(bright tones) - [Narrator] Ah, the famous electrolyte.

Sports drink commercials love talking about them, but what are they?

Why do we need them?

And what happens if we don't have enough of them?

(upbeat music) A electrolytes are salts.

Actually, they're salts that we take into our body usually by way of food.

Electrolytes dissolve into positive and negative charges and conduct electricity in water.

The most common one is sodium chloride or plain old table salt.

These are the other common electrolytes found in your body, also known as ions.

These charges are crucial because they control the flow of water in our cells and nerve impulses in our bodies.

Ion channels in cell membranes regulate the flow of the positive and negative charges through cells.

Water follows these charges and always goes to the side that has the greater number of electrolytes.

Thanks, osmosis.

Without the balancing act between electrolytes and water, our cells would shrivel up and die or burst from being too full.

In nerve cells, a positive ion moving through an ion channel sparks off an electrical impulse, signaling our bodies to function properly.

That's right, electrolytes control the constant impulses in our body to keep our hearts beating, our lungs breathing, and our brains learning.

So yeah, electrolytes are pretty important.

They also make your sweat salty.

When working out, our bodies start to heat up.

Ion channels in our cells dump electrolytes or salts into the sweat gland.

Thanks to osmosis, water follows closely behind.

This increases the pressure in the gland, so that salty mix gets pushed out onto your skin.

When that water evaporates, it pulls the heat off your body and cools you down, leaving a salty residue behind.

But if you lose too many electrolytes, your nerves won't work properly, which can lead to problems with your heart, blood pressure, breathing, and you'll definitely not be performing your best.

So you better reach for that bright orange sports drink and get those electrolytes back ASAP, right?

Well, maybe not.

There's been controversy on whether sports drinks are even necessary.

People generally get enough electrolytes to replenish the ones lost in a workout from their diet.

Also, some sports drinks have sugar in them.

So if you're doing a half an hour of cardio, a single bottle of the stuff will give you back all the calories you just worked off.

If you're working out for an hour or so, water will keep you hydrated and you probably don't need those extra electrolytes or sugars.

But if you're someone like this or this or maybe running a marathon, feel free to reach for that sports drink now and again.

Your body will thank you.