It’s no secret that we sweat more in the summer, but what we might forget is the impact sweating can have on our electrolyte levels. As research published in the journal Sports Medicine1 explains, water and electrolytes are both lost as a consequence of thermoregulatory sweating, “and in some situations, especially when exercise is prolonged, high-intensity, and/or in a hot environment, sweat losses can be sufficient to cause excessive water/electrolyte imbalances and impair performance.”

Electrolytes are essentially a category of electrically charged essential minerals that the body both produces and derives from food and beverages. As leading functional medicine physician Bindiya Gandhi, M.D. previously told mindbodygreen, minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphate, chloride, and sodium are all examples of important electrolytes.

“You mostly lose sodium and chloride in terms of the electrolytes lost in sweat,” mindbodygreen’s vice president of scientific affairs, Ashley Jordan Ferira Ph.D., RDN explains, “but don’t forget about these electrolytes (and essential minerals!) you also lose—calcium, potassium, magnesium.”

According to Gandhi, electrolytes are important to sustaining a healthy body and mind, as they help to balance our fluid levels, hhelp to keep our muscles, nerves, heart, and brain cells working, and even help to transport nutrients to our cells.