6 Signs You Need More Electrolytes

Have you ever felt like plain water wasn't helping? Maybe you kept drinking but still felt terrible, or felt strangely full after just a few sips. Your body might have been trying to tell you something important.

Hydration isn't just about water. Electrolytes are minerals that make water actually work in your body. When these minerals run low, your body gives you clear warning signs, but most people miss them.

Here are six warning signs to look out for. The first three are the easiest to catch right when they happen.

To learn what electrolytes are and how hydration works, read my guide: Hydration and Electrolytes: Everything You Need to Know

Sign 1: The “Yuck” Mechanism: Water Tastes Wrong — or Makes You Feel Sick

This sign surprises almost everyone when I explain it:

When your body gets low on electrolytes, it actually turns off your desire to drink plain water. This is your body protecting itself. If you keep drinking water without adding electrolytes, you thin out the salt in your blood even more. That can cause bigger health problems (more on that below).

So what happens? Plain water suddenly tastes wrong, makes you feel nauseous, or makes you feel stuffed after taking just a few sips. The official term is the osmoreceptor-mediated thirst mechanism, but I call this the “yuck” mechanism because that’s exactly what it feels like — water becomes gross! Water tastes gross because your body wants you to stop drinking plain water.

If drinking water makes you feel worse instead of better, this is why. The answer isn’t to stop drinking liquid. You just need to add electrolytes to your water.

Sign 2: Your Stomach Feels Heavy and Sloshy

Here is another sign people ignore: that sloshing feeling in your stomach after you drink. It feels like water is just sitting in your belly like a water balloon.

This isn’t a digestion problem. It’s actually your gut working hard to protect you.

When your blood is low on salt, your stomach slows down how fast it absorbs water. If that water went straight into your blood, your salt levels would drop too fast — so your stomach traps the liquid. The water sits there instead of moving through your body.

The fix is simple: add electrolytes to your drink. Once the balance of water and salt is right, your stomach absorbs the liquid quickly, and the heavy feeling goes away.

Sign 3: You Use the Bathroom More Than Once an Hour

First, let’s clear something up: peeing 6 to 12 times a day is completely healthy.

75% of Americans live their lives chronically dehydrated, and many think using the bathroom only 3 times a day is normal — it may be common, but it’s not healthy.

However, watch for this pattern: you try drinking more water, but then you can’t go even an hour without needing to pee. That usually doesn’t mean you drank too much water. It means you need more electrolytes.

When your blood is low on electrolytes, your kidneys flush out extra water, making very clear urine. Because there aren’t enough minerals to hold water in your muscles and blood, the water passes right through you. It doesn’t actually hydrate your body.

If you are drinking lots of water and constantly using the bathroom, but still feel dehydrated, start adding electrolytes!

Sign 4: Brain Fog and Trouble Focusing

Medical studies back this sign up, yet both doctors and patients often miss it.

Even a small drop in blood sodium (called low sodium or hyponatremia) hurts how well your brain works. It can slow down your thinking and make it hard to focus. Research shows that people with even mild sodium drops have a harder time paying attention and keeping their balance. (Renneboog et al., 2006; Gunathilake et al., 2015)

It is easy to blame brain fog on poor sleep, stress, or needing more coffee. People rarely blame a lack of salt. But if you drink lots of plain water or sweat a lot without replacing sodium, your brain will start to slow down.

Sign 5: Anxiety, Bad Sleep, and Eye Twitches

This usually happens when you are low on magnesium. Low magnesium is one of the most common mineral gaps today.

Standard blood tests often miss this problem. Over half of your body’s magnesium is stored in your bones and muscles, not your blood. Your body will pull magnesium from your bones to keep blood levels looking normal. You can have normal blood test results but still be low on magnesium.

What does low magnesium feel like? You might feel anxious for no clear reason or more anxious than you should feel, sleep poorly, or feel restless legs at night. You might also get annoying muscle twitches, like fluttering eyelids, facial tics or annoying leg/arm twitches. Studies show that taking magnesium helps lower anxiety and improves sleep quality. (Boyle et al., 2017; Abbasi et al., 2012)

Why are so many people low on magnesium? Modern processed foods lose most of their minerals during manufacturing. On top of that, modern farming and chemical fertilizers deplete minerals from the soil. Most people simply do not get enough magnesium from food anymore.

Sign 6: Heart Racing or Skipping Beats

This sign definitely gets your attention when it happens!

Low potassium (hypokalemia) messes with the electrical signals that keep your heart beating smoothly. Potassium helps control electrical signals for your body’s cells — and your heart uses electricity to beat. When potassium drops too low, your heart becomes jumpy, leading to fluttering feelings or skipped beats. (Weiss et al., 2017; Ungar et al., 2011)

The average modern diet contains very little potassium. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors consumed 8,000–11,000 mg of potassium per day from root vegetables, fruits, leafy greens, and wild game meat. Experts recommend getting at least 3,500 to 5,000 mg of potassium a day, but the average American gets only 2,500 mg. Most people do not eat enough whole foods like vegetables, fruit and fish to meet their body’s needs.

If you feel your heart fluttering, it is a good idea to talk with your doctor, dietitian or provider about your potassium levels.

What to Do Next

The short version is simple: stop relying only on plain water, and start adding electrolytes.

Here is a quick guide to getting the minerals you need:

• Sodium: You lose this mineral fastest when you sweat (about 600 mg per hour on average). It helps your body balance fluids.

• Potassium: Eat foods rich in potassium like spinach, sweet potatoes, avocados, and salmon. You can also try low-sodium salts (which blend sodium and potassium) which are usually much better for most people than taking potassium pills.

• Magnesium: Most diets do not have enough. You may need a supplement to hit healthy levels (500-700+ mg per day).

• Calcium: You may or may not eat enough, depending on your dairy and leafy greens intake. We need 1000-2000 mg per day, and an average serving of dairy (8 oz milk, 5 oz yogurt, 1 oz cheese) contains around 200-350 mg, a cup of cooked kale has 177 mg. Ultra-filtered milks like FairLife or ultra-filtered milk based protein drinks can have up to 1000 mg!

  
  

If you drink plenty of water but notice two or more of these signs, try adding electrolyte powders or mineral-rich foods to your routine for a few days to see how you feel.

To learn more about how electrolytes work and how much you need, check out: Hydration and Electrolytes: Everything You Need to Know