The Complete Guide to Hydration Supplements: Maximizing Your Hydration

Hydration is key; to the best workouts, to being at the top of your game, and to being the healthiest version of yourself.  

Hydration supplements are your way to achieving peak hydration and performance. They include essential vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes that are needed, especially during intense workouts, when those vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes are depleted through sweat. 

Losing just 1%-2% of your body weight in sweat can decrease your strength, endurance, and power. That’s why it’s vital to make sure that you replenish everything that you sweat out immediately.  

Hydration supplements can be used for more than just achieving your fitness goals, but also to keep yourself healthy and hydrated when you’re sick, in savage heat, or when you’ve been drinking. That is when your body is most vulnerable to dehydration, and that’s when you need hydration supplements the most. 

What Are Hydration Supplements? 

Hydration supplements are typically a powder or a tablet that you can add to your drink to add extra hydrating benefits. They do this by utilizing electrolytes, which are naturally occurring minerals that can be found in your blood and muscles. 

Some examples of electrolytes are: 

• Sodium
• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Chloride
• Phosphate
• Potassium

Electrolytes play an essential role in maintaining the hydration and pH levels in your body. These levels will naturally drop when you’re exercising, have an illness, or drink excessive amounts of alcohol. That is when you need hydration supplements the most. 

You will be able to tell if your electrolytes are out of balance if you experience:

• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Confusion
• Mood Changes
• Vomiting
• Dry Mouth
• Loss of Appetite

The Benefits of Hydration Supplements

Hydration is the key benefit of hydration supplements. However, the added electrolytes that hydration supplements contain may provide a vast array of other benefits that are unexpected, as well. 

Enhances Exercise Performance

When you sweat during exercise, you lose electrolytes, which can decrease your strength, speed, and focus. Hydration supplements can help replenish the water, minerals, and energy lost during your workout so that you can keep going at peak performance. 

Promotes Sleep

The electrolyte, calcium, helps the brain transform tryptophan into melatonin, the sleep hormone. This promotes deep REM sleep, longer sleep times, and better sleep efficiency. Naturally, when your quality of sleep increases, you suffer from less fatigue and experience improved focus. 

Strengthens Immunity

Electrolytes have strong ties to the immune system. Potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sodium all control what’s allowed to enter a cell, which allows your body to destroy cells before they have a chance to mutate. In addition, magnesium helps the body control inflammation. 

Improves Cognition

Low levels of electrolytes can negatively affect mood, memory, and attention. The added electrolytes can help avoid these impairments, though it’s important to have a good balance. Too few electrolytes can negatively affect cognitive function, but too many can, as well. 

Reduces Stress and Anxiety

The electrolyte that plays the most important role in stress and anxiety is magnesium. If there is too little magnesium in the body, which can easily occur due to chronic stress, the risk of anxiety goes up. However, increasing magnesium allows it to help control the body’s natural stress response. 

Improves Digestion

Electrolytes are essential to keeping your digestive system running smoothly. Your intestines are lined with smooth muscle tissue that’s controlled by the automatic nervous system. Electrolytes allow for easier rhythmic contractions that promote nutrient absorption and waste elimination. 

Treats Headaches

Dehydration can easily cause headaches of varying severity. Taking in the electrolytes that are lost is essential to easing a dehydration headache. In particular, magnesium and sodium are important for achieving this. 

Choosing the Right Supplements for Hydration

When choosing the right hydration supplement for you and your needs, there are a couple of factors to consider.

Ingredients 

The ingredients in hydration supplements, as with many things, need to be of the highest quality. Look for ingredients that are the most natural form of an electrolyte or mineral, as these tend to be of higher quality and work the most efficiently. 

It’s also a good idea to try and find hydration supplements with no added sugar or calories.

Electrolyte Balance

For true electrolyte balance, all six electrolytes should be present in some amount in a hydration supplement. However, depending on your specific needs and purpose, some electrolytes may work better for you than others. 

Taste

Taste is more important than you’d think when it comes to hydration supplements. If you are forced to drink an unpleasant flavor, you are less likely to use as many hydration supplements as you may need to during different situations. 

If you pick a favorite flavor, then you will be able to look forward to being as hydrated as possible, but the actual drink itself, as well. 

Price

The price of a hydration supplement needs to be specific to your needs, as well. If you choose a pricy supplement that you may not be able to regularly afford, then you will not use them as much as you may need to, either. 

Find an affordably priced hydration supplement to ensure you have them when you need them. 

Do Hydration Supplements Really Work?

The short answer: yes. 

However, it’s important to take in the correct amount of water a day and eat a balanced diet that includes hydrating fruits and vegetables. 

Hydrating supplements are exceptional for when you’re electrolytes have been depleted, like when you’re exercising, sick, have had a lot to drink, or if it’s extremely hot outside. But it should not be your only source of hydration. 

Top Hydration Supplements

Not all hydration supplements are created equal. There are some that have been tried and tested for their quality and effectiveness, so you don’t have to waste your time trying supplements that don’t hit the mark. 

These top-tier supplements include Prime Hydration Sticks, Superhuman Hydration, Astrolyte, and Liquid IV. 

Prime Hydration Sticks

Prime Hydration Sticks come in packs of six in a variety of refreshingly fruity flavors, like blue raspberry, lemonade, ice pop, tropical punch, and lemon lime. 

Each pack contains 250mg of BCAAs, electrolytes, and antioxidants. There’s no added sugar, gluten, or caffeine and there is 10% coconut water for more intense hydration. 

The electrolytes and vitamins that are included are:

• Vitamin D
• Calcium
• Iron
• Potassium
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin B6
• Vitamin B12
• Magnesium 

Superhuman Hydration

Alpha Lion Superhuman Hydration comes with 45 servings in one exceptionally delicious flavor: Lemonardo Da Vinci. 

Each pack comes includes all six electrolytes in their most bioavailable form required for rapid hydration and performance. Just one serving contains 10x of the electrolytes of a traditional sports drink. 

The six electrolytes it includes are:

• Potassium
• Calcium
• Sodium
• Phosphorus
• Magnesium

Superhuman hydration also has other premier ingredients like Aquamin® which is a mineral complex that contains 74 trace minerals sustainably sourced from the coastal seas of Iceland. Another is Senactiv®, which promotes more energy and muscle preservation by activating phagocytic macrophages that remove old cells. 

This supplement is also free of any additional calories or sugar. 

Astrolyte

Glaxon Astrolyte comes with 45 servings in a myriad of tasty flavors like juicy apple, citrus splash, pink lemonade, gridiron grape, and grape PEZ. 

This supplement was meticulously crafted specifically to elevate your hydration and boost athletic performance. They do this by including electrolytes that are vital for maintaining proper fluid balance, nerve function, and muscle contractions, like:

• Magnesium 
• Chloride
• Sodium
• Potassium

Glaxon Astrolyte also enhances mineral absorption in both the small and large intestine with Fructooligosaccharides and Astragin™.

The supplement aims to:

• Support hydration
• Prevent muscle cramps and damage
• Aid peak muscle contractions

Liquid IV

Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier comes with 16 packets in some delectable flavors that include passion fruit, lemon-lime, and acai berry. 

This supplement is a sensational new electrolyte drink mix formulated with Cellular Transport Technology to deliver hydration to your bloodstream more efficiently than water alone. It contains over three times the amount of electrolytes than a regular sports drink and is the hydration equivalent of drinking three glasses of water. 

These vitamins and electrolytes are included for peak hydration, even during your most intense training sessions:

• Sodium
• Potassium
• Phosphorous
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Calcium
• Iron
• Vitamin B6
• Vitamin B12

The best situations to use this supplement in are during exercise, when you’re out in the sun, traveling, and for overall wellness. 

Shop for Hydration Supplements at Nutrition Faktory

There’s no arguing that hydration and electrolytes are completely and utterly vital to your overall well-being. They are particularly important during intense workouts, when you’re sweating in the heat, when you’ve been drinking, or when you are sick. 

Dehydration and the depletion of electrolytes can cause many problems, like headaches, fatigue, confusion, vomiting, and loss of appetite. That’s why it’s so important to keep yourself hydrated with a healthy diet and drinking enough water each day, but also with the help of hydration supplements. 

Hydration supplements contain a variety of essential electrolytes, vitamins, and hydrating additions to ensure that your body and your mind are at peak performance no matter what you’re doing or where you are. 

However, it’s just as important to choose the right hydration supplement for you. Think about why you’re taking it, which electrolytes and ingredients you want more of, and the tastes that you love. Find a hydration supplement that meets all of your preferences, including your ideal price point. Hydration supplements are typically taken regularly, so it’s vital to choose one that you are able to purchase regularly. 

You can explore all of the best options for hydration supplements, as well as pre-workout and diet supplements, at Nutrition Faktory. Visit our website today to take the first step to a healthier you.