Stay Hydrated!

[Nanohedron]

This is a reminder to those of you dealing with high temperatures. I had an incident Saturday evening:

Went to my watering hole and plunked down on an outdoor patio bench to talk with a friend. Didn't even get a third of the way thru my very first drink when I started sweating bullets (it had been brutal earlier in the day but by 9:30 pm it was a comfortable 82 F, so I thought that was odd); then I became dizzy and blacked out. Next thing I know, I'm slowly coming to, in a state of confusion, and there's a lot of hands rubbing ice and water all over me. That feels nice, is the first thing I remember thinking. Or maybe I said it. Turns out I'd been unconscious for around half a minute before they were finally able to bring me out of it. Heatstroke, said my friend. At 82 degrees? I had my doubts about that. Well, they hauled me away in an ambulance and I spent the next four-plus hours in emergency care getting poked and prodded and infused and blood-tested and ultrasounded until they determined that it was dehydration that did me in. Totally put a dent in the evening I'd planned on. One might be tempted to say, "Good thing it wasn't anything more serious," but the reality is that dehydration-induced syncope is dangerous ground to be on, and no question. I was fortunate to be around people when it happened, otherwise the outcome might possibly have been more final.

This had never happened to me before.

The crazy part is that I had made a special point that day of taking in extra water, fruit, and fruit juices. Despite all that, I apparently still misjudged my needs because by the time I went out to play I wasn't feeling thirsty, dry-mouthed, or anything else that would suggest there was an issue. I'm a lot more aware of my water intake now, I can tell you.

[benhall.1]

Good warning. I got to the point of feeling dizzy a little while ago, but I'm generally very aware of my fluid intake, so I drank some water and felt fine again. But that's not because I know anything about the effects of dehydration. I wouldn't have known that it could do what you describe. I just know that I feel better if I keep sipping water steadily through the day.

[Nanohedron]

Yep, it can flatten you, all right. Now I know it firsthand.

After everything else was eliminated, the smoking gun was found in the ultrasound of my heart: A particular vein that sends blood back to the heart was in a flat, collapsed state, which is especially indicative of dehydration. It's hard to move sludge around, so that's what happens at the endpoints.

[ytliek]

Thanks for the reminder. Yes, even a light sweat can take more out of oneself than realized during warmer weather so drink up.

I've just put my flak jacket on... plain water is the best beverage for preventing dehydration.

[Nanohedron]

Also bear in mind that advancing age increases the risk of dehydration and its consequences. Looks like I'm no longer able to ignore what I could and regularly did as a young man.

Even moisture lost by the breath counts.

[dubrosa22]

Please refer to my signature for detailed expert advice:

[benhall.1]

Thanks for the reminder. Yes, even a light sweat can take more out of oneself than realized during warmer weather so drink up.

I've just put my flak jacket on... plain water is the best beverage for preventing dehydration.

I don't think you'll need your flak jacket. Water's good. I would say that, even when you want a drink (alcoholic, that is, like a beer) then flute players would do well to have a glass of water to sip at as well. Maybe everyone, but there's so much breathing with flute that I would have thought that it was even more important with flute.

[Tor]

I've been severely dehydrated a couple of times. The problem is that I'm from a cold region of the world, or at least I have a lot of practice with cold - to handle that is all natural and automatic. But heat, and particularly heat+humidity is a problem. I have to be focused on not getting dehydrated, otherwise it'll happen before I know it. I got dehydrated in south Mexico, for example. Very humid. I only noticed that I had no energy for walking, even though I was conscious about drinking water. That, and a much worse episode some years before, clued me in to the problem: Even though I may remember to drink water, I tend to forget that without extra salt I'll not be able to absorb that water.
I'm getting better at it. I have been practicing in hot and humid August in Japan the last few years. With water *and* salt I'm fine. Still have to be concious about it though, or I forget. (I should add that my interest in food doesn't include salty snacks and the like, or salty pre-made food. So my natural salt intake is actually the recommended one, which is quite a bit below the amount many people take in.)

[david_h]

Thanks for the reminder that just because it hasn't been a problem so far doesn't mean it can't become one.

I am in the English midlands so being hot enough for it to be an issue is unusual at home and not too hard to remember when somewhere overseas and hot. Up till now being sure to notice if I feel thirsty and keep half an eye on how much goes in - and how much comes out - has kept me OK. But age creeps up.

Much more insidious have been ordinary warm days with an unusual routine and long drives for work when I forget to drink. I find myself getting home with a headache. Or stopping for a bottle of water on the way back, deciding to go for a big one, finding they are two for the price of one and drinking all the first one straight off and the second before getting home - without having to stop for a pee.

We rarely use salt in cooking but add it on the table if our taste buds ask. Every now and again something drives me to the Marmite jar (don't normally touch it).

I have in the past been really irritated by people who tell me what I should or shouldn't do with fluid and salt in particular circumstances - how do they know what my baseline state and normal habits are? Do athletes ever use some sort of sodium and/or hydration monitor or do they just carefully keep tabs on things.

[Nanohedron]

With water *and* salt I'm fine.

This is important. Electrolytic solutions can be even better than plain water. If plain water runs right through you - as it can with me - then obviously you're not absorbing nearly enough of the water you drink, and without absorption your water consumption is almost pointless. Electrolytes are essential in conveying water adequately to the cells, so if you're not getting enough electrolytes out of your general diet, getting them in your fluids is a darned good idea.

You can make your own homemade electrolytic hydrating solution using water, salt and sugar, but it's not the best possible, and precise proportions are called for. Haven't looked very far yet into the DIY of it myself, but be that as it may, at this point I'm even more concerned with adequate electrolyte intake, because I sure don't want any more episodes like I had on Saturday. It's not only embarrassing; having one's cocktail hour interrupted is an affront.

[Tor]

Do athletes ever use some sort of sodium and/or hydration monitor or do they just carefully keep tabs on things.

When I did bicycle racing I learned (although only after being thought, and with experience) to take this extremely seriously. Just losing one or two percent of body weight in the form of water reduces performance drastically. Fortunately my body has this quirk that the kidneys basically shut down when I'm exercising, so I only had to handle water lost from sweating. But we also needed sugar, in just the right amount. So it was a question of juggling the amount of water, amount of sugar, and amount of salt. What I ended up with was to always make the mixture myself, the commercial ones weren't usable, for this simple reason: The actual mix had to take into account the temperature that day, and to some extent the terrain. Less sugar when it's warm, more when it's cold, to start with. And then you would adjust the mix for different stages of the race. So I prepared all my bottles in advance, with all the parameters as input, and put labels on them (to get them in the right sequence). And got it right. To get liquid drinks from other sources during the race would be an act of desperation, and the result a lottery.

[trill]

First off, Nano, I'm sorry to hear of your episode.

I got certified to teach fitness in 1996.

One of the first lessons is that the sense of thirst diminishes with age. You have to drink water in advance.

If you feel thirsty, you're already dehydrated.

Also, water is best. Sugar slows the absorption of water. Water is best.

FYI,
trill

[Peter Duggan]

Just a word of warning that drinking too much and being over-hydrated can be every bit as bad as being dehydrated. It's now a well-known hazard in endurance events, where modern advice is to drink to thirst and not to preconceived notions of x amount of fluid in x hours, which can sadly even kill when leading to conditions like hyponatraemia. So drinking/hydration... yes, usually good and possibly sound advice for life in general, but not a mantra to be followed regardless!

[Nanohedron]

All things in moderation.

But then I would say that, wouldn't I.

[Tor]

Argh, a typo in my post.. one feature I don't like about the forum is that we can't edit our posts. Sometimes it's easy to overlook own typos when writing online.