Salt

Exercisers Need Salt

    There is tremendous controversy about how important salt
intake really is in causing high blood pressure, heart attacks
or strokes.  Data show that moderate salt restriction can lower
high blood pressure, but severe salt restriction can raise it.   
When you don’t have enough salt, your adrenal glands put out
large amounts of aldosterone and your kidneys put out renin,
which both constrict arteries and raise blood pressure.  If you do
not exercise, you do not lose much salt through your sweat, so
extra salt you eat may raise your blood pressure by increasing your
blood volume.  
    However, if you are an exerciser and follow a low-salt diet,
you may not eat enough to replace the salt you lose, and that can
RAISE your blood pressure.  When you sweat you lose a lot of salt,
which raises blood levels of aldosterone and renin that can increase
your blood pressure.  Furthermore, without the salt that you need,
you will not recover as quickly from hard exercise.  Lack of salt
is the most common cause of muscle cramps in exercisers; it can also
cause injuries and make you feel tired all the time. 
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