Even when rugby players drank way more than they sweated out during workouts, their blood sodium levels stayed normal—no cases of dangerous low sodium were seen.

Rugby players drink way more than they sweat out during strength workouts but don’t drink enough during cardio workouts, even when conditions are the same.

Even if endurance runners take a lot of salt pills during long races, drinking too much water — like 10 liters — can still give them a dangerous condition called low blood sodium. Salt alone won’t protect you if you’re chugging way too much water.

If endurance runners drink too much during long races, it can dilute their blood and cause dangerous low sodium levels — not just from losing salt, but from drinking too much. Cutting back on fluids in events over 4 hours could prevent this problem.

Some athletes sweat out a lot of salt, and because everyone's different, a few need to eat more salt to stay healthy and avoid serious problems like low sodium or heat illness.

Even if endurance runners take in a lot of salt, they can still develop low blood sodium if they drink too much water — it’s the overdrinking, not the salt intake, that’s the main problem.