Dealing with summer heat

[WS6]

Well seeing as we are dealing with temps topping out at 115 or so right about now I figured I would chime in.

Light breakfast, plenty of fruit (watermelon and apples and such). No coffee or tea as they only dehydrate you.

Drink water starting at breakfast and continue to keep it on you. We have the 1 liter bottles are we are drinking at least one an hour.

We take breaks about 10-15 per hour depending on hard we are working and take them in the shade.

A nice boonie hat and some dark shades work wonders.

We really don't drink gatorade that much, water is much better, not as much sugar and such. If you do feel really dehydrated Pedialite is amazing and you can dilute with water.

Replenish some salts at lunch time by just using a little on your food, you really don't need salt tabs or the like.

Continue to drink water even at night (it sucks to get up and pee like 3-4 times at night but it's worth it when you aren't hurting the next day.

Oh and we don't work super hard at the max sun time (12-2ish) but we are out there from 0700 until around 1800 and our guys have been handling it great.

Just my 2 cents from sweet and sunny Iraq.

Huge +1 on Pedialite. Either that, or one of the 0-calorie drinks like Poweraid Zero.

[cabbynate]

I work in the heat of the Nevada desert and I can tell you I have tried most everything. Drinking plenty of water will not replace the minerals you sweat/work out of your body. Also you are putting your body through a lot of stress. I have found a supplement called Electrolyte Stamina by Traced Minerals Research that works great. I add one packet to the first bottle of water I drink and after that just straight water and it keeps me going strong all through my shift. I also eat a 600-700 calorie meal and have a 120 calorie protein shake that I add Acai berry juice to and this keeps me strong through my hole shift.... I consume about 80oz of water through out the day. I am in and out of my work truck assisting people with broken down cars/trucks changing tires, batteries etc...

[Dunderway]

@ rob_s
Yeah, but you have hair!!!

Rob is very right.

If you have hair (full scalp coverage): wear a visor

If you don't: wear a mesh bill-cap (yes they make them that don't make you look like a tool).

Think about how much difference a skull-cap/stocking hat makes in the winter. Now reverse that effect in the summer.

[Dunderway]

Color indicates how much your kidneys are concentrating the urin (in a gradient from clear to dark yellow). Usually cloudy is used as an indicator of infection, etc. Not something you normally worry about if you are healthy. This is more of a concern in the hospital/after a UTI/STI.

A very dark yellow can indicate a kidney problem or hepatic problem.

Also, some drugs like pyridium can cause discoloration of the urin, again, this will be included in your Pt. education before you are d/c'ed.

Hematauria(sp* it's 2am) is indicative of kidney/ureter/bladder trauma or a kidney stone.

And this is the layman's guide to urin, as compiled by a BSSN at 2am.

ETA: A light yellow is perfectly healthy and normal.

Our coremen always told us that yellow pee = dehydrated.
This excludeds supplements that will turn your urine different colors.

They explained it as this: When is your urine the darkest? First pee in the morning, right? That's because you haven't had water in 5-8 hours.

If your pee is yellow during the day, you are already dehydrated and need to increase your fluid intake in the future.

Also, when you perspire profusely, you lose "things" (sorry I'm no rocket surgeon, or brain scientist) that water can't replace. When attended different fire fighting schools, you could litteraly dump the sweat out of your boots at the end of the day. You need gatorade or something similar to replace your electrolites and keep you going.

I am not a doctor, and all medical advice is purely anecdotal.

[randolph]

coffe is no longer considered a diuretic, do a quick search on it.
for example...:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_and_health

i do quite a bit of training in the houston heat, I prefer pedeolites cut w/ water and Vitimine water also works well for me.

hammer nutrition sells several items to help battle training in the heat.