Working in wind

a third to a half strength for me with powdered gatorade. I prefer powerade.

In the Wilderness First Responder training that I've taken, they recommended half strength for rehydration.

In who's best interest is it for you to burn through a whole contanister of Gatorade powder, yours or gatorade's?

Advocare sells something called Rehydrate, IIRC, that is electrolytes without the sugar. I haven't tried that, but the Spark energy booster is pretty good stuff to mix in water. More coffee-power than Monster-power.

Hydration is especially important to keep on top of when the temperature drops into really cold realms. Little moisture in the air, so more is sucked from your lungs and nasal passages, and people don't want to have to work through a bunch of layers every time they have to pee.
 
Nuun tablets are my mainstays in summer heat. No sugar added. It's not uncommon to drink 3 gallons a day. A 3G day as my groundie calls it!
 
3 gallons ?:O
The most I drink is a little under 2 gallons a day. Maybe one or two times in a year.

Now I'm with Ice Tea, tasty and with less sugar than the so-called fruit juices. I bought it by 16 gallons.
You should see the eyes of the saleswoman !:lol:
 
Wind and trees.
On a bicycling listserv I am on this website was posted as a suggestion for planning trips with a tailwind.
I don't know how accurate the info is (see their disclaimer), but a wind condition map might help with planning if it WERE accurate enough.
Hover your cursor over a spot to see current conditions.
Check it out here:

USA Wind Map
 
On patrol it was gallons of coffee to keep us awake .

Oh say on that malaria I got a reaction from the shot and was one sick puppy for about three days .If the real McCoy is anything like that I don't want any part of it .
 
MasterBlaster said:
Don't forget the booze and ganja.
Click to expand...
A client asked me today not to take too many of the low branches on a spruce off so that he has a screen when he's out smoking a joint. I should have told him we offer a service where we walk the property burning one to find the best spots.
 
that wind map is awesome. it got pretty windy on us today. kind of cool being in the top of a cypress on the coast and watching a downpour blow its way towards us. not so fun after it was dumping on us.
 
I drink loads of water when it's hot, along with a little Gatorade. I'd say I probably drink 3 bottles of water to every bottle of Gatorade. Not uncommon for me to drink 3 20-oz bottles of water when I get down out of a tree. Have polished off a fourth while cooling down/sharpening a saw/whatnot.
 
As I understand it, its not possible to absorb that much water into your body effectively. Your body detects massive water intake, so pushes it out to maintain homeostatis (balance).

If you are super hungry with bottomed-out blood sugar/ hypoglycemic than eat a ton, your body will deal with it. Much better are the many small meals many times a day, or regular meals and snacks throughout the day.


They say that if you eat when you're hungry, and drink when you're thirsty, you're already behind. You body has these feelings when its trying to tell you its been needing something. Similarly with sleep, if you wait until you're dog tired to sleep, you are behind.
A good thing to do (NOTE TO SELF) is before pouring the morning cup of coffee, fill the coffee cup with water and drink it, especially since coffee is a diuretic.


When I worked in Utah with 'hoods in the woods', the kids had to drink a specified amount of water at specified intervals. Dehydration, especially in the desert was a huge danger. Part of that was that the kids were being forced to follow directions, which they were pretty much there for not doing (breaking laws), part was the metaphors built into the situation, and part was the necessary hydration.


For anybody that thinks that its not necessary to drink before thirsty, or drink a lot of water, or pee frequently, I suggest giving yourself a hydration test drive. Spend four days (it takes time to get back to good balance) of drinking more that you think you should be (not what you're used to) and check your mood, energy level, muscle soreness, ease of frustration, occurance of headache, nasal passage and lip moisture, etc.


A friend of mine got super dehydrated out at the lake one summer in hot, humid southern IL. He had to go to the hospital. He took a few weeks to mostly recover, and the doctors said that it could take up to 6 months to fully, fully recover (parts of this were probably beyond his conscious awareness, and in his case might not have take all that time). His balance was out of wack even, which hasn't been mentioned yet.
 
Southern IL will do that to you. I was in college in Carbondale for parts of 6 years. Beautiful country, but hot and humid in summer. I usually carried a jug of water with a quarter of a lemon in it when working. Learned that from an old colored gentleman that I helped build fence one summer. Still use it today. It sure cuts that film that builds up when you don't drink quite often enough.
 
I have heard or read that with aging, also comes you becoming less sensitive to your need for fluid intake. Becoming thirsty takes longer to appear.
 
In Asia, I know that beer sales shoot way up when the hot and wet weather kicks in. Coincides with the typhoon season.
 
SouthSoundTree said:
As I understand it, its not possible to absorb that much water into your body effectively. Your body detects massive water intake, so pushes it out to maintain homeostatis (balance).
Click to expand...

Not trying to argue with you, Sean, but I've "absorbed" 60 ounces of water many, many times over the years, and as far as my body pushing it out, it came out the sweat glands. It's nothing for me to water the bushes when I first get to the job, (form drinking half a pot of coffee that morning), and not go again until I get home that evening, drinking 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of water in between.
 
No argument taken.

What I mean is that if a body is dehydrated, a slow intake of fluids is better to regaining the optimum water/ electrolyte balance in the bloodstream and cells of the body.

You guys have a significant heat challenge down there and need to push water through your sweat glands for the cooling effect.

I agree that, to some degree, the body detoxifies through the skin.

I don't have the expert information on what effect detoxifying through the skin as compared to detoxifying through the kidneys. Its a balance in all cases of these two means (as well as detoxifying through poop--speaking of which, another symptom of dehydration for people to watch for is slowing of the bowels).

Scott, how do you find yourself on the signs of hydration/ dehydration. In your Alabama heat, do you find that drinking that amount of water, in conjunction with coffee (a diuretic) and any alcohol (diuretic), leaves you well hydrated --energetic, not dried out mucous membranes in the nose, regular-in the #2 way, not a DIChead (disoriented/ forgetful, irritable/ frustrated, combative/ argumentative), coordinated, not wanting to drink a whole bunch more water when you get home at night, etc?

Oh yeah, another indication for dehydration... the umbles... mumbles, fumbles, stumbles.





Another consideration is body composition and size, which hasn't been touched on much, as well as exertion. Compare Butch to Fiona, very different sizes, muscle masses, etc. Its a lot more work to drag brush, move logs manually, and climb trees than mini-ize the debris and Wraptor the tree.


Ultimately, I'm just trying to push good hydration as part of proper technique in our dangerous lines of work.

Eating properly and hydrating well go a long way toward safety, productivity, and crew morale. Hopefully the discussions here keep this in our minds and in safety meetings for while we're Working In The Wind.
 
I make a habit, during hot weather, to drink a bottle of water before going up a tree. I generally make it through a tree without another drink, unless I'm up over an hour. (Depending, of course on the particular day...really hot days I'll have a bottle sent up.) I started drinking Gatorade several years ago, and now, I'll drink a 12-oz bottle of G'ade to 2 bottles of water, just to keep my system balanced. I can tell a difference on days I forget the cooler and just have water.

As to coffee, I can't tell it affects me. No experience with alcohol, so I can't answer that. I don't have the grouchies, disorientation, or any of the other stuff you mentioned. Just cramps on bad days, lots of cramps, especially if I don't have the Gatorade.

During the hot spells, I'll drink another quart or so after supper.

What's hilarious to me, is when I'm standing by the cooler, downing the second bottle of water, and running a third, and the customer says, "You're gonna make yourself sick drinking water like that." I want to retort, "I'm 44 years old, this ain't my first trip to the water keg!"
 
That link doesn't work for me, but I'll check google it. I take a potassium tablet every morning to help alleviate cramps.
 
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