How to Use Salt Tablets

For many years salt tablets were the only nutritional supplement athletes used. But now there are sports drinks designed to keep the professional or amateur athlete in top condition during a sporting event. The main constituent of salt---sodium---is a mineral needed by the body to regulate fluids in the body. Sodium also prevents dehydration in warm temperatures when a person is physically active.

Things You'll Need

• 500 mg salt tablets
• Fruit drinks or sports drinks

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Instructions

• 1

  Take 500 milligrams of salt tablets. This will give you about 200 mg of sodium.

• 2

  Drink fruit juices or drinks after taking the salt tablet or tablets. Taken by itself a salt tablet is hard to digest. They can also cause stomach upset, nausea or diarrhea. The potassium in the fruity liquids helps to elevate the sodium levels in the body. The fruit drinks also make it easier for the body to digest the sodium. This means that the sodium becomes available to the body much sooner.

• 3

  Drink sports drinks with the salt tablets as an alternative. Sports drinks are a new form of nutritional supplement for athletes. These drinks not only help you digest the salt tablets but contain their own sodium so you'll get an increased amount of sodium to help balance the pH and regulate the fluids in your body.

• 4

  Keep track of how you react to the salt tablets during training or physical activity. Everyone is different, so it may take trial and error to find the best amount of salt tablets to take.