Sodium is essential for maintaining fluid balance, blood pressure, nerve signaling, and muscle function, making it a critical electrolyte for both health and endurance performance. During prolonged exercise, athletes lose sodium through sweat, and replacing both water and sodium helps maintain hydration, preserve blood volume, and reduce the risk of exercise-associated hyponatremia, particularly when large amounts of plain water are consumed. While dehydration from water loss is generally the primary limiter of endurance performance, sodium replacement becomes increasingly important during long, hot events or for athletes with high sweat sodium losses. Sodium needs are highly individual, so athletes should develop a personalized hydration and sodium strategy based on their sweat rate, sweat sodium concentration, environmental conditions, and exercise duration rather than relying on universal recommendations.
Read more of Aaron's own words from the Carbs Fuel Website: https://carbsfuel.com/blogs/news/why-sodium-is-needed-for-endurance-performance