Salt. It’s all the rage right now. Everyone’s telling you to shotgun a gram of sodium every morning to be healthy, perform better, and hydrate properly. But no one’s really telling you whether you actually need it or how much you should be taking in. So let me break it down for you.
I’m Dr. Alyssa Olenick. I have a PhD in exercise physiology with a specialty in metabolism and sports nutrition. And while I do have an affiliate code for an electrolyte product (sorry, Liquid IV, for what I’m about to say), the truth is that not everyone needs an electrolyte supplement. Whether you do depends on your diet, your activity level, and your individual needs.
“You need to drink a gram of sodium every single morning or you’re dehydrated and underperforming.”
🚨 NOT SO FAST: The RDA for sodium is 2,300 mg per day, and most people eating a regular diet with any processed foods or added salt are already meeting or exceeding that. You might not need to supplement at all.
Electrolyte supplements are primarily composed of sodium (basically table salt) along with other minerals like magnesium, potassium, and other electrolytes you lose through sweat. Sodium is the main one, which is why you see it in such high amounts in these products.
Here’s my general rule of thumb: if you’re a regular person working out for 30 to 60 minutes a day, eating a normal diet, adding salt to your food, and consuming some processed foods across the week, you are very likely already at or exceeding your sodium needs for both your lifestyle and your general performance goals. In our hyperprocessed food environment, most of us are getting plenty of sodium from the food we’re already eating.
💡 KEY POINT:
If you’re getting enough sodium from your diet, you don’t need to supplement with an electrolyte product every morning. The exception is if you have additional clinical needs, low blood sodium, or fall into a population that temporarily benefits from supplementation, like athletes, highly active individuals, or lactating/pregnant women who have higher blood plasma volume.
The one group that might benefit from daily supplementation outside of exercise is people who eat a very whole foods diet, don’t add much salt to their food, and aren’t getting much sodium from processed sources. In that case, an electrolyte supplement can help fill the gap and genuinely help with hydration and how you feel day to day.
When you’re highly active or training as an athlete, your daily sodium needs can climb to 3,000 to 6,000 milligrams per day. That’s because you’re losing sodium and other electrolytes through your sweat during training, and you need to replace and replenish those to maintain fluid balance, hydration status, and mineral levels in your body.
📊 Sodium Needs by Activity Level:
Regular person, moderate activity (30-60 min/day) → ~2,300 mg/day from diet is likely sufficient. Supplementation probably not necessary if you eat a normal diet with salt.
Active individual or recreational athlete → May benefit from 300-500 mg during longer or sweatier sessions, especially in heat. Diet likely covers the rest.
Highly active / endurance athlete → 3,000-6,000 mg/day total. Supplement with 300-1,000 mg per hour during exercise, and potentially pre-load before long sessions or replenish after to replace what you lost.
Whole foods diet, minimal processed food → You might not be hitting baseline sodium needs from food alone. A daily electrolyte supplement could genuinely help regardless of activity level.
How much you personally need within those ranges depends on the weather and conditions you’re training in, how much you sweat, how salty your sweat is, and how much sodium you’re already getting from food across the day. It’s something you’ll have to trial and error with yourself.
Your salt needs speak in silent and tiny ways. Learning to recognize those signals over time has helped me dial my supplementation up and back based on what I actually need. Here’s what to watch for.
You Might Need More Sodium If:
💡 KEY POINT:
Right now I’m training for a marathon in the hot, humid East Coast summer, and I’m supplementing 500 to 2,000 milligrams of sodium most days to replace what I’m losing. On long run days, potentially even more. But last winter during my offseason? I didn’t supplement with a single Liquid IV other than a few days a week during long gym sessions when I was sweating a lot. My needs were lower, I felt fine without it, and I adjusted accordingly. This isn’t a year-round, one-size-fits-all prescription.
If you have pre-existing conditions like high blood pressure or you’ve seen changes in your blood sodium levels on your bloodwork, make sure to talk to your doctor before adding an electrolyte supplement. Most regular people don’t need to be taking a gram a day, and adding unnecessary sodium on top of what you’re already getting from food could be a problem for certain populations.
✅ Your table salt, which makes your food taste good, can be perfectly fine for meeting your sodium needs. You don’t always need a fancy supplement. But if you’re training hard in hot and humid conditions, supplementation can make a real difference in how you feel and perform.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Not everyone needs an electrolyte supplement. If you eat a normal diet with some processed foods and added salt, you’re probably already meeting your baseline sodium needs. Athletes and highly active people in hot conditions genuinely benefit from supplementation during and around training. How much you need depends on your sweat rate, your environment, and what you’re getting from food. Trial and error is part of the process, and your needs will change with the seasons and your training demands.
Your Action Plan:
✓ Check your baseline first – are you eating a diet with some salt and processed foods? You might already be meeting your sodium needs without any supplement at all. ✓ Assess your activity level – casual exerciser working out under 60 minutes? Probably fine with diet alone. Training for endurance events or sweating heavily? Supplementation likely helps. ✓ Start experimenting during training – try 300-500 mg during longer sessions and see how you feel. Increase toward 1,000 mg per hour if you’re a heavy sweater or training in heat. ✓ Listen to the quiet signals – headaches, persistent dehydration despite drinking water, afternoon brain fog, and waking up parched are all hints your sodium might be low. ✓ Adjust with the seasons – hot summer training might require daily supplementation while winter or offseason might not need any at all.✓ Talk to your doctor if needed – especially if you have high blood pressure or have noticed changes in blood sodium on your labs. Don’t just pile on sodium because the internet told you to.
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I’m Exercise Physiologist, sports nutritionist, weight lifter, and ultra runner. I am here to bring science to your training in a no-nonsense way. I have helped thousands of women crush big lifting goals, cross race finish lines, and even do both. I’m here to help you do the same!
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