Have you noticed that grocery stores and social media are full of different electrolyte brands?

What do electrolytes actually do? Dr. Gage Williamson, a sports medicine physician with Saint Joseph Health System, explains their role in the body.

"They're basically different types of salts that are essential for every function in our body. They help with heart functioning, muscle functioning, brain, kidneys, all of our organs. They are important for fluid balance. So, maintaining the correct levels of all those is pretty essential in anything that we're doing throughout the day," said Williamson.

Typically, he says the body can control this on its own, though everybody is different.

"Our body is really good at trying to regulate that on its own. And where that becomes different is if we have different medical conditions or any losses, specifically through sweating, is what we typically think of with these electrolyte supplements. So, the general consensus is that if you are pretty sedentary, sitting at your desk, not really doing much, then you probably don't need them as much. But if you're exercising for maybe even an hour more per day, pretty moderate exercise, more than just a stroll, walking pace, then we're losing a fair amount of electrolytes through our sweat, and that's where we want to start supplementing those," said Williamson.

Williamson gave general examples of people who could stand to benefit from electrolyte supplementation after losing sodium through sweat, like an athlete exercising more than an hour a day, construction workers, or manual laborers working outside in the hot sun.

As far as sodium goes, getting enough in diet alone is usually not an issue.

"In general, the American public probably already has a little bit more sodium than we need in our diet. And as of right now, there have been links to blood pressure issues to heart disease with higher levels of sodium. And so if the primary electrolyte in these drinks is extra sodium on top of that, that's where we start to get concerned of, 'Hey, maybe we're actually overdoing it here,'" said Williamson. "There's also something to say about, like, Hey, if I'm generally healthy, I don't have a lot more sodium in my diet, and I kind of just like the way they taste, then there's not really a problem with it"

Each hydration beverage is different, though. Williamson says 110-165 milligrams of sodium in an 8-ounce hydration drink may be ok, but he's seen some supplements in the 3-400 range, which he says might be overdoing it.

Unlike sodium, Dr. Williamson said something people probably don’t get enough of in their diets is potassium-- so electrolyte supplements can sometimes help with that.

However, he says if you have kidney disease or you're on certain blood pressure medications, your potassium may be too high, so check with your doctor first.