Can you have too many electrolytes?

Most short, cool hikes need no stick

If you are out for under about two hours, it is cool, and you ate a normal meal, water is almost always enough. Your body carries a buffer of sodium and a meal afterward refills it. Our count draws the same line: under 3 trail miles at or below 75 F, it flags water as probably enough.

Electrolytes earn their place on long days, hot days and sweaty days. They are not something to sip all day by habit.

The real risk: too much water

Hyponatremia means the sodium in your blood is too low. On the trail, it most often happens when someone drinks much more water than they lose in sweat over many hours. The extra water dilutes the sodium that is there.

It is more likely when:

• You drink on a fixed schedule whether you are thirsty or not.
• You are out a long time at a slow pace, so you sweat less than you drink.
• You were told to "stay ahead" of thirst and took it to mean drink as much as possible.
• You drink only plain water or very weak drinks for hours in the heat.

Sports drinks and sticks do not fully protect you. They carry less sodium than your blood does, so drinking far too much of any of them can still dilute it. How much you drink matters more than what is in it.

How to tell

Early signs are easy to mistake for dehydration or the heat: nausea, headache, bloating, feeling puffy, and rings or a watch strap getting tight. A slosh in your stomach and frequent, clear urine are clues that you are drinking more than you need.

One check is simple: weigh yourself before and after a long hike. Losing a pound or two is normal. If you come back heavier than you left, you drank more than you sweated.

Drink to thirst. Sip regularly on hot days, but do not force fluid down when you do not want it.

Too much salt, potassium or magnesium

• Sodium. For most healthy adults on a sweaty day, a few hundred extra milligrams is not a problem; you lose it in sweat and urine. Too much at once can upset your stomach and make you very thirsty.
• Magnesium. In larger amounts it loosens the stool. Stacking several high-magnesium drinks is a common reason for a sudden bathroom stop.
• Potassium. Extra from supplements can be a problem for people with kidney disease or on certain blood pressure medicines.

Do not double up sticks in one bottle to save weight. One stick goes in 16 to 20 fl oz of water. Even Base Camp, with no sugar, is made for that amount.

The full rule, the stage order and the sleeve: how the count works.