Dealing with summer heat

[ryanm]

FWIW, cranberry juice. I replaced gatorade with it, haven't looked back. The only problem is whether or not the DFAC has it! Drinking the same amount of fluid overall. For some reason, this has also greatly reduced the frequency/urgency of having to take a wiz despite the summer heat. Seems like when I drank gatorade, I outprocessed faster. Not sure why there would be much of a difference in terms of filtrate processing speed with my kidneys vs the gatorade.

[matthewdanger]

I have always had a hard time with heat. I tend to keep a high body temp all the time and training in external heat can be a challenge. I would often end up sick to my stomach and with headaches at the end of a day training. My body simply does not handle heat well, but gash darn it, I have training to do!

I have found a few things that really help me.

- Be deliberate with the clothes that you wear. Have a set (or sets) of hot weather clothes. You may need to experiment a bit with this. I have found that natural fibers like cotton can sometimes be cooler than products like Underarmor that are specifically marketed as heat gear. The synthetic fibers are great at wicking sweat but it feels like they trap heat. Also wear light colors.

- Keep a bandana with you. When you start feeling over heated just wet the bandana and put it around your neck. This will cool your quickly even while you continue to train. There are also purpose built products that are even more effective at this sort of thing and even come in various camo patterns if that concerns you.

- Find shade whenever you can! There can be as much as a 20 degree temperature difference between full sun and full shade.

- Most importantly... HYDRATE! I like to start my mornings off with a Nalgene full of water. I will continue to drink water until lunch time. If it is really hot and I have been doing some serious sweating, I switch to a product like Gatorade or Pedialite (or other low sugar options). If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated. Don't wait until you are thirsty.

- I like baseball style caps for sunny days. Usually when I am really hot it is struggle to keep the hat on without feeling like I am cooking under it. So I have found that it is very useful to be able to soak the whole hat. I will have to try a visor like Rob someday.

[Vic303]

Remember too that certain supplements ( B-100 and others) can color your urine so that 'peeing clear' is no longer a visual indicator of hydration. Another test can be the skin tenting. Pinch the skin on the back of the hand for a couple seconds. If it fails to snap back flat immediately, but rather maintains a wrinkle and sinks back flat more slowly, it is a sign you are probably low on fluids.

[UVvis]

Urine related question here.

Clear and colorless are not the same to me.

By saying clear urine, that is in reference to urine being not cloudy correct.

Or by saying clear urine, is it in reference to a lack of color?

[Vic303]

In my usage of 'clear' I meant without significant yellow/dark coloration. I was not referring to any cloudiness that could be present.

[LittleRedToyota]

Urine related question here.

Clear and colorless are not the same to me.

By saying clear urine, that is in reference to urine being not cloudy correct.

Or by saying clear urine, is it in reference to a lack of color?

i've never heard of exercise--even to the point of dehydration--causing cloudy urine, but i dunno. (i do know that cloudy urine can, but does not necessarily, indicate some type of problem--like a urinary tract infection.)

at any rate, i was speaking about it being colorless (or, well, close to colorless).

however, vic303 raises a good point. in my experience, though, supplements/vitamins make my urine almost glow (sort of bright neon coloring) while dehyrdation makes it very dark. but there may be supplements that i have just never taken that make your urine dark as well. maybe pay more attention to frequency and less to coloration if you are taking supplements that make your urine dark all the time.

(when i say "cloudy", i mean looks like there are particulates suspended in it. "dark", on the other hand, just refers to the color--it doesn't look like it has particulates suspended in it. the coloring is uniform and you can still see through it, though not as well obviously, but it is just a darker color. think dark yellow--almost bordering on orange--versus a yellow you can barely even perceive as a color.)

[UVvis]

Thanks,

I've always been taught that clear and copious is good. Meaning, plenty of it, and not cloudy. I've never been taught that color was a strong indicator of much.

[WS6]

I just make sure to drink to replace fluids lost. Body weight is the best indicator here.

I still run outside in the heat of the day, whatever. Oh, I wear sunscreen on my face if outdoors more than 1 hour at a time.

[WS6]

Thanks,

I've always been taught that clear and copious is good. Meaning, plenty of it, and not cloudy. I've never been taught that color was a strong indicator of much.

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.

[Rated21R]

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.