Heat Warning! Hydration is NOT enough. Get out of the heat!

[Cerridwen]

I posted this in another thread then got to thinking about it. With the heat wave we're having across the U.S., people need to know how to protect themselves. I decided to post it as its own thread hoping to inform others of what I recently learned the hard way. I've made a couple of minor changes from the original post.

Hydration is not enough!

Hydration is not enough. Taking breaks in shaded areas may exacerbate the problem by increasing the body's core temperature; the ambient heat does not allow the body's temperature to cool.

Most people think when dealing with the heat all you have to do is drink lots of water, some sports drinks and take lots of breaks. It gives them a false sense of protecting themselves from heat illnesses.

It takes 10 - 14 days for athletes to acclimatize to the heat. The acclimatization process is different for humid heat than it is for dry heat. During that time hydration helps avoid dehydration but does little help to the body adjust to maintaining its core temperature; if the body's temperature is rising faster than the person can take in fluid. Once the body's core temperature increases, the person needs to get to an air conditioned area as soon as possible. Rather than waiting for the temperature to rise, they should take lots of breaks in an air conditioned location; Get out of the heat! Hydration is not enough and will not keep the body's core temperature from rising.

Heat cramps are caused by the body sweating away sodium, potassium and other electrolytes the body needs. They can be avoided by consuming sports drinks (watch the sugar, folks).

Heat exhaustion occurs when the body's core temperature rises too much for the body to cool. Symptoms include, exhaustion, dehydration (in spite of the amount of fluids taken in), mental confusion/disorientation, clumsiness, headache, nausea and if it starts to become severe, vomiting and unconsciousness. Heat exhaustion occurs on a scale and can go from minor to severe (heat stroke) in a short time.

Heat stroke can result in death. The body's core temperature raises so much, organs begin to shut down. The person should be removed from the heat immediately and medical help should be called at once.

Hydration is not enough! Sports drinks are not enough! The person should have frequent air conditioned breaks until their body acclimatizes to the heat conditions.

See attached links for more symptoms and information.

http://www.usariem.army.mil/somalia/heat.htm

http://sportsci.org/encyc/heataccl/heataccl.html

[Warpy]

1. Go soak your head

is the best advice if you can't get out of the heat, are adequately hydrated, but are still running into trouble. Having water evaporate off your head cools you down a LOT.

Try it some time.

[Cerridwen]

2. There comes a point when that is useless. I've been there.

Thanks for giving this issue all the seriousness I intended.

[LostinVA]

21. I also have a Cool Off bandanna -- is great

A chamois inside holds in cool water, and I fill it with ice, then wrap it around my neck. Ice in your hat helps, too. I know how many e-caps to take. I do heat training/acclimatization, just like alot of runners do, and I'm still totally careful, and run in the woods out of the sun. I also know the signs of heat exhaustion, and monitor myself consistently. It's how people run Western States or Badwater.

However, most people don't know what to do or what to look for -- so be careful out there!!!

[CottonBear]

3. My EMT friend says hose a heat exhaustion victim with cool water,

place them in the shade and place ice packs in their armpits and groin area. This is what the EMTs will do before they load you into the ambulance and give you IV fluids.

Also, hose your head down is good advice from the other poster in this thread. Ice packs for the head and neck are good too.

If you are not acclimated to the heat then stay in the AC if at all possible.

I had heat exhaustion last year and I am outside in the GA heat everyday at a horse farm. It can happen to anyone. I simply could not get cool. I hosed down my head and laid down on the ground and became nauseous and my face was very red. I recovered enough to drive myself home and spent the next day and a half recovering inside my house with air conditioning.

edit: sp.

[Cerridwen]

4. Thank heavens you're okay.

It took me 4 days before I could go back in the heat for even a few minutes at a time.

I've spent my entire life in the desert. One day with an idiot trainer and I'm "all of sudden" sensitive to the heat. Bah!

[CottonBear]

6. Heat exhaustion is so dangerous. I'm glad you're OK too.

I work in the AC during the day and then go to the farm after work and on the weekends. It's really hard to go from 70 degrees in the AC to 100 degrees and over 70% humidity outside. :(

[Cerridwen]

10. Ouch! Humidity. Native desert rat, here.

Heat plus humidity, even mild humidity; a double whammy for me. 70%?! EEK!

[CottonBear]

14. It can be higher than 70%. Average is over 50%.

I've been out west and I was amazed that I wasn't covered in sweat when hiking or walking around outside like I would be here in Georgia in the summertime. It was dangerous for me because I forgot to drink as muych as I should because I didn't realize that I was dehydrating since the sweat evaporated immediately.

It is so freaking humid here. If you exert your self at all, sweat just pours off of you. Last Saturday, I took two showers and 2 dips in the pool and changed clothes 4 times. I went to the horse farm in the afternoon and worked in my garden in the morning. It can be hot and humid at 10 PM at night here. Early morning (before 8am) is still bearable.

We had highs of 95-101 degrees each day with humidity over 70% for the last part of June and the first part of July.

Stay cool out there in the desert! :hi:

[Cerridwen]

17. We're getting highs of 115F and lows of 93F.

We don't get but about 15 to 20% humidity. But as you noted, sweat evaporates immediately and it can become impossible to "pump in" enough fluids to keep up; even if the body could process fluid intake efficiently.

I understand about your desert hikes. I used to work in the casinos in Vegas. Every summer we had tourists come in, almost daily, with heat illnesses. Ambulances are a regular feature in Vegas casinos in the summer. People think it's a dry heat so won't effect them as much as humid heat. I hope our discussion will let people know that ain't always the case.

My SO and I are talking about moving from the desert. We both hate it. He's mentioned Atlanta as a place he'd like to go. I'm resisting, in part due to what you've said about the temperatures and the heat. Me, I want greenery, seasons and cooler climes. Not sure if 50% humidity fits that. LOL

I'll stay cool here in the desert. You stay dry out there in Georgia. And good luck and good health to us both.



:hi:

[KittyWampus]

5. I don't have air conditioning and MUST work outside... but I've adjusted

to this weather as its built up this year.

My thing is taking the garden hose and getting my head wet repeatedly and/or taking a cold, wet rag and wrapping around my neck.

[Cerridwen]

8. Exactly. It's when we have the time to adjust that we can be okay.

As you prove. I'm mostly concerned for those people who, for whatever reason, don't get the time they need for their body to adjust and don't realize they need that time. Very dangerous.

The biggest problem in the desert is wet rags and wet heads "dry up" almost before they're wet. It can become quite dangerous.





edit: clarification

[pansypoo53219]

20. no AC either

i had to be outside all weekend. not only getting my head wet, but i also got my shirt wet. instant AC. works at home too. also go in the basement to paint.

[SoCalDem]

29. My son works outside too in Havasu and Palm Springs

I made him promise to keeop several hand towels INSIDE his cooler, so as the ice melts, he has a ready suipply of cool towels to drape on his BALD head (he shaves his head and wears a hat) and his neck..

Now all his crew does the same..

[brook]

7. Good information.

I had a heat stroke while working one August in the Carolinas. I was okay one minute, then was disoriented, then unconscious. A quick-thinking company medic started applying ice and I woke up in a hospital ER. After I was released from the hospital, I spent another week or so indoors in the AC. To this day, I am very sensitive to heat. Heat stroke doesn't give much in the way of a warning - and it's deadly serious. Err on the side of prevention!

[Cerridwen]

9. I'm so glad you're okay.

As you said, it's a dangerous issue and most of us don't have all the information we need and we don't know we don't have all the information.

I hope what you've posted will help others see that.

[MadHound]

11. And just to reiterate,

Take sports drinks or other foods that contain salt, potassium and electrolytes on board. When you're out in the heat and sweating profusely, you will lose a lot of salt quick. Drinking a sports drink, or taking salt tablets is a good way to prevent this. Also, if you don't have a sports drink, eat a bananna for potassium and drink a 7-Up to up your electrolyte levels. Failure to due this can have just as devastating effect as failure to keep properly hydrated.

[XemaSab]

18. You can die drinking too much water

Without electrolytes. :(

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

24. Florida people may try green coconut water

Nature's Gatorade. Huge hit in coastal areas of Brazil.

[Swamp Rat]

25. agua de coco

eu gosto MUITO! :9

[Name removed]

12. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sgxnk]

13. and sometimes

sometimes - hydration is TOO much

i actually worked a marathon where a guy died from hyponatremia caused by TOO much water

learned a new word that day.

can you imagine dying of drinking too much water?

during a marathon?

brought to you by the dept. of irrelevancy, a subagency of the dept. of redundancy dept.

[Cerridwen]

15. Thank you! Good point!

One of the reasons hydration is not enough is because until the body has adjusted to heat conditions, fluids are not handled as effectively by the body; as was the case in your post.

I had heard it was possible to over-hydrate; I didn't know the name of it.

[LostinVA]

23. The runner is his post died of lack of electrolytes in his blood

Not from a body temp issue per se, or overhydrating per se. Many marathons, cyclists, ultrarunners, adventure racers know that they MUST ingest a certain amount of electrolytes. OTC sports drinks don't cut it. You have to take newfangled "salt" tabs *which are electrolyte tabs), or drink special drinks. Hammer and SUCCEED make these.

[SmokingJacket]

16. This is a much more common problem than people realize.

In fact, I read that during marathons MORE people suffer from drinking too much than drinking too little. For a long time, people were being treated for dehydration when their disorientation was actually caused by hyponatremia. Apparently, marathon organizers are now much more aware of this problem.

[XemaSab]

19. There was an article about it last year

In the NY Times.

[LostinVA]

22. Read my post #17

It's not too much water, it's not taking in enough electrolytes along with the hydration. It kills you. That's why you take e-caps (neo salt tabs), or drink certain drinks like SUCCEED -- Gatorade, etc., won't cut it.

[fed-up]

26. Excellent post-I am making a link to it as a reminder n/t

[hootinholler]

27. One more thing...

Keep a thermometer on hand if you are in an organized group.

Monitor your core temp.

-Hoot

[TygrBright]

28. Desert plus high altitude takes a LONG time to acclimate!

I have had to be VERY firm with my gung-ho athlete sister who wants to visit us in Santa Fe from MN and "get right out there running, biking, hiking, etc." Told her if she wanted THAT kind of vacation she needed to schedule TWO WEEKS and spend the first week acclimating and working up to it slowly. None of this arrive, rest a day, head up to the parks and get going stuff.

Fortunately, she did some research on the Internet that confirmed what I told her and backed off. At 7000 feet it is fatally easy to go critical without even noticing it. Tell yourself that slight giddiness is "just getting used to the altitude" and you can wake up in an ER. Or worse.

It's especially easy since it doesn't "feel" hot here. Between the thin air and the dryness, 95 degrees feels like 85. But the ultraviolet is fierce and the dry air sucks the moisture right out of you. Thank heavens the "up" side of being in the mountains is the nightly cooldown. Wouldn't be bearable without that.

I have started to collect hats, and I make my out-of-town visitors wear them if we are going to be outdoors for any length of time, even if it is just walking around the Plaza or going to the flea market for a couple of hours. Sunglasses are not enough! Shade the top of your head and your face. Wear a lightweight shirt with SLEEVES, even 3/4 or short (not cap) sleeves. Lightweight trousers or a floaty skirt that will shade your feet. Sunburned feet are no joke. Skin hanging out does NOT make you cooler, it makes you hotter. People come to visit from the humid-heat climate areas and pack nothing but tank tops and shorts and swim suits, plus the sweater for the cool nights. Dumb, dumb, DUMB! They can get away with the skin-hanging-out thing in the humid-heat zones because sweat doesn't evaporate as fast, and no one likes having all that sweat-soaked cloth clinging to them. But here in the desert, COVER UP, I tell them. Do they listen? Oy. /rant

Last week we went to Tucson where it hit 105 or more every day. We felt it even on short walks from the motel room to the main lodge area. Like having a hot iron pressed onto you all over. My poor husband has no heat tolerance at all and we spent most of his non-working time "touristing" in air-conditioned book stores and restaurants. We'd hoped to take in the Desert Museum but decided discretion was the better part of valor. I asked several Tucsoners (Tucsonians?) how long it takes people to acclimate to the summers and they all laughed. One said "Never, and I was born and raised here. You don't acclimate, you just cope by staying in the air conditioning."

True enough. If you look at the history of America's Wester/Desert cities, you can see it clearly: None of them really grew into cities until after air conditioning was cheap enough for common residential installation.

And now we're ALL going to learn to cope, thanks to our collective unwillingness to face the reality of the consequences of carbon-fuel dependency.

wearily,
Bright

[KatyaR]

30. Some people down the street are putting 5 yr olds through

light football or soccer practice--AT 5 PM EVERY DAY!!! Are they nuts??? I hope they're hydrating those kids. We've already had at least 4 deaths in OKC from the heat. We don't need any more.

All I want to do is drink water or decaf apricot iced tea and sit in the AC with a fan on me as well.