Every electrolyte brand answers this question with its own dose. The 1,000mg brands say a lot. The clinical brands say it depends. We make a 250mg product, so you know where we sit - which is exactly why this article concedes the cases where we are the wrong answer. Here is the honest arithmetic.
The baseline: you are probably already over
Australian guidance sets an adequate intake for sodium around 460 to 920mg a day and a suggested upper target of 2,000mg for chronic disease prevention, while the average Australian actually consumes well over that - mostly from processed food, not the salt shaker. So the starting point for most people on most days is not a deficit. It is a small surplus before breakfast. That single fact should shape how you think about every scoop and sachet: a supplement is a top-up for what you lose, not a bonus on top of an already-full tank.
What sweat actually costs
Sweat is where the real losses happen, and the range is enormous. Research on endurance athletes puts sweat sodium concentration anywhere from roughly 200mg to over 1,000mg per litre, with sweat rates from half a litre to over two litres an hour in hard, hot conditions. Multiply the extremes and you get the marathon-day numbers the big products are dosed for: a genuinely heavy, salty sweater doing hard hours in heat can lose 1,000mg+ per hour, and for that athlete a 1,000mg product is rational.
Now do the same maths for a normal day: a 45-minute gym session or a 5k run costs most people a few hundred milligrams at most. A desk day costs close to nothing. This is the quiet truth of the category: the loud products are dosed for the rarest use case.
Dose by day type
Rest day or desk day: food covers you. If you drink an electrolyte mix anyway - for the taste, the habit, or to replace soft drinks and a third coffee - a low-dose serve tops you up without pushing your salt budget further over.
Training day (a normal session): a few hundred milligrams around the session replaces what most people lose. This is the everyday middle where a 250mg serve is designed to live, and yes, that is our number - one serve for a normal session, two if it was long and hot.
Race day, heavy sweat, hours in heat: this is 1,000mg territory, and products built for it exist for good reason. If you are running marathons in summer or working hard outdoors all day, dose for that day. We would rather point you at the right tool than sell you the wrong one.
Illness: vomiting and diarrhoea are a different problem with a different solution - registered oral rehydration products from the pharmacy, formulated for clinical rehydration. Not sports mixes, ours included, and see a doctor if it persists.
Why more is not better on a normal day
Excess sodium on ordinary days is associated with the things nobody buys a hydration product for: thirst, water retention and puffiness, and the long-run blood pressure concerns behind the public health targets. High-dose products are not "stronger hydration" for a normal person on a normal day - they are the right dose for a different day than the one you are having. Balance matters too: potassium, which works with sodium in fluid balance and which most Western diets under-supply, gets far less airtime because it is harder to market. It is half the reason our own formula runs sodium and potassium 1:1.
The honest summary
Most days, you need far less added sodium than the loudest labels suggest - a few hundred milligrams around real sweat, roughly nothing otherwise. Big doses are for big-sweat days. Illness belongs to registered rehydration products. And whatever you drink, read the label against the day you are actually having. That is the whole philosophy, and the reason Base 250 is dosed the way it is.
Frequently asked questions
How much sodium do I need if I do not exercise?
Usually none beyond food - most Australians already exceed the suggested dietary target. Any electrolyte drink on a rest day should be a light top-up, not a big dose.
How much sodium do you lose in a workout?
Highly individual, but a typical 45-60 minute session costs most people a few hundred milligrams. Long, hot, hard sessions can cost several times that.
Is 1,000mg of sodium too much for daily use?
For a heavy-sweat athlete on a heavy-sweat day, no. As an everyday habit for a normal day, it stacks on top of a diet already over the target - which is why sensible daily products are dosed far lower.
Do I need electrolytes every day?
Need is strong - food does the job for most people most days. A daily low-dose mix earns its place through hydration habit, taste, and replacing sugary drinks, not through correcting a deficiency. More on that in every day or only when you sweat.
Why does potassium matter in an electrolyte drink?
Potassium partners sodium in fluid balance and most Western diets fall short of it, yet many sports mixes carry very little. Check the label for the sodium-to-potassium ratio, not just the sodium headline.
