Electrolytes for Hydration: Beyond Water, Heat, and Exercise

Real quick, before we dive into this episode, I have a little sleep secret I want to tell you about. Look, sleep is crucial for your fitness, but it's crucial for just plain old everyday life and function. And I find I sleep great unless I have a migraine. And I've had more than my fair share since perimenopause all the way through postmenopause. My secret weapon was Blue Sky CBD sleep gels. Each gel contains 25mg of CBD and 25mg CBN for deep restorative sleep. Something about it helps to reduce inflammation, which I believe for me was key in helping me get to sleep. But the biggest thing is so many of the over-the-counter solutions, whether for sleep or migraines, can ruin gut health, and liver health. Neither one of those did I want to be problematic for me. So this option is recommended by healthcare providers worldwide and backed by thousands of happy customers, many of whom come from our Flipping 50 community. There is zero THC, so it's non-habit-forming. It's made by a trusted family-owned company that we all can feel good about. Third-party tested for purity and potency. And if you're interested, you too can try a sample for just $6. But even better, you can get 30% off forever with discount code FLIPPING50. That's FLIPPING50. Just go to flipping50.com/blueskycbd. We'll put that link in the show notes and you'll find it everywhere on Flipping 50 at My Favorites. What are you waiting for? Good night. I stopped pedaling and I swung my leg off the bike. My bike shorts and jersey had telltale signs of salt markings all over them. Once I cooled down, any exposed skin was like sandpaper. I was like a human French fry. Listen, I've trained for 8 Ironman distance triathlons, and if you're not a distance athlete, don't go away, stay here. That training includes a lot of time, both biking and less, but still significant time running. And I am what you'd call a fairly salty sweater. I lose a lot, not like sweater you'd wear to a football game, but I lose a lot of salt per sweat that I lose. I'm not necessarily a heavy sweater, but I'm salty. Sweater. And here's the deal: even if you're not exercising outdoors in the heat, exercise of any kind and menopause with its hot flashes, night sweats or not, can also increase your need for electrolytes. This episode is all about it. I'm Debra Atkinson. You're listening to Flipping 50, where I address your top struggles and concerns. And can I just say that sometimes before you know, there are struggles and concerns, hopefully so we can prevent them. I share to eat and how to move and how to change your mindset so you can have the energy and the vitality that you want, need, and deserve in this second and better half. To really hydrate is about much more than water. I know we see it everywhere, you've seen it everywhere. I'm actually very tired of it. I tell and advise all of our health coaches and Flipping 50 Menopause Fitness specialists, you got to start saying something a little bit more sexy than drink water. And not because it's just, you know, because it's generic, but because it's not enough. For most women, it's not enough. So I'm really going to talk about that. Hydration is about much more than water. In a Workout Wednesday post that I sent to our subscribers I shared information about electrolytes and how to get started down a path toward less water retention. Yeah, you heard that. And more energy with some real basics. And so we're going to dive into this, but I want you to know this is really important. This is not just for you if you live in a hot environment. This is not just for you if you are a regular exercise enthusiast or thinking you're, you're only mildly exercising, so you don't need this. If you're a woman in midlife or beyond, I'm almost going to guarantee you need this. So stay tuned, please, and then you're going to know and you're going to influence other women because you know, and it strikes up a really great conversation that you can have with somebody. So some women in menopause say they just aren't thirsty. Is that you? There may be some changes to thirst mechanism during menopause and some hormonal imbalances that may have a diuretic effect on women. In. So both those things put us at risk. We have a lack of thirst, so we're not getting that trigger, the cue. And there are some hormonal imbalances, like you've got too little estrogen, maybe you've got more progesterone, that can have a diuretic effect. And so double whammy for you in terms of your dehydration risk. Lack of thirst, first of all, and I know you know this, isn't a cue that you don't need to hydrate. Um, it— that doesn't mean, oh, I'm not thirsty, that you don't need something. By the time you do feel the thirst, it— the old adage has always been you're already dehydrated. And I've shared this many times, I'm going to be a broken record, I'm going to share it again at risk and thinking maybe you didn't hear it before. Or that it bears hearing again. There was a study, and this was probably 20, 25 years ago. I mean, it's— I've been doing this for almost 40 years, so eventually you get to a point where you're doing that. But the reason I could still quote that is because it's still relevant. I mean, new research hasn't repaired or replaced this, but, uh, you know, informal surveys and tests were done on people who were entering a fitness center for a workout, and they tested to look at their hydration level just on a very brief level. And this wasn't by asking them, it was by literally, let's test and see where their hydration is. I mean, 95% of people walking in the door were already dehydrated. So imagine the workout suffers Everything you do, you probably do it slower. You lift less weight because you're dehydrated, because there's going to be more effort involved in it. You're not going to feel good doing it. And you know, it's not just a matter of if it feels hard, then it is hard. You're compromising yourself, but you're also stressing your body. If you're dehydrated, the blood running through your body is thicker. Your heart is trying to do more work pumping that blood. So this becomes a real risk for so many other reasons. And your body also can't cool you as well if you don't have that water that can reach the skin and be evaporated. So I'll talk a little bit about each of those things. They're all very important, so don't take this at surface values like, oh, I drink a lot of water. And, you know, I won't go into too much about when you drink, but realize that between meals is the best time to drink, not at meal. Because you could flood your system and then you're diluting food, you're diluting the foodstuffs, the minerals and vitamins in the food from getting digested and absorbed. So between meals is when you drink your water, not at your meals. You just drink comfortably to swallow, that's it. Okay, so lack of thirst, remember, is not a cue that you don't need to hydrate. It may be a reason to be more diligent so you can maintain your energy, your brain function, and by that I include so much like you know, problem solving, focus, concentration, memory, but also your mood, and you feel optimal. And so if you can check any of the boxes saying, I feel tired, tired all the time, kind of flat, no energy, you know, my mood is down, depression, anxiety, or, you know, just not in a good mood, any of those things could also be related to something as simple as hydration. I think we get in the habit of putting this overarching umbrella and saying, I'm in midlife and it's, you know, it's hormones. You know, some of what happens to hormones we have to take responsibility for. We could be imposing the hormone problem on ourselves. I think you and I have to be willing to say, what's my role in this, right? So also want to ask you this: are you retaining water? A lot of women in midlife do. I struggle with this occasionally when, you know, I'm not doing the right thing, I'm sitting too long at a computer. By the end of the day, I will look at my ankles and I'd be like, oh my goodness, I'm— I've become one of those women, right? And, you know, nobody else may notice it, but I do. I know, I know a good ankle from a not so good ankle. I know an ankle that's flown in an airplane versus, you know, one that's been active Throughout the day, up and down. And I know that sometimes I cause that. That was me and my habits, and we can change it. So, um, you know, if you've got hot flashes, if you are a heavy sweater— and every time I wrote that and I'm reading that here, I'm like, yes, no, we're not talking about a beautiful sweater that you'd love to wear— um, drinking lots of water and you're constantly in the bathroom. This is for you. You're not hydrated. So if you think that you're going to the bathroom constantly is a sign you're drinking plenty of water and your hydration level therefore is good, no, you may be drinking plenty of water, but your hydration level is not good. If you're drinking water and it's going to the use of your body, you are actually putting it to the use of your body and your cells. You're not peeing it all out. That's an aha moment for a lot of you, I know. So let's— let me start at the beginning. What are electrolytes? So we kind of collectively say, oh, my electrolytes are that, are you taking electrolytes? But I don't want to pass this by, so let's just talk about them. Defined, they are electrically charged minerals, so they're a part of the mineral family. They play a vital role in various physiological functions. It's like fine-tuning your car, little pieces and parts that you don't even know are there are going to work to make you able to drive down the road. Potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, and chloride. All right, so potassium, uh, one of the number one sources everybody thinks of is bananas and potatoes. Actually, the best source is orange juice, and that's not a recommendation, by the way, because just drinking orange juice is going to make your blood sugar go sky high, and we're not after that. But Those are some common sources. Sodium. Too many of us are avoiding it, do you know, right? We're feeling virtuous, like we no longer use salt. I don't put salt on the table anymore. And you know how we sound when we're like, oh no, I don't use salt. And you say that to a group of friends or to your spouse at the table, you know how you sound. I'm not kidding. I hear this from I've heard this from a partner of mine, like, I don't use salt. And it was just like a little bit of arrogance, like, really? Okay, but it's not good. Guess what? We need it. And especially if you've got trouble with thyroid, you, um, have low energy, you're struggling, one of the reasons may actually be that you don't have enough sodium. You're drinking tons of water all day, uh, same said partner, uh, you're just flooding your system and basically you're diluting all the minerals. And you need sodium, you need electrolytes in that water. Calcium. So I know we're all used to thinking, oh, dairy products— doesn't have to come from that, by the way. We can get far more in plant-based milks than we could in a dairy product anyway. And it's pretty abundant in foods if you're eating high-quality food and you're eating them in combinations that help bring them together. So you eat certain foods with with each other, and if there's calcium in one, the other food is like the partner helping you absorb that calcium. Magnesium— this is one where, you know, there's still some controversy on old school, like there's, oh, you know, here's the RDA, you shouldn't take more than that. You know, you're always going to read that if you're reading something from National Institute of Health, and, you know, kudos to them, they're a respectable organization, but they're based on guidelines and position statements that are not based on individuals. And that, I think, we all to begin to say, well, test, don't guess, right? Go get a micronutrient test, test your magnesium, and make sure that you do a little research and homework on your— how do I test my magnesium and know that I'm testing the right thing and looking at the right levels for that right thing to know if I should supplement or not? That's key. And the last one is chloride. And you know, you'll find this in small print on a multivitamin if you're taking it, and it appears in foods in minute amounts, but just just because there's just a little of it there doesn't mean it's less important. It's a really important thing to consider. So electrolytes maintain the fluid balance and brain function. And can I just say one word? Menopause. I mean, fluid balance. I mean, a lot of women are struggling with, um, you know, feeling like they are in the bathroom because they're drinking more water, or things are going right through them. They're retaining water, feeling puffy, having that just— you're inflamed, right? You're looking and feeling inflamed. And brain function, brain fog is like one of the number one symptoms. Hello, right? So we've got to think about it from this standpoint as well. Electrolytes play a vital role in mitigating menopause symptoms by maintaining fluid balance and temperature regulation. So I don't think you have to say hot flash or night sweat in order to say temperature regulation. I think many of us can agree that, you know, if we're not doing things consciously to prevent it, we heat up faster than we used to. You know, we're right now, um, well, let's just say right now I live, I live in hell. I'm so sorry to say that, but, um, temperatures have been over 110 for more than 3 weeks, and I think we're like on day 7 or so of over 115. It's not, it's not a good time here. And when things, you know, cool down to the mid-90s at night— hello, do we have a problem, Houston? I think so. But that means that, you know, the heat is in the air. The heat is even— you feel it when you're in a store, you feel it when you're in your home, you know. It's just everything is a little bit warmer. And we— you can't stop that incidental heat, but probably— I am more susceptible this year. I've never noticed it this year more than ever. I'm 59, about 3 years post-menopause, and it's just like, what? What is this? Like, I don't deserve this, right? It's a little, it's a little egotistical thing in my, in my world today, but it's so true. This, this can't be happening to me, and it is. And there's that. And I think we just have to do a little bit more. And one of those doing more things, which is very easy, is electrolytes. So I will continue and I'll go on. If you've experienced brain fog, memory lapse, mood swings, they can be exacerbated during heat waves. Yeah, so excessive sweating, whether you see it, you feel it, or whether you don't, because you could be in a humid environment, you know, and up to a certain point you're gonna sweat and then no longer is that gonna absorb absorb off of your skin because the air is so saturated that it can't absorb and take on anymore. And that was, you know, the feeling of being in the Midwest, you know, in the summertime in July and August. That's what happens. It's that much. I spent college summers in Louisiana. Oh my gosh, you think, step outside the door, you're sweating, but then it's done. You're sweating, but you're just wet. You just stay wet because it can't absorb off of you. If you're in a drier climate, really dry, you don't even realize you're sweating because it is absorbing into the air. It's evaporating so quickly that there is a risk there that because you cannot see it, that you're losing that sweat and potentially sodium salts you are not going to drink as much. You just don't think you need it. So somewhere in the sweet spot is the ideal. You're in a humid enough environment, but there's enough room in the air to still absorb the, the sweat leaving your skin. And you're seeing yourself sweat or feeling it drip, and you know you need to replenish and restore both the water and the electrolytes, and that would be ideal. So it can deplete your body's water and your electrolyte stores because with that sweat is going sodium and potassium and chloride and magnesium. So all of the things are leaving you, and calcium I left out. So whether you are exercising a great deal or a little bit. I'm hoping you are. I hope I'm preaching to the choir right now. And if you're not yet, welcome. We invite all newcomers to sit in the front row, so come on up. But there's two things: you need to replace your electrolytes every day in midlife, and additionally during high heat times or high stress times and exercise and and doubly so if you're exercising excessively or a lot or regularly in higher heat. So when you might need hydration beyond, beyond water, right? Fatigue. Here's how you identify, am I a candidate for this? And I'm going to say across the board, almost all of you are if you're listening. But if you're experiencing a lot of fatigue It could be related to many things, of course, but low electrolytes can be one. For menopausal women, consuming electrolytes daily, not just in hot weather, can help re-establish fluid balance. Fluid retention. So is this you? Are you feeling puffy? I think for me, the fastest place to know this is look at my ankles after I've been sitting down for a couple of hours. You know, normally other decades that never would have shown up. I mean, I could have sat and written, or sat and worked in my office, or sat and taught, you know, had office hours, and nothing. But I notice now, if I sit even for a few hours, that will definitely happen, even to somebody who, who's conscious of staying well hydrated. So surprise, right? Restricting sodium intake isn't necessarily the cure for fluid retention. Adequate electrolytes influence adequate hydration, and That helps prevent fluid retention and provides natural detox. Drinking more water and peeing constantly, is that you? Is that why you won't drink water before bed? Well, guess what? It's a sign you're not hydrating. If it goes right through you, it's not staying with you. I know that was not very Einsteinian of me, but I wanted to illustrate the point. You're not actually hydrating. If that's what's happening. So we need to fix that problem. First of all, try slowing down on your water intake, how quickly you're increasing your intake. So yes, it's virtuous, you need more water, you need more fluids, but in addition, consider adding some salt to your water. I know it's probably mentally going to take some time to hear that again and again, but it is something that will work. Here's another sign that you might need hydration beyond water. Exercise gets hard faster. A woman here in Phoenix yesterday— this is the end of July in 2023— but it thought that hiking in 118-degree heat mid-afternoon was a good idea, and she got heat stroke. I am biting my tongue about my thoughts about this woman, but whatever. Um, you don't have to be shall we say silly, to compromise not just your exercise but your health. You— if you're dehydrated, your blood thickens. So I mean, part of hydration is not just every, every cell in your body, not just that, but in your blood. Your blood is the liquid running through your veins, right? Well, it's either thick or it's thinner. I mean, you've heard some people take a blood thinner to make it flow through, so it makes them less susceptible to clotting, right? Well, I mean, you kind of thicken or thin your blood by your hydration level, and if you're dehydrated, your blood is thicker, your heart has to work harder pumping it through your body to do a couple of things. That's how we deliver oxygen to the working muscles, so the exercise will feel harder. You'll not be as strong, you'll not have as much endurance, and potentially be getting breathless faster, earlier, sooner. But also, your heating and cooling system is related to that blood flow, the blood taking it to the surface of your body, to the skin, so that that sweat then can be projected and evaporated off. And that's not happening either. So you're compromising just every single part when you're feeling like it's a really hard workout, but all you're doing is just a lot of damage, not even doing any good. So not just not doing a lot of good, not doing any good. So it's important for you to, to look at these pieces. So obviously you want to make wise choices like exercising in the heat, but being hydrated before you begin, having extra electrolyte-rich drinks during your exercise and rehydrating after are key steps when heat and/or humidity climb. This isn't a practice just for the days you exercise, it's a daily habit. And that, I think, is something that women in midlife, particularly if you're within earshot of this podcast, you need to hear. Electrolytes daily. And I think we've all thought of them as Gatorade we give to our kids, and please stop giving them that ooey gooey sticky sweet stuff. Sugar dehydrates, and I don't know why it took us so long to figure that out, but it certainly did. And you know, and then what they've replaced it with is chemicals. I don't know that that's any better, and I do know we want those kids to drink liquid, so it's got to taste good, but I'm not sure we've come up with the best solution for that yet. But the sooner we can get kids aware that if they're drinking sugary products, they're going to dehydrate themselves and they're probably not going to feel good— their guts don't feel good if you drink a lot of sugary stuff during hot weather. But also, drinking chemicals is probably not the thing. And when we educate them early and they start making their own choices, we're going to all be better off. But it's important that you're hydrating regularly. Okay, other signs of low electrolytes: headaches, muscle cramps, twitches, spasms. So these could even be like the leg cramps that happen at night. Feeling breathless too soon, dizziness associated with low blood pressure. If you have lower end blood pressure, you know, your doctors, when they— you go in, may have always been impressed and thought, oh, you're, you're really low, this is so great. But hey, Uh, you know, it's like, I don't know that that's a great thing. Okay, so it's important that you look at why, what's going on, um, and make sure that you realize we probably want that blood pressure up a little bit. We definitely don't want to combine that with low blood sugar. We don't want to combine that with not having electrolytes. So you're— if you're too low blood sugar and experience dizziness getting up and down from the floor, or just lying down to standing up. All that may be supported by increasing electrolytes. Plus these things— if you're stressed, your heart and your adrenals also need electrolytes. And that belly fat— listen to this— so if I haven't got your attention yet, belly fat may be reduced by way of improving your insulin sensitivity by taking in electrolytes. Yeah, who knew we stabilize blood sugar with electrolytes? Okay, do I have your attention now? I thought so. Salty sweat, I mentioned that. And if you're a heavy sweater— so if you're a heavy sweater, not if you have a heavy bulky sweater, okay— you're losing sodium when you sweat. We lose some of it. We lose all of those minerals when we sweat. That and go deeper. If you're a heavy sweater and like me, that sweat dries and you just— you're salty on the outside, you definitely probably are losing more sodium than some. So just taking in the electrolytes that somebody else would for you might not be enough. You might want a more concentrated level. So by way of just telling you what I like and what I'm enjoying lately, I am not affiliated with LMNT It's the electrolytes, I think, that are blowing up the internet, social media. There are a lot of influencers associated with them. I'm not one of them, unfortunately. I wish they'd send me a supply, but they haven't yet. But LMNT, I have tried it a couple of times. I looked at it honestly and I was like, 1,000 milligrams of sodium? And I had the same response I'm sure you would, that I don't even have that in a day, some of you might say. And some of you, if you have doctor's orders not to, please follow those. Don't, don't take extra electrolytes. They can be related to a lot of problems, but those people who are like under congenitive heart failure, you're at risk for that. Or sometimes Meniere's disease, you know, can be associated with sodium levels. So there may be a reason, but you also have to have a very open conversation with with your practitioner and say, okay, yes, and I'm in menopause, and I'm outdoors exercising regularly, sweating quite a bit, and I've noticed I lose a lot of sodium. So now what do you say? How do we handle that? So, you know, we have to be advocates for ourselves. So speak up. Think about these things that maybe you hadn't thought of to ask before that could be really important to your overall picture of health. Okay. So if you're a heavy sweater— and by the way, you can test your, your sweat rate, in case you didn't know that. So two things that will be shown is how much do you sweat and what's your salt loss in that sweat rate. And ironically, so when I imagined that this would happen, I thought, well, they're gonna make me sit in a sauna, or they're gonna make me get on a bike and pedal my brains out until I sweat, sweat, sweat, sweat. That's not at all how it happens. They basically put like patches and electrodes on your skin, and they subject you to a test, and that's how they do it. It's very inactive. Quite honestly, it was kind of disappointing, but you can find out. So if you suspect I'm an extra heavy sweater, or I do suspect I am totally French fry, just like, just like you, then I would— it would be worth it because then you get a recommendation for you know, here's how much salt you would take in per hour. Like, if you were— this week happens to be in Iowa Ragbrai. The Register, which is the Des Moines paper, the Register's annual bike ride across Iowa. And I actually have FOMO because I'm not there, as, as well as having FOMO because it's not 118 there. So anywhere would be better. But it's the 50th anniversary, and if you were gonna be doing something like that, riding your bike for you know, anywhere between 60 and 100 miles, 7 days in a row. That's a lot of exposure to the elements outside. It's usually hot and sunny. I think they may have hit 100 this week as well, you know. So a lot of extra electrolytes should be going in, not just drinking water, but electrolytes, super important. And you would want to go over and above, but that's where it might be really valuable for you to know how much sodium do I need to take in every hour, how much liquid and how much sodium. That can be really important. So here's beginners— for beginners, right? So that we're not doing a sweat test on you, we're not doing a sweat rate or a salt loss rate, but where's a good place to start? So here's how to begin hydrating with electrolytes. Number 1, I would recommend starting with salt water, and that's S-O-L-E, all right? And it's made with Himalayan pink salt crystals. So it's literally— they're, they're rocky chunks, and you put them in a glass jar that has a lid. You put them in a glass jar, you cover them with filtered water, cover it with the lid, let it sit on your counter for at least 24 hours. That saturates the water with the sodium. You need a teaspoon in a 12-ounce glass of water, drink that first thing in the morning, and you have increased and enhanced your alkalinity, which is good for women in, in menopause. And you've increased your hydration probably for the rest of the day. And if it's a really hot, you know, high humidity, or just simply really high heat day, or you're exerting, you know, I would do that again later in the day. But that's a perfect way to start, and I'm putting a link in the show notes to a previous episode where I shared this is what I'm doing and how I do it. I describe this process in the post, so it's simple, it's natural, it's easy. So those of you who'd rather not take a processed, you know, food label kind of a thing, I totally get it, you know, because there's sugar, you know, impersonators in those things, there's chemical sweeteners in those things that in some of them. If you're investing in something like Athletic Greens, which is, is a powdered green mix, that can help by boosting your magnesium levels that come in greens. You could also add leafy greens to your smoothies if you tolerate that. Eating some extra greens, fresh salads, those straight from the garden greens, you know, right now, that can boost your magnesium level naturally too. And especially if you've been avoiding or reducing sodium, you may want to reconsider. And unless you have a medical condition, and many women and men have been using such a low sodium level that they're lacking in this electrolyte balance. So choose— here's how to start. Choose a clean electrolyte product if you want to use one that's without sugar, without artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Take one serving a day. I'm using the LMNT, and that's like all four capital letters. You'll see it if you Google it, it'll come up. It's all over the place. Most recently, that's what I'm using, and the reason is it does— it tastes really good. I mean, it doesn't taste like Kool-Aid. It's not sticky sweet. It just tastes fresh. I mean, there's no aftertaste, there's no nothing. I think it is sweetened with stevia. Stevia, but I think it's sweetened so lightly, if you are really usually offended by stevia, um, I think even you might like it. But they do have an unflavored, so that's another way to go if you just want to get in the sodium. Now it's unflavored, but the fact is you still might taste the sodium. So during exercise, here's the way I use it. So I take a packet and I'll put it in a one of those tall, just like exercise water bottles. It's 16 ounces., and that way it's more concentrated to support my sweat rate, right? During the day, I'll dilute one of those powdered packets in 24 to 30 ounces of water, and then I'll just sip on that during the day. So I'm still taking in electrolytes, but I don't need them in such a highly concentrated way. For those of you who say you get bored drinking plain water, you know, The, the flavor of this will help you take it in. Try the Soul Water for everyday solution, just every day, any day, and the LMNT for clean electrolyte for exercise and/or pre or post exercise, or the string of days like the heat wave we, we are having here right now, or it, or a week where you might be doing some exertion. Maybe it's hiking or, or biking. Working for you too. I will share this and some additional information with you with any questions that come in because this is really important. But my favorite electrolytes, a short list, there's Mytox by Bridget Danner. It's got some things that'll help your body naturally detox, and it also has a little, I don't know, a little citrus and a little sodium taste, which also increases the likelihood that you'll encouraged to drink. Wild Lights by Terry Cochran, and I have a discount coupon for that. That is just a really mild, light flavor. There's a little cilantro in it, and some people are either I do or I don't like cilantro, so that might be key. A little watermelon flavor, but it's super light and refreshing. It's not heavy at all. The Soul with Himalayan crystal salt— I'll put you to the link where I get mine. From a company that I know, love, and trust, and I don't share anything that I don't. And those are my faves in addition to the LMNT that I just shared. So please let me know if you have questions, but this one, really an important thing for you. And potentially if you've got, you know, younger kids, whether they're participating in sports, you know, in high school and/or in college, or they're just exercise enthusiasts themselves, I think this is one of those things where we often overlook it, and/or we don't know what are good choices in our electrolytes. But even on the golf course, you know, and I know maybe in and out of carts, maybe we're not actually hiking the golf course, but if you're spending 3 to 4 hours outdoors in the heat, you know, you want to be replenishing. And that would be a good time to take a packet and, you know, dilute it across a couple of water bottles. So smart planning ahead, you're probably going to feel better as opposed to worse, you know, if you're doing that. I hope this was helpful. You can find the show notes at flipping50.com/electrolytes for hydration. What are you waiting for? Let's start flipping 50 today.