[HN Gopher] Is water always the best choice on a hot day?
___________________________________________________________________
Is water always the best choice on a hot day?
Author : hiddencache
Score : 35 points
Date : 2021-08-14 21:26 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bbc.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.com)
| chrisfosterelli wrote:
| Any long-distance athlete would be intimately familiar with this
| trade off. At Ironman races you always see a non-trivial fraction
| end up with debilitating cramps, confusion, nausea + vomiting, or
| ultimately in the medical tent from low sodium or low glucose.
|
| That said, I think "drink water" is still good blanket advice on
| average. Most athletes I know still drink far more water than the
| average person through the day, in addition to all the sport-
| specific fuelling.
| bserge wrote:
| Shit country army hydration "pack": half a teaspoon of sugar,
| half a teaspoon of salt to ~1L of water.
|
| Tastes like shit, but damn it cures hangovers. Also, probably
| hydrates.
| pjerem wrote:
| Interesting. Does it really tastes like shit however? That
| doesn't sound like your favorite cocktail but it sounds
| drinkable. I should try.
| mhh__ wrote:
| It doesn't exactly taste good but when I drank it when I was
| walking on the Moors you don't really care because you're
| usually in need of the contents.
| tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
| CCC electrolyte drink:
|
| - half liter bottle of water
|
| - add half a TABLEspoon of sugar
|
| - add half a TEAspoon of salt
|
| - top off with orange juice
|
| https://cert.ccc.de/old//index.php?title=WHO-Drink
|
| Haven't tried it myself but I've heard that it does not taste
| like shit.
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| It's what plants crave!
| squarefoot wrote:
| That movie should have been a comedy, and it's slowly
| turning itself into a documentary.
| stavros wrote:
| There's also a recipe for an Oral Rehydration Solution:
|
| https://rehydrate.org/solutions/homemade.htm
|
| 6 teasponfuls of sugar, 1/2 of salt, 1 liter of water, done.
| u801e wrote:
| Why do the directions use both imperial and metric
| measurements?
| christkv wrote:
| Classic learned it in the service as well. Tasted horrible but
| it works.
| thenipper wrote:
| Related I learned to just get oral rehydration salts when I
| worked at an NGO. Good for hydration on a hot day. But also an
| amazing hangover cure.
| amelius wrote:
| How much can you drink of this, responsibly?
|
| Would 2-3L every day be ok?
| dredmorbius wrote:
| Your proportions are off. More sugar, much less salt.
|
| For 1 litre / 1 quart, you'd add about _2 tablespoons_ (about
| 30--35g) sugar, and "a pinch" (1--2 g) of salt.
|
| https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Fluid-Replacement-Drin...
| NathanielK wrote:
| It depends if you're eating anything else. Managing sugar is
| less of an issue since snacking as you go is usually
| possible. Your body is pretty good at telling you went to eat
| more, but knowing when to supplement salt is less intuitive.
| smellsinore wrote:
| Interesting that they did not mention beer.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Beer_Saved_the_World
| pkaye wrote:
| The book "A History of the World in 6 Glasses" by Tom Standage
| is really good reading.
| fanf2 wrote:
| Alcohol isn't great in the heat. Pint of beer, pint of water,
| packet of crisps, is about right.
| _ph_ wrote:
| This is, where alcohol-free beer shines. Or drinking small
| amounts of beer and larger amounts of water.
| glennos wrote:
| The BBC is a great organisation, but on the topic of milk on a
| hot day, I'm trusting the Channel 4 News team.
| reedjosh wrote:
| I do NuSalt with lemon Mio right before and after my runs.
|
| Sodium & Potassium and tastes kinda like a margarita. Always
| keeps me well hydrated. Sometimes I'll also take a multimineral
| with it to get calcium and magnesium too.
| sedatk wrote:
| Turks have this traditional salty yogurt drink called "Ayran" for
| hot weather, which is pretty much like Salty Lassi in southern
| Asia. Americans usually get disgusted by the idea of having salt
| in their drink, but they'll eventually come to terms with it.
| hprotagonist wrote:
| Pickle juice!
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| In Japan (and, for some reason, Australia and Mexico) you can buy
| a drink called "Pocari Sweat".
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocari_Sweat
|
| It's a soft drink specifically designed to avoid you getting
| hyponatremia, and was apparently inspired by doctors who would
| drink the contents of saline IV pouches.
|
| Like many asian soft drinks it's not very sweet but it's not
| unpleasant. If you live on the US west coast you can find it in
| most Japanese supermarkets.
| NathanielK wrote:
| Pocari Sweat is 67g/L of sugar and 490mg/L. This is on par with
| western sports drinks like Gatorade(59g/L sugar, 523mg/L
| sodium)or Powerade (57g/L sugar, 409mg/L sodium). This is less
| sweet than typical sugary drinks which can be 10-15% sugar, but
| normal for a sports drink.
|
| Sports drinks certainly help if you are sweating moderately,
| but are inadequate for intense exercise in the heat. When you
| are sweating intensely (>1L/h of sweat), you can lose sodium at
| over 1000mg/L. Supplementing sodium and other electrolytes may
| be necessary.
| vesinisa wrote:
| As the article notes, it is not recommended to habitually
| consume sugary sport drinks unless you are exercising. It is
| simply unnecessary, ruins your teeth and the extra fast carbs
| will convert to body fat.
|
| It is best to simply drink enough tap water with a meal. This
| will naturally balance the salt. If you are really concerned
| about your salt balance outside of meal hours, the article
| recommends you drink your tap water with a little snack like a
| banana, or drink milk or coconut water instead.
|
| I've myself also used bottled spring water naturally high in
| minerals (mineral water). I find this water the best heat wave
| drink, but some brands are ruined by adding sugar or other
| sweeteners.
| xzel wrote:
| Pocari Sweat is also sold all over south east Asia. Great to
| help ward off a hangover as well. Will second it isn't a normal
| western flavored drink but I quite enjoyed it while I was
| living where it was available.
| vorpalhex wrote:
| If you're in the West, you can usually buy the Pocari bags
| meant to be added to those big coolers of water for quite a bit
| cheaper than buying it premixed. I just throw in a scoop and
| add some to my water bottle as I feel the need.
| xattt wrote:
| This makes me think of little packets of Oral Rehydration
| Therapy. It's sold in pharmacies for times of gastrointestinal
| distress that leads to dehydration. Sugar is added, not for
| palatability, but to increase electrolyte uptake in the GI
| tract.
| toiletaccount wrote:
| you'd have to drink so much water to get symptoms of
| hyponatremia you practically have to set out to make it happen.
| most people puke before it gets too bad. if you do get it and
| your wits are still about you, suck on a bouillon cube, or eat
| a tablespoon of gatorade powder.
|
| anyway i prefer boss coffee. the boss of all bosses. or bickle.
| NathanielK wrote:
| It's fairly common in athletes. 13% of the marathon runners
| tested [0] had hyponatremia. This was at the Boston Marathon,
| a fairly exclusive race with experienced runners.
|
| [0] https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa043901
| chrisseaton wrote:
| There's this cult of drinking water - with people insisting you
| should drink more and more water - until people are drinking
| ludicrous quantities trying to get literally clear urine. They
| also tend to chug it all at once, repeatedly. As the article says
| it just flows straight through and does nothing useful.
|
| On a very hot day after a lot of arduous exercise I've seen
| someone collapse from hyponatremia from drinking too much water -
| washed everything out of their system because they thought they
| had to drink sixteen litres a day or something.
|
| Calm down and just drink a reasonable quantity of water slowly
| over time, and combine that with eating full meals which people
| tend to put off if it's hot, making everything worse.
| IkmoIkmo wrote:
| Yeah it's a bit sad the BBC article starts with saying you need
| to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water daily, which is a myth, which
| the BBC has written about multiple times before e.g.:
| https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190403-how-much-
| water-s....
|
| Drinking too much is rare, but still it happens and it's rooted
| in misinformation about minimum drinking requirements that's
| unfortunately not rare, but rather a very common piece of
| misinformation.
|
| Surprising to see it on the NHS website too (of course, without
| any source, but still the claim is made).
| pengaru wrote:
| You're ignoring extremely hot and dry environments like
| deserts.
|
| I struggle to drink enough water to urinate at all when working
| on my desert cabin in the summer months. It's completely
| redefined my perception of how much water the human body can
| lose to perspiration alone.
| chrisseaton wrote:
| > You're ignoring extremely hot and dry environments like
| deserts.
|
| I'm not - I've got professional experience managing
| healthcare in Helmand in the summer. You still don't need as
| much water as some people think.
|
| I don't know anything about your work or conditions, but my
| first recommendation would still be to make sure you're
| eating as much as you need, and then to drink less but more
| slowly.
| pengaru wrote:
| I'd love for you to come build a roof with me in the Mojave
| in July and demonstrate this drink less water more slowly
| approach.
| hinoki wrote:
| I don't have much experience with living in the desert, but
| when I hiked down the Grand Canyon I drank 8L and didn't go
| to the bathroom. I also ate trail mix and protein bars, had
| lunch, etc.
|
| I was drinking as much as was comfortable to me, since I
| was worried about getting dehydrated, and still never
| needed to use the toilet until after the hike was over.
|
| I don't think drinking less would have helped the
| situation.
| sjg007 wrote:
| Make sure you drink a Gatorade or two as well. Pedialyte
| works as well.
| pengaru wrote:
| Snacking on canned sardines in water (and drinking the
| broth) seems to work well enough, plenty of sodium.
|
| edit: Writing this comment has made me realize mixing
| powdered dehydrated boullion into the water would probably
| work quite well too. The ambient temps are so high the
| water is basically at hot soup temperature as-is.
| mdp2021 wrote:
| > does nothing useful
|
| I am pretty sure it contributes in removing salts - which in
| weather conditions that makes one sweat profusely, worsens the
| problem.
|
| > sixteen litres a day or something
|
| Best to remind then that drinking 6 liters of water can be
| sufficient to kill a human.
|
| ( https://scienceswitch.com/2014/12/09/takes-6-liters-water-
| ki... )
| jjtheblunt wrote:
| the parent comment says hyponatremia in the next sentence,
| which is removing salts too far, so you're agreeing!
| chiefalchemist wrote:
| You can actually cause kidney failure from drinking too much
| water.
| aaaaaaaaaaab wrote:
| Citation needed.
| hiddencache wrote:
| It appears that the answer is "yes", especially if supplemented
| by a piece of fruit to replace minerals and nutrients. And even
| tea and coffee are fine provided that your body is relatively
| used to dealing with caffeine.
| n4bz0r wrote:
| Why consuming water from caffeine-containing drinks is
| different from consuming pure water? I've heard many times that
| drinking tea doesn't count into these daily water-consumption
| goals, but no one mentions why.
| amalcon wrote:
| Caffeine is a diuretic (meaning that it causes you to produce
| more urine). It doesn't help your hydration levels if you
| drink something, and then immediately urinate it back out.
|
| That said, if you're past risk of dehydration, it probably
| doesn't make that much difference.
| hiddencache wrote:
| The diuretic effect of caffeine. But if you're a habitual
| coffee drinker your body gets used to the caffeine.
| thebean11 wrote:
| Caffeine is a diuretic so seems plausible that coffee or tea
| could have a net-negative impact on hydration. Not sure
| what's true in practice though.
| ch4s3 wrote:
| The net diuretic effect of the 95mg of caffeine found in
| 8oz of brewed coffee is fare less than 8oz.
| ghkbrew wrote:
| Caffeine is a diuretic (it makes you urinate more). So the
| increased fluid intake is somewhat offset by increased
| output.
| avnigo wrote:
| Milk really doesn't sound refreshing on a hot day. If anything,
| drinking milk would make me wanna drink water straight after to
| wash it down, even if it fully hydrated me.
|
| The truth is, water is just fine on a hot day, and if you really
| do have a salt imbalance, it's more likely that is related to
| hard physical activity combined with a hot day, in which case
| you'd know that a sports drink or salt tablets with water would
| be just fine. In most cases, water really is just fine. This
| article almost reads like it was sponsored by dairy product
| manufacturers.
| grey413 wrote:
| A colleague on mine who once ran an ecological survey in the
| desert mentioned that her fluid of choice for extreme dry heat
| was V8. Pretty much anything else would cause horrible salt
| deprivation.
| Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote:
| I read somewhere about surviving being stranded at sea, that
| losing salt is not really an issue. The body doesn't care about
| how much salt it has, only what the concentration of salt is in
| the blood. As you lose water due to sweating, even through
| sweat does have some salt, overall the body is losing more
| water than salt, and therefore blood salt concentration
| increases. Of course over long periods you will deplete your
| salt reserves, but this will take a while. So drink more water
| than V8 or gatorade to keep you balanced.
| s5300 wrote:
| Drinking sea-turtle blood has been key to a few stranded at
| sea people's survival.
| lttlrck wrote:
| > The Kon-Tiki voyage had proved that ancient navigators were
| able to survive in the ocean by hydrating themselves with
| fish juice and drinking seawater mixed with fresh water in a
| ratio of 2:3.
|
| https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/leading-
| figures/how-...
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| I was wondering how fish juice is defined, and it sounds
| gross:
|
| > The most critical need, hydration, would be solved by
| squeezing the fluid from the fish and collecting rainwater,
| supplemented with small doses of seawater that did not
| exceed one litre a day--one tablespoon at intervals of 20
| minutes, allowing the saliva to dilute the salt in the
| mouth.
| flyinglizard wrote:
| I exercise quite a bit in 30-35 degrees C and I sweat a ton (it's
| not a bad thing as long as you stay hydrated; a natural liquid
| cooling!). I use electrolyte tablets [0]. On longer rides I also
| tried Coke (classic) which was quite good too.
|
| I'd bring about 1.5l per hour out, riding mountain bikes or
| enduro off road motorcycles.
|
| I was told you need to sip slowly and that when dehydrated the
| first thing to go is your concentration.
|
| [0] https://highfive.co.uk/products/zero?variant=39896116756639
| gentleman11 wrote:
| Lots of good information but the writing style is very scattered
| and wordy
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-08-14 23:00 UTC)