Potassium is a really important mineral that helps your body work right. It’s involved in keeping your fluids balanced, making sure your nervous system is happy, and even helping your heart beat normally. The thing is, only a tiny bit of potassium is in your blood, so regular blood tests often miss if you’re low on it. This means doctors might not catch a potassium problem, even if you have one.
This article will go over some common, but sometimes strange, signs that you might need more potassium, like hand cramps, feeling tired after eating, and even puffy eyes. We’ll also talk about why you might be low on potassium and how to get more of it naturally.
What is Potassium and Why Do You Need It?
Potassium is a mineral that acts like an electrolyte in your body. Think of electrolytes as tiny workers that help your cells do their jobs. They’re super important for things like muscle contractions, nerve signals, and keeping your heart beating steady.
Your body uses potassium for something called the sodium-potassium pump, which is like a little engine in your cells that creates energy. This pump moves potassium into your cells and pushes sodium out, which is how your muscles, nerves, and heart keep working. Because of this, you need a good amount of potassium every day, about 4,700 mg.
Strange Signs You Might Be Low on Potassium
It’s easy to miss the signs of low potassium because they can seem like other things. Here are some common ones to watch out for:
Hand Cramps
- If your hands and fingers often cramp up, especially when you’re typing, texting, or gripping things, it could be a sign. Potassium helps control the electrical signals that go to your muscles. When you don’t have enough, your hands can get really tight and cramped.
Tiredness After Eating
- Feeling super tired after a meal? This might mean your blood sugar is spiking and then crashing. Potassium helps keep your blood sugar and insulin levels steady, which means your nerves can make more energy, keeping you awake and alert.
Puffy Eyes
- Waking up with puffy eyes or swelling in your face can also be a sign. Potassium helps your kidneys get rid of extra fluid. If you’re low, fluid can build up under your skin, especially around your face.
Constipation
- If you’re often constipated, you might just need more potassium and magnesium. These minerals help the smooth muscles in your colon move food waste through your intestines. Potassium citrate and magnesium citrate can help get things moving.
Craving Salty Foods
- Do you constantly crave salty snacks like chips or pretzels, especially when you’re stressed? Stress makes your body release cortisol, a hormone that uses up potassium and makes you want salty foods. Eating more potassium-rich foods like avocados, leafy greens, and salmon can help calm your body and reduce these cravings.
Muscle Weakness
- If your muscles feel tired and weak after a short walk or you get super tired when you start exercising, it might be because your muscles aren’t making enough energy due to low potassium or magnesium. You also lose these minerals when you sweat. A good electrolyte powder mixed with water can help with this.
Hearing Your Pulse
- Potassium keeps your blood vessels soft and flexible, letting blood flow easily. If you’re low, you might hear a swishing or throbbing sound of your heartbeat in your ears, especially at night. This often happens after eating salty, sugary, or MSG-heavy foods, which can tighten your blood vessels. Potassium helps improve blood flow and stop this.
High Blood Pressure
- High blood pressure is often linked to not having enough potassium. This mineral keeps the smooth muscles in your arteries soft, allowing blood to flow freely. When you’re stressed, eat junk food, or smoke, your arteries can narrow, leading to higher blood pressure. Potassium, magnesium, and antioxidant-rich foods can help lower blood pressure naturally.
Urination at Night
- Waking up often to pee at night could be due to low potassium. When you’re low, your body stores extra water and sugar during the day. At night, your body tries to break down this stored sugar, which releases water and makes you pee more. Getting enough potassium helps balance fluids and sugar, cutting down on those nighttime bathroom trips.
Fainting or Dizziness
- If your potassium or sodium levels are low, your body has a harder time getting blood and oxygen to your brain. This can make you feel faint or dizzy, especially when you stand up. This can happen after drinking too much caffeine or alcohol, which use up your potassium.
Mood Swings
- Feeling easily irritated or having mood swings can also be a sign of low potassium. Potassium helps control the electrical energy in your body and nervous system. When you’re low, your nerves can get overexcited, making you overreact and less able to handle stress. Potassium, magnesium, and B vitamins can help reduce mood swings.
Loud Stomach Growling
- When your potassium levels are low, the muscles in your intestines might not contract properly. This can trap air and fluids, making noisy sounds in your digestive tract, even when you’re not hungry.
Diabetes
- People with diabetes should think about getting more potassium, aiming for at least 5,000 mg a day. Potassium is important for reducing insulin resistance and helping control blood sugar levels. Taking potassium citrate powder in water can help prevent diabetes complications, along with cutting out sugar and refined carbs.
Why Are You Low on Potassium?
It’s estimated that most people in Western countries don’t get enough potassium. This is usually because we don’t eat enough leafy green vegetables and eat too many processed foods, which are low in potassium but high in sodium. The more sodium you eat, the more potassium your body needs because these two minerals work together to keep things balanced.
Other reasons you might be low include:
- Medications: Some medicines like penicillin, diuretics, and steroids can reduce your body’s potassium stores.
- Stress: High stress and the hormone cortisol can make your blood sugar rise, using up your potassium.
- Low-Carb Diets: Following a low-carb diet, especially for weight loss, can lead to potassium loss.
- Vomiting or Diarrhea: These can cause you to lose potassium.
- Caffeine or Alcohol: Drinking too much of these can use up your potassium reserves.
- Sweating: You lose potassium through sweat when you exercise or when it’s hot.
- Lack of Vitamin D: Not getting enough sunshine can stop your kidneys from storing enough potassium.
How to Get More Potassium Naturally
Boosting your potassium levels can be done naturally with some simple changes:
- Eat a Big Salad Every Day: Include high-potassium vegetables like Swiss chard, kale, and avocado. Other good sources are beef liver, mushrooms, salmon, broccoli, pork tenderloin, and Brazil nuts.
- Homemade Electrolyte Drink: If you’re not a fan of vegetables, try this: Blend one large avocado, two cups of water, one whole unwaxed lemon (including the peel), a cup of blueberries, and a quarter teaspoon of Celtic sea salt. Drink this daily. You can add Stevia for sweetness. This is great before or after a workout or on a hot day.
- Avoid Depleters: Cut back on caffeine, alcohol, sugar, grains, and processed foods. These make your cells work harder and use up potassium faster.
- Soak Beans and Legumes: If you eat beans or legumes, soak them before cooking. This reduces anti-nutrients like phytic acid, which helps your body absorb more potassium from your food.
- Switch to Sea Salt: Instead of regular table salt, use Celtic sea salt. It has other minerals that work with potassium and is less likely to cause potassium deficiency symptoms like high blood pressure.
- Stay Hydrated: Drink enough water to keep hydrated and help transport potassium around your body, especially in hot weather or after exercise.
- Vitamin D3: Taking a daily vitamin D3 supplement can help your kidneys store and keep potassium.
- Potassium-Rich Herbs: Add herbs like parsley, cilantro, basil, dill, and oregano to your meals. You could even make a fresh blended vegetable soup with these herbs.
Potassium Supplements
Most potassium capsules only have about 99 mg of potassium, which means you’d need to take a ridiculous number of pills to meet your daily needs. Instead, you can take half a teaspoon of potassium citrate powder in a glass of water or add it to your smoothie. This gives you an extra 1,000 mg of potassium.
Remember, potassium works with other minerals like magnesium and sodium, so a balanced intake is key. If you have kidney problems, talk to your doctor before taking potassium supplements, as too much can cause issues. If you eat a lot of refined carbs and sugars, your potassium needs go up a lot. If you think this might be your problem, it’s worth looking into how to reduce those in your diet.