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Sunday, May 24, 2009

How do Electrolytes work in our body?

Electrolytes are ions that are electrically charged and can take the form of liquids, gels, or paste. Basically, it's the scientific or medical term for salt. Our body contains massive amounts of salt and we need them. It is important for us to have salt in our bodies so as the maintain a healthy lifestyle. We need them in order to function properly.
The foods we eat and drink contain a lot of mineral salts once consumed they dissolve and form electrolytes in the form of liquids. Like stated before, electrolytes are electrically charged. This helps us a lot because our muscles-- like our heart-- are sent electrical signals from our brain in order to move. Sodium, calcium, chloride, magnesium and potassium are electrolytes and they can be found in our foods. If our body has too little electrolytes, the electrical signals from our brain cannot travel to our muscles, that's why sometimes when exercising, our muscles cramp up. Having a balanced electrolyte level in our body is crucial. All you have to do is remember that you're heart is a muscle too and without it functioning properly, you're dead man.

Other than helping your muscles function properly, electrolytes also help maintain your body's fluid levels. They are controlled by the moving of electrolytes into and out of your body's fluid compartments. Your kidney is an organ that filters your blood for electrolytes and keeps the level's balanced and constant. Your body does a bunch of acts that help balance your water and electrolyte levels. When you sodium (salt) level is too low, your kidneys are signaled to produce more urine (pee, we're gonna say pee from now on because it's cooler) which restores the balance by lowering the amount of water in your blood. When your sodium level gets too high though, your brains sends a signal to you to develop thirst. Once you drink more water, the body wants to keep that water so your brain sends more signals to your kidney to stop you from peeing.

And that's how electrolytes work in your body... :]