What is the Best Way To Hydrate Your Body?
Hydration is about balance. Balancing the level of water and electrolytes in your body. Imbalances can impact your cognition (mental performance), athletic performance, and even your moods.
Water does hydrate you, but so do a number of other beverages, by adding back some of those electrolytes. The question is, which of these is the best way to hydrate your body. In this blog post, we'll tell you how to hydrate better.
The balance of water and electrolytes in a drink is what determines its function, so at Hydrant, we view products on a “hydration spectrum”. At one end, you have water with trace amounts of electrolytes, and then you move up this spectrum adding electrolyte content:
BUT, this is too simplistic, because good hydration is not just about total quantity of electrolytes you put in your body along with water, but about the balance of different types.
Sodium and Potassium are the two main electrolytes that we associate with hydration because they are lost in sweat, and they play vital roles within the body. Magnesium and Zinc are two other common electrolytes that we lose in trace amounts via sweat, and more when using the bathroom or when we are sick. All 4 need to be maintained at their optimum levels for your body and brain to function at 100%.
With that in mind, we made this interactive chart to help you understand how each type of hydration works:
Here’s an example of someone who is well hydrated
And here’s that same persons relative electrolyte levels after becoming dehydrated.
Chart summary
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Sports drinks are designed to replace what you lose through sweat, so they often include only sodium and potassium, but not a huge amount. When you’re really dehydrated these likely won’t be enough to get you back to your optimal balance.
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Coconut water is loaded with potassium, but has only a small amount of the other electrolytes. It’s really not good at the “balance” part of hydration.
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Pediatric drinks (and Hydrant) are designed to replenish the level of all four electrolytes. The idea is to match what your body normally has in it, so you get to that optimal balance quickly.
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Water is just water, nothing else going on here :)
Other factors
So now that you’re up to speed on electrolytes and function, let’s talk about the other differentiators between hydration drinks.
We understand that taste, sugar content and the presence of artificial ingredients are all important to making the right choice. So we made this table:
Is Hydrant for you?
We designed Hydrant for the ambitious professional. You’ll know if it’s you: you barely have time to slot in your workout before getting to the office. Or maybe you’re balancing work on a side project with social drinks after work, or maybe you’re flying to sales meetings around the country.
In short, you have a lot of dehydrating activities going on in your life, and being dehydrated is leading to fatigue at the office and elsewhere.
We designed Hydrant to fit in with your busy lifestyle:
- High & balanced electrolyte content for maximum hydration
- Low sugar content to keep it healthy but with a clean taste
- Light and natural flavor
- No artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners!
- No stigma (ever tried walking into your office with a Pedialyte?)
Hydrant is one stop hydration to keep you working at 100%, no matter what your lifestyle throws at you. You shouldn’t have to pick between function & flavor.
