Post by Patriotic Sheepdog on Jul 19, 2014 10:52:45 GMT -5
The body requires water to survive. In fact, about 60% of your body weight is from water. Water is probably number two in importance behind oxygen. You all have probably heard the list of 3's...you can survive three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, three weeks without food, etc., well there is a reason water is important. Water carries nutrients to the cells, regulates temperature, eliminates waste and other important tasks. For some people, as little as 1-2 percent loss of body weight when exercising can cause a decrease in performance. This is why we need to stay hydrated.
How do we lose fluids? There are many ways in which the body can lose fluids, breathing, sweating and urinating, with sweating the main one we need to pay attention to. When we sweat the body is trying to maintain the core body temperature to approx. 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37-38 degrees Celsius). As soon as we start to do anything that raises our body temperature the body generates heat which in turn needs to be dissipated so to not heat our body core. The body then begins to sweat. The sweat then evaporates and begins to cools us. If we sweat excessively, without replacing fluids, we will begin to become dehydrated. Mild dehydration can cause a decrease in performance and possibly a decrease in judgement skills. Your body will want to slow down, to decrease the workload which in turn would decrease the energy being produced which decreases the heat that needs to be dissipated. So, essentially the body will try and regulate itself.
I did a little experiment today, I guess that's the scientist in me. I needed to mow my yard after letting it go for about three weeks. I live in the southeast and we have seen a lot of rain daily for about the last 3-4 weeks. I was away on vacation for about 12 days which included two weekends. My son was supposed to mow, but due to his work schedule and the rain schedule he couldn't. Last weekend I tried, but it rained Friday night about midnight and everything was still soaked come morning. Then it started raining about 10 o'clock Saturday and I couldn't get to it. Well a new weekend is here and today it's dry and I needed to jump on it. I got up, had a bowl of cereal and milk and a cup of coffee and used my push mower to cut the grass. Now as you can imagine, the grass is quite tall. I live in a rural area, no subdivision, and I have a mixture of Bahia, Bermuda, St. Augustine grasses and weeds. My lot size is approx 20,000 sq feet with about 2500 sq feet of house and driveway. So, I mowed about 17,500 sq feet with a push mower with grasses and weeds ranging from 8"-18" tall. I purposely did not hydrate thru the mowing process and monitored myself with a pulse Oximeter when I needed to refuel the mower. The temperature today when I started was 83 degrees F, and 86 degrees F when I finished. It took me a total of one hour and forty minutes with no rest breaks, except the few minutes to refuel. I was wearing a ball cap, cargo shorts, hiking shoes (not boots), and cotton socks and T-shirt. I did have on some ear and eye protection as well. I did not look at the time when I refueled, but did refuel three times.
Findings: when done, I put away my mower and came inside to the A/C. I went and took a shower. My clothes were literally soaked. My shirt I could wring out some drops of sweat. After the shower, I compared my weight to my weight I took when I arose this morning, before breakfast. Before mowing it was 194.4 and after mowing it is 191.2. So, I lost 3.2 pounds in body weight which equals about 1.5% reduction (if I'm doing my math correct). My pulse continued to increase each time I checked it. When I started it was 73 bpm (after fueling and starting the mower) and at the end, it was 122 bpm. My O2 sats remained normal the whole time varying from 98-99%. What I did notice, and continue to see even now as I type, is my motor skills are slightly diminished and my thought process is slightly off as well. I can think, but sometimes I had to think about words as they weren't "flowing" well if you know what I mean. I can make decisions, but have made several typing errors with misspelled words. I have a headache due to the dehydration. I am slowly replenishing my fluids with water and cooling myself in the A/C.
Bottom line....It doesn't take much dehydration to start seeing effects on your body. You need to have protocols, or at least be thinking about this when exercising, patrolling, working around your AO or heck, even at the range if running drills. I wasn't wearing BA, chest rig, BDU's or carrying a 30# backpack, so think of having your gear on and go out on a 2 hour patrol in the heat. After doing this little experiment I will be discussing things with my group on hydration when out on patrols and when around the AO working. Remember, everyone will feel the effects differently, so your group is only as good/fast as your weakest member. Hydration needs to be on the mind of all while hiking, patrolling, running drills, etc. Everyone needs to be reminding others to drink, drink, and drink some more even before you are thirsty.
When I'm fully hydrated and feeling better, I'll post some things about other heat emergencies.
Hope this helps.
How do we lose fluids? There are many ways in which the body can lose fluids, breathing, sweating and urinating, with sweating the main one we need to pay attention to. When we sweat the body is trying to maintain the core body temperature to approx. 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37-38 degrees Celsius). As soon as we start to do anything that raises our body temperature the body generates heat which in turn needs to be dissipated so to not heat our body core. The body then begins to sweat. The sweat then evaporates and begins to cools us. If we sweat excessively, without replacing fluids, we will begin to become dehydrated. Mild dehydration can cause a decrease in performance and possibly a decrease in judgement skills. Your body will want to slow down, to decrease the workload which in turn would decrease the energy being produced which decreases the heat that needs to be dissipated. So, essentially the body will try and regulate itself.
I did a little experiment today, I guess that's the scientist in me. I needed to mow my yard after letting it go for about three weeks. I live in the southeast and we have seen a lot of rain daily for about the last 3-4 weeks. I was away on vacation for about 12 days which included two weekends. My son was supposed to mow, but due to his work schedule and the rain schedule he couldn't. Last weekend I tried, but it rained Friday night about midnight and everything was still soaked come morning. Then it started raining about 10 o'clock Saturday and I couldn't get to it. Well a new weekend is here and today it's dry and I needed to jump on it. I got up, had a bowl of cereal and milk and a cup of coffee and used my push mower to cut the grass. Now as you can imagine, the grass is quite tall. I live in a rural area, no subdivision, and I have a mixture of Bahia, Bermuda, St. Augustine grasses and weeds. My lot size is approx 20,000 sq feet with about 2500 sq feet of house and driveway. So, I mowed about 17,500 sq feet with a push mower with grasses and weeds ranging from 8"-18" tall. I purposely did not hydrate thru the mowing process and monitored myself with a pulse Oximeter when I needed to refuel the mower. The temperature today when I started was 83 degrees F, and 86 degrees F when I finished. It took me a total of one hour and forty minutes with no rest breaks, except the few minutes to refuel. I was wearing a ball cap, cargo shorts, hiking shoes (not boots), and cotton socks and T-shirt. I did have on some ear and eye protection as well. I did not look at the time when I refueled, but did refuel three times.
Findings: when done, I put away my mower and came inside to the A/C. I went and took a shower. My clothes were literally soaked. My shirt I could wring out some drops of sweat. After the shower, I compared my weight to my weight I took when I arose this morning, before breakfast. Before mowing it was 194.4 and after mowing it is 191.2. So, I lost 3.2 pounds in body weight which equals about 1.5% reduction (if I'm doing my math correct). My pulse continued to increase each time I checked it. When I started it was 73 bpm (after fueling and starting the mower) and at the end, it was 122 bpm. My O2 sats remained normal the whole time varying from 98-99%. What I did notice, and continue to see even now as I type, is my motor skills are slightly diminished and my thought process is slightly off as well. I can think, but sometimes I had to think about words as they weren't "flowing" well if you know what I mean. I can make decisions, but have made several typing errors with misspelled words. I have a headache due to the dehydration. I am slowly replenishing my fluids with water and cooling myself in the A/C.
Bottom line....It doesn't take much dehydration to start seeing effects on your body. You need to have protocols, or at least be thinking about this when exercising, patrolling, working around your AO or heck, even at the range if running drills. I wasn't wearing BA, chest rig, BDU's or carrying a 30# backpack, so think of having your gear on and go out on a 2 hour patrol in the heat. After doing this little experiment I will be discussing things with my group on hydration when out on patrols and when around the AO working. Remember, everyone will feel the effects differently, so your group is only as good/fast as your weakest member. Hydration needs to be on the mind of all while hiking, patrolling, running drills, etc. Everyone needs to be reminding others to drink, drink, and drink some more even before you are thirsty.
When I'm fully hydrated and feeling better, I'll post some things about other heat emergencies.
Hope this helps.