Hot weather myths busted

[sra4031]

Originally Posted by Wistrick

________________________________________
Myth #7: You can never drink enough water
While it's true you need to keep water intake steady through the day it is indeed possible to drink too much. If every time you pee your urine is clear like water, you may have peed out all your electrolytes and you're now on the verge of the same symptoms as sun stroke bundled with organ damage. Keep the water flowing through out the day in reasonable amounts, but refrain from drinking a few liters of water every hour.
________________________________________
Myth #9: Gatorade and energy drinks provide the proper hydration and electrolytes my body needs to ride in the hot sun. The sport drink commercials said so.
Gatorade and energy drinks are loaded with sugar and caffeine, which is essentially an oxymoronic recipe that backfires when it comes to hydration since these two ingredients promote dehydration. If you're looking to increase your intake of electrolytes us an electrolyte additive and mix it with your water, juice, diet soda or any other beverage you like.

Myth #7 is correct, you can drink too much water. As a matter of fact, a radio station did a contest to see who could drink the most water, and the winner died.

The condition is known as over hydration (aka hyper-hydration) , and has pretty much the same signs and symptoms of dehydration, and it is from drinking large amounts of water in a short time. If you are treated for heat related illnesses always let the EMT-P know how much liquid you have consumed and the time period. Too much water and your blood starts to get watered down, so it is not a good thing to hang a bag on a patient that has had too much fluid.

Myth #9 Gatorade, PowerAde, and Pedilite are good to replace electrolytes, but should not be consumed like water, nor should it be consumed just to have something to drink.

If you are out in the heat, try to monitor your body. If you are starting to feel over heated on a ride, pull over immediately and find a shade. Heat exhaustion will effect judgment, and your control of the bike, so do not say the next store is just a few miles down the road, and try to make it, cool off so you can make it to the next store. Long rides is always best on the buddy system. When you get over heated, or come up on someone that is over heated, do not do anything rapidly. You want to cool the body gradually and safely. I never give anything ice cold, never pour directly on the patient, and do not try to move the patient to a air conditioned environment. I give room temperature water in small swallows not gulps, pour water on a rag for a cool compress, remove or loosen clothing, and give the person time to cool off some before moving him inside. Good idea to get the person's medical history too in case he passes out before EMS arrives. This will include any medications taken, even over-the-counter, known medical conditions, known allergies to include food allergies, doctor's name, food history, and fluid history. Do not discount any information, write it all down, let the medical staff decide what they do not need.

[sra4031]

By the way, anything with alcohol in it should be avoided if you will be out in the heat. Alcohol evaporates liquids, and will speed up dehydration.

[phoenixfire]

Excellent post!

Send it over to mythbusters.

It's easy to forget that wearing more clothes in the hot sun keeps you cooler. If you forget - take a look at the people of the middle east or India. It gets freaking hot there! But you see them wrapped up all the time. It's to keep the sun off their skin as the air is hotter than their body temperature.

Same is true in regards to wind. When ambient temperatures get hotter than your body temperature, wind robs your body of that coolness.

[HAMMERPETE]

I have been riding with full leathers out here in SOCAL. For the last couple of months the temps are getting hotter. As they say May gray and fry July. Well it has been upper 90's and a few days into the 100's.
I take out the liner of my leather jacket and wear the leather jacket with all the breath zippers open. I find it cooler and I don't get dehydrated.
With movement there are no issues of cooling. Now if I am to stop for any repairs; the leather come off.

[frostbitevinnie]

Last week, Thurs. Fri. we had the coldest temps on record. Thurs. night I rode home in 50 or below temps.