Your Hydration Drink Shouldn’t Give You a Stomachache!

Bloating. Cramping. Nausea. That heavy, sloshy feeling in your stomach. Or suddenly needing to find a bathroom.

I hear versions of this all the time from people who have tried electrolyte or hydration drinks.

So they come to a pretty logical conclusion:

“Hydration/Electrolyte drinks just don't agree with me.”

Maybe.

But the problem may not be electrolytes themselves.

It may be what's in the drink, how much of it is in there, and how concentrated that drink becomes once you mix it.

And this is one of those things I think the hydration industry does a terrible job explaining.

More Isn't Always Better

Look at the front of most hydration products and you'll see numbers everywhere.

More sodium. More electrolytes. More vitamins. More carbs. More everything.

The marketing message becomes:

If some is good, more must be better.

That's not necessarily how hydration works.

When you drink something, your body has to move that fluid from your stomach into your small intestine, where most fluid absorption takes place.

What's dissolved in that water affects that process.

And that brings us to a word most people have probably seen but don't really understand:

Osmolality.

Stay with me. This doesn't need to become a chemistry lesson.

What the Heck Is Osmolality?

In very simple terms, osmolality describes how concentrated a liquid is with dissolved particles.

Those particles can include things such as sodium, potassium, carbohydrates and other ingredients.

Your body's fluids also have a certain concentration.

A drink with a lower concentration than your blood is called hypotonic. A drink with roughly a similar concentration is isotonic, and one that's more concentrated is hypertonic.

Why should you care?

Because concentration can affect how fluid moves through your digestive system and is absorbed.

Highly concentrated drinks—particularly those containing substantial amounts of carbohydrate and other dissolved substances—can slow gastric emptying or draw water into the intestine. In susceptible people, especially during exercise, that can contribute to symptoms such as bloating, cramping, nausea or diarrhea.

That's one reason simply throwing more ingredients into a hydration drink doesn't automatically make it better.

Ever Get That “Water Sloshing Around” Feeling?

You know the feeling.

You drink something during a workout, golf round, run or hot day and instead of feeling hydrated, it feels like you've got a fish tank bouncing around in your stomach.

That's not exactly what you were going for.

There are several possible reasons for GI discomfort during exercise—including how much you're drinking, how quickly you're drinking it, exercise intensity, heat, dehydration itself, and individual tolerance.

But the composition and concentration of the drink can be part of the equation too.

That's something I think consumers should understand.

It's One Reason I've Used OMG! Hydration

I've personally used OMG! Hydration for four years, long before I became one of their ambassadors.

One of the things I've always liked about it is incredibly simple:

It sits well with my stomach.

I'm gonna nerd out for a second, OMG's current formulation has been independently measured at 76 mOsm/kg, making it a very low-osmolality, hypotonic hydration drink. OMG attributes part of that formulation to its proprietary ElectraCell™ technology.

Here's what matters more to me than the technical terminology:

It's designed for hydration without creating an unnecessarily concentrated drink.

And from my personal experience, I can drink it without the heavy, bloated feeling I've experienced with some other hydration products.

That's important to me.

Does That Mean OMG Can Never Upset Your Stomach?

No.

And I'm not going to tell you that just because I'm an ambassador.

No hydration product is going to agree with every person in every situation.

People have different sensitivities. Ingredients matter. The amount consumed matters. How quickly you drink it matters. What you've eaten matters. Your activity matters.

Even dehydration itself can contribute to gastrointestinal problems during exercise.

So I'm not making the claim that OMG can't bother someone's stomach.

I'm saying there's legitimate physiology behind why the concentration and formulation of your hydration drink matter.

That's a much more useful conversation.

And Not Everyone Needs an Electrolyte Drink

Here's something else you probably won't hear in many ambassador posts:

Sometimes water is perfectly fine.

If you're sitting around the house, eating normally and staying reasonably hydrated, you don't necessarily need to dump electrolytes into every glass of water you drink.

Your needs can change when you're sweating more, exercising, spending hours outside, working in the heat, traveling, or simply struggling to drink enough throughout the day.

The goal isn't to sell you on the idea that every human being needs an electrolyte packet in their hand 24/7. However in my experience, most people I encounter don't drink enough water to be/stay hydrated.

The goal is:

Hydrate appropriately for what you're actually doing.

The Bottom Line

If you've tried hydration products and thought:

“These things always screw up my stomach.”

Don't necessarily write off hydration supplements altogether.

Take a look at what's actually in the product.

Look beyond the flashy numbers on the front of the package.

More isn't automatically better.

The amount of electrolytes matters.The carbohydrates and other ingredients matter.The concentration matters.And how your body tolerates it matters.

Your hydration drink is supposed to help you feel better and perform better.

It shouldn't leave you wondering where the nearest bathroom is.

That's one of the reasons I've continued using OMG! Hydration—and why I was comfortable putting the Butler Elite Training name behind it when I became an ambassador.

I didn't start drinking OMG because I became an ambassador.

I became an ambassador because I'd already been drinking OMG.