Why You Probably Need to Eat More Salt 🧂

Most of us grew up hearing that too much salt is bad. It’s been drilled into us through decades of public health messaging, low-sodium food labels, and the idea that salt automatically equals high blood pressure.

Don't get me wrong, if you're at risk of heart disease, hypertension, or already have high blood pressure - this post is not for you, but if you train (and sweat) regularly and are otherwise healthy, increasing your salt intake might solve some nagging health issues you had no idea were related.

My Salt Journey

During COVID when we were all working from home (and my west facing apartment would get real hot) I started getting weird stomach cramps towards the end of some of my long WFH days. After weeks & months of trying out different things, I initially determined that my afternoon coffee was the culprit. If I cut it out, there was an ~80% less likely chance of evening cramps... but they'd still happen. Eventually I realized that the coffee wasn't the core issue (though I still avoid caffeine after 11AM) but it was actually just increasing the symptoms of my dehydration. I already drink a lot of water (4L/day or more) so I started supplementing salt... eventually I found that adding ~1g/day of supplementation essentially completely eliminated my cramps (though not enough to bring back my afternoon coffees😞).

This sent me down a rabbit hole of research to understand how much salt my body actually needed... and what I found was very interesting.

How Much Salt do you Sweat?

Sweat isn’t just water. It’s a salty cocktail of sodium, chloride, and trace minerals that keep your muscles firing and your nerves talking to each other.

The trickiest part of these calculations? All the conversions🤦. When we talk about consuming salt its in mg (or daily recommended intake) but when we talk about sweating salt its in mmol/L (aka millimoles per liter). Here's a quick reference table:

A 2010 study on endurance athletes found that in just 90 minutes of training, sodium loss could hit 4.2 g. In extreme scenarios (think multi-hour sessions or competitions), daily losses can exceed 10 g of sodium, equivalent to 25 g of table salt (PMC2267797).

Let that sink in. That’s more salt lost in a single day than the government recommends you consume all week.

One of Many Reasons Why the RDA is Outdated

The current Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for sodium is about 1,500 mg/day, with a “limit” at 2,300 mg/day. Those numbers were developed for the general population, assuming low activity and a primary goal of minimizing hypertension risk without considering what other issues it may cause.

If you're an active healthy individual, these numbers don't apply to you. Many studies show that too little sodium can be just as harmful as too much when you train often. It can cause cramping (like I had), dizziness, lower plasma volume, reduced endurance, and even limiting your muscles ability to contract (and grow).

A 2021 review in Frontiers in Nutrition points out that sodium plays a direct role in maintaining blood volume, nerve function, and thermoregulation during prolonged exercise. This is why water alone isn't enough to keep you hydrated during exercise.

It’s also worth noting that low sodium intake triggers your kidneys to conserve sodium, increasing stress hormones like renin and aldosterone. Both are linked to poorer cardiovascular outcomes in athletes who chronically under-salt (Graudal et al., Am J Hypertens, 2017).

Time to Add Salt to Your Performance

Sodium does three major things during exercise:

1. Regulates fluid balance - helps you retain the water you drink instead of just peeing it out.
2. Supports muscle contraction and nerve signaling - low sodium means slower muscle response.
3. Prevents hyponatremia - that’s when you drink too much water without enough electrolytes and dilute your blood sodium levels.

A 2022 paper in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that sodium intake during endurance events significantly improved plasma sodium concentration and prevented performance drops from dehydration.

Even moderate sodium intake before or during workouts (roughly 300–600 mg/hour) can maintain hydration and boost endurance, especially in the heat (Sawka et al., 2007).

Below I'll put into context how much salt that is (and how to get it), but first...

When “More Salt” Isn’t the Answer

Now before you start dumping salt on everything, remember that context (always) matters. If you:

• Have hypertension, kidney disease, or heart failure
• Take blood pressure medication
• Live a mostly sedentary lifestyle

...then you should consult with professionals (and get your ass off the couch).

As Dr. James DiNicolantonio (author of The Salt Fix) summarizes:

“We demonized salt while ignoring sugar, but most people’s problems aren’t from sodium overload, they’re from processed food and inactivity.”

Steps To Increase Your Salt Intake

• Add electrolytes for long sessions: if you train more than 60-90 minutes or in the heat, add 500-1,000 mg sodium/hour.
• Salt your food to taste: simple but effective. If you crave salt, that’s your body talking.
• Pair sodium with carbs post-training to replenish glycogen and fluid faster.
• Hydrate smarter: plain water is fine for short workouts, but over-hydration without salt can lead to the dangerous drop in blood sodium called exercise-associated hyponatremia.

Preferred Methods of Salt Intake

At Raincity Athletics we have a fridge stocked full of different hydration drinks (as well as proteins and others). Here's a quick and simple breakdown of the most popular ones to show you why I now just utilize capsules (the bottom one).

If you're looking for something to sip on during exercise, any of these options will work and you can go by preferred tase (or cost). But when it comes to adding 1g+ of supplementation a day without breaking the bank - capsules are the only way to go.

The Bottom Line

If you are a health and active individual, it's time to stop fearing salt.

The RDA was made for the average office worker, not the athlete. For most of us in the gym, on the bike, or getting ready for Hyrox, a little (or a lot) more sodium might actually keep us healthier, stronger, and performing better.

As always, be smart, talk to your doctor if you’ve got heart or kidney issues, and listen to your body. Otherwise... don’t fear the salt shaker. It might just be the missing link between feeling flat and firing on all cylinders.