sweatsciences
Electrolytes for hot yoga

You sweat like an athlete. Hydrate like one.

A hot class feels like rest, so people replace their fluids like they've been at a desk. But at 105–107°F for 60–90 minutes, your losses look like an endurance race — you just did it lying on a mat. Here's what you actually lose, and what to put back.

Get your exact number, free →

The losses are hidden in plain sweat.

Because hot yoga is calm and low-impact, the sweat rate surprises people. A 73-minute class in a 107°F room runs a sweat rate near 1.7 liters an hour — squarely in endurance-athlete territory:

2–5 lb
fluid lost per class
~1,870 mg
sodium in a hot 73-min class
~330 mg
a sports drink replaces
10×
how much sweat sodium varies person to person

A standard sports drink puts back roughly 7% of the sodium in that. The rest is the afternoon headache, the 3 a.m. calf cramp, the wiped-out feeling that gets blamed on everything but salt. The physiology behind it →

Find your hot-yoga formula.

Not a flavor — a dose, sized to how you actually sweat and how often you practice. Tap the one that sounds like you; the calculator loads it, and you can adjust anything from there.

Each formula is a starting point from the same model behind the calculator — weigh in and out once for your exact number. Prefer to build a month at a time? The Jar Kit →

Why “just drink water” can backfire.

The instinct after a sweaty class is to chug water. But water without sodium dilutes the sodium already in your blood — and your brain's salt sensor (the OVLT) reads that dilution and, in the extreme, over-drinking plain water causes hyponatremia. You feel it as more thirst, a lingering headache, and no real recovery. The fix isn't less water; it's water with the salt you actually sweated out, so what you drink is absorbed instead of just passing through.

The tenfold problem, applied to your mat: two people in the same hot class can lose 200 vs 2,000 mg of sodium per liter of sweat. That's why a one-size electrolyte tab is wrong for almost everyone in the room — and why your number has to be yours. Get yours in 60 seconds →

Your number, then the simple protocol.

Start with the free calculator — pick Yoga, your class length and the heat, or weigh in and out for an exact figure. Then this is the rhythm most hot-yoga practitioners settle into:

BeforePre-salt lightly. A pinch of salt in a glass of water 30–60 min before a hot class primes you — especially for early-morning sessions.
DuringSip, don't chug. Water with a little sodium across the class beats a big plain-water bolus after. Long or extra-hot class? Bring your mix.
AfterReplace to your number. Your calculated sodium, potassium and magnesium in ~20–34 oz of water. This is the part almost everyone under-does.
The recipe: a real-food base like Skratch (flavor + a little sugar that switches on sodium absorption) topped with bulk pink salt, potassium and magnesium — about $1.50–2 a session, dosed to you. Full method on the homemade recipe page →

Make it a habit, not a chore.

Mixing before every class is friction, and friction is why people quit. Two ways to remove it:

Your mat isn't the average.

Get the number that's actually yours — free, 60 seconds, no account.

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