You may have heard the camp story about someone ending up in the hospital after drinking too much water. They were trying to stay hydrated through long blocks in the heat. How could drinking water become the problem?
The answer starts with the balance between water and sodium.
When someone drinks more fluid than their body can excrete, blood sodium can become diluted. This can contribute to exercise associated hyponatremia, a potentially serious condition. Replacing what rehearsal takes out means paying attention to both the amount of fluid consumed and the electrolytes lost through sweat. [3][4]
Let’s get a little nerdy.
Before a performer takes a step, presses a valve, controls a breath, or releases a note, electrical signaling is already underway. Nerves send signals to muscles. Muscle cells respond. Calcium helps trigger contraction, and chemical energy powers the work and prepares the system for what comes next.
Sodium and potassium help make that signaling possible.
Cells maintain more sodium outside their membranes and more potassium inside. A protein called the sodium and potassium pump uses ATP, the cell’s immediate energy currency, to move three sodium ions out for every two potassium ions it brings in. Those gradients store electrochemical potential, somewhat like the stored potential in a battery. [1]
When specific channels open, ions move across the membrane and produce an action potential, a brief electrical change that carries a nerve signal or activates a muscle. The pump continually maintains the gradients that make repeated signaling possible.
ATP supplies the energy. Sodium and potassium help create the electrical conditions that allow the system to work.
Meanwhile, rehearsal puts the body’s cooling system to work. Sweat cools the body as water evaporates from the skin. Along with that water go sodium, chloride, potassium, hopes and dreams, and smaller amounts of other minerals.
How much a performer loses depends on how much they sweat and how salty that sweat is. Both vary between people and with heat, effort, acclimatization, and conditions. [2]
A short visual block on a cool morning places different demands on the body than hours of movement and playing in uniforms under the summer sun. During prolonged, heavy sweating, fluid and electrolyte losses add up. Water replaces fluid, but it does not replace the sodium lost in sweat.
MarchMix was built around that field need, a measured blend of electrolytes that marching performers can mix with water.
In our pilot, participants described feeling better during the rehearsal day:
“I feel way more energized and less groggy.”
Anonymous Trooper test trial respondent
“I definitely feel less tired during the day and in between reps.”
Anonymous Deltona respondent
“Recovery is a lot better with MarchMix, and I feel like I have a lot more energy during rehearsal.”
Anonymous Trooper test trial respondent
“Helps me feel more energized in block.”
Anonymous Deltona respondent
Those comments reflect individual experiences. They help us understand what performers noticed and valued during rehearsal.
Each component of MarchMix has a role. Water replaces fluid lost through sweat. Sodium supports fluid balance and electrical signaling. Potassium helps maintain the gradients needed for normal nerve and muscle function. Magnesium supports normal nerve and muscle function and participates in energy production and ion transport. [1][5]
During long blocks with substantial sweat loss, an electrolyte beverage can help replace sodium alongside fluid. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association recommends individualized hydration plans that account for sweat rate, environment, activity duration, and access to drinks. [3]
That brings us back to the camp story. The goal is to replace what the work takes out, in amounts appropriate to the performer and the conditions. MarchMix gives performers a way to replace some of the electrolytes lost in sweat while drinking the fluid they need. Appropriate intake still matters, because even an electrolyte drink cannot prevent blood sodium from falling if someone drinks excessively. [3][4]
Every signal, step, breath, and note depends on the body’s own energy and carefully regulated chemistry. MarchMix helps support the hydration needs that come with putting that system to work, one rehearsal block at a time.
Now, if we could just do something about the band kid smell.
Sources
- Clausen MV, Hilbers F, Poulsen H. The Structure and Function of the Na,K ATPase Isoforms in Health and Disease. Frontiers in Physiology (2017).
- Baker LB. Sweating Rate and Sweat Sodium Concentration in Athletes. Sports Medicine (2017).
- McDermott BP et al. National Athletic Trainers’ Association Position Statement: Fluid Replacement for the Physically Active. Journal of Athletic Training (2017).
- Hew Butler T et al. Exercise Associated Hyponatremia: 2017 Update.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Magnesium: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.