Men's Health has been publishing for nearly forty years and had never once run a Supplement Awards. The category, according to their editors, had never earned one.
This year, they did one, and they did not make it easy. Six months of searching. Their nutrition and fitness editors worked alongside all three registered dietitians on the magazine's advisory board. A bar that nothing cleared without meeting every part of it: third-party certification from a body like NSF, peer-reviewed research behind the active ingredient, and, their rule, not ours, it had to taste good.
Designs for Sport Hydration Packs won Best Electrolyte Packs.
An award like that is a verdict on how a product is built. It doesn't tell you when you need one, and that's the question most people are actually asking.
The truth is, water and electrolytes do two different jobs, and they are not interchangeable. For most of what you do in a day, water handles it. The harder and longer you sweat, the more that stops being true.
What Electrolytes Do in the Body
Electrolytes are called electrolytes because they are minerals that carry an electrical charge once they dissolve in the fluids in your body.
Sodium, potassium, magnesium, and chloride are the main electrolytes, and that electrical charge is what makes them useful.
Nerve signals that allow the brain to communicate with other parts of the body travel through these charges. Muscles contract because of these charges. The balance of sodium and potassium on either side of a cell membrane is what governs how fluid moves into and out of your cells, which is the part that matters most when you are sweating hard.
Why Water Alone Isn't Always Enough
Sweat carries sodium and potassium out of our bodies. The more you sweat, the more you lose both. Drink only water after heavy or prolonged sweat loss and you have replaced one side of the equation.
Plain water is great for rehydrating when your electrolytes are already balanced. However, we can't properly hold and absorb the fluids we're drinking if we don't have adequate potassium and sodium levels. Sodium, specifically, is what helps your body hold onto the fluid you take in, so without it, more of what you drink passes through rather than staying where you need it. It is excreted through urine instead of getting inside our cells. Plus, drinking tons of water to try to rehydrate can actually turn "off" our thirst urges even though we're still dehydrated.
Signs You Need More Than Water
When do you need electrolytes? You don't have to wait for a series of adverse complaints to start using NSF Certified for Sport® electrolytes to support proper hydration and energy production.
The clearest signals you need more than water are situational:
- Sessions running longer than 60 to 90 minutes
- Training in heat or humidity
- Heavy sweating, or visible salt residue on your skin or clothing after a session
- More than one training session in a day
- Training in gear that traps heat
Assume adding electrolyte powder to your water will help if you're losing large amounts of fluid because of intensive, long-lasting exercise or any physical activity with heavy sweating. Some physical signs you've lost electrolytes include:
- Dark urine
- Muscle cramping
- Muscle spasms
- Headaches that aren't resolved by drinking water
- Lightheadedness
If you notice any of these signs outside of hard training, that is a conversation for your health-care practitioner rather than something to solve with a powder.
When Plain Water Is Genuinely Fine
Most of the time, water is the right answer.
A walk, a lifting session under an hour, a cool-weather run, an ordinary day at a desk: none of these produce the kind of sweat loss that requires replacement beyond what you already eat and drink. Reaching for an electrolyte powder every time you work out is not necessary, and treating it as a daily requirement overstates what it is for.
Use it when the conditions above apply. Otherwise, drink water.
What to Look for in an Electrolyte Powder
Third-party certification. NSF Certified for Sport® means the product has been tested for identity, purity, and potency, and screened for substances banned in competitive sport. For any athlete subject to testing, this is the first filter. You should also look for powders that are complete, easy to take, and affordable enough to be part of your routine.
A full spectrum, not just sodium. Sweat removes more than one mineral. Look for sodium, potassium, magnesium, and chloride together.
A balanced sodium-to-potassium ratio. Both are lost in sweat, and both matter for how fluid moves and how muscles function.
Bioavailable mineral forms. Bisglycinate chelates offer increased bioavailability of magnesium and zinc compared with less absorbable forms.*
Something you look forward to consuming. The best-formulated powder does nothing in a drawer. Taste and convenience are not trivial.
Hydration Packs were built with this list in mind. Men’s Health’s editors singled out the 500 mg sodium and 500 mg potassium balance in each 20-calorie pack, and said the watermelon flavor "hits especially hard after a long run or ride."
Hydration Packs deliver 100% more electrolytes than a leading hydration brand‡ with a 1:1 sodium-to-potassium ratio for balanced electrolyte replacement, magnesium and zinc in bisglycinate chelate form, 400 mg of vitamin C for antioxidant support during and post-exercise, and 1 g of D-ribose to promote optimal energy production while supporting athletic performance and recovery.*
For stretches when you are training harder or more often, the Elite Athlete Bundle pairs hydration with an amino acid complex that supports lean body mass, muscle protein synthesis, and overall protein status.* The Youth Athlete Bundle brings the same full-spectrum electrolyte support in a clementine flavor built for younger athletes.*
Sweat, heat, and duration are the variables. When they add up, water alone leaves something on the table.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
‡ Total electrolytes per serving vs Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier Powder Packets, a leading brand per Stackline sales data January 2025.
