of salt with your water and maybe squeeze a little lemon if you like that. You can also eat foods with naturally high mineral content like bananas. Alternatively, you can take a soak with some Epsom salts in your bath.
A great yogi favorite for electrolytes is coconut water, which is why you will find it in many studios. Coconut water naturally contains many minerals like potassium, sodium, manganese, and magnesium, giving it a lot of bang for the buck. I’m going to go ahead and admit that I don’t like the taste of coconut water (and to jump off the yogi cliff, I will also admit that I think that most kombucha tastes like spoiled juice to me).
If you are like me and hate regular coconut water, you might want to make yourself the little yogi cocktail that I occasionally joke about: mix one small bottle of coconut water with a lime La Croix. If you are getting fancy about it, put it in a glass with an Emergen-C rim. SO MANY ELECTROLYTES!!! You probably do not need to go this far for your electrolyte heath. But electrolyte health is a thing to think about for sweaty yogis, so take care of yourself and then come to practice to sweat it all out again. Rinse, lather, repeat.
Maryam Bakht is a fitness coach and yoga teacher specializing in purposeful movement and mental strength and clarity. Maryam holds a PhD in Linguistics from NYU and in her time as a college professor has developed methods for practicing calmness and rest as a way to become more efficient and effective in work.
