Is plain water enough after a workout?
Published 2 September 2026
Hello! Wednesday is our “Knowledge Day”—once a week, we share an informative article to get you thinking and help you make more informed choices.
This time, food and biotechnology student Anette Auväärt writes about electrolytes. Store shelves are full of colorful powders, and the packaging promises better hydration, faster recovery, and more energy. But do you really need all of that after a 45-minute gym workout—or would water and a regular meal suffice?
One fact you can take away right away
Anette, for example, picked up a package of an isotonic sports drink powder sold in Estonia and read the label on the back. One 40-gram serving provides 147 kilocalories and 35 grams of carbohydrates—or nearly five teaspoons of sugar. However, it contains about 100 milligrams of sodium—the electrolyte that needs to be replenished the most after a long, sweaty workout.
An athlete who sweats profusely can lose approximately 500–700 milligrams of sodium during a single hour of intense training. The question, therefore, is mainly what you need more at that moment—sodium or carbohydrates.
Electrolytes Are Not Energy
Sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, and magnesium are minerals that help regulate fluid balance and support nerve signal transmission and muscle function. They don’t have the same effect as caffeine or carbohydrates—they simply help your body function normally. And a muscle cramp doesn’t automatically mean an electrolyte deficiency: muscle fatigue, an unfamiliar workout, or the heat could just as easily be the problem.
Two metrics you can use yourself
Step on the scale before and after your workout: if you weigh one kilo less, your body has lost about one liter of fluid (be sure to account for the water you drank during your workout). However, the scale doesn’t tell you how many electrolytes were lost through sweat—that’s more likely indicated by white salt stains on a dark workout shirt, stinging sweat in your eyes, or a salty film left on your skin after your workout.
In this article, you’ll also learn why drinking too much plain water can be dangerous during prolonged exercise, exactly where that approximate so-called 90-minute mark—after which a sports drink actually makes sense—and what to actually look for on the packaging—for example, why “salt” and “sodium” aren’t the same thing.
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About the Author
Anette Auväärt is a food and biotechnology student at TalTech. Her interest in nutrition began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she developed a desire to better understand how daily food choices affect health, well-being, and productivity. Over time, this evolved into a desire to gain a deeper understanding of how the human body works and to learn how to distinguish science-based information from common myths—which is exactly what led her to study food and biotechnology. On her blog, Anette shares science-based and practical information to help you distinguish facts from myths and make more informed choices.
Enjoy the read—and if your workout was short, the best recovery drink is still a glass of water!
