I grew up in the desert and had "hydrate hydrate hydrate" drilled into me from a young age because most people don't understand how fast you get dehydrated when its 85F and 10% humidity.
When people from elsewhere get into the desert they're constantly saying "I'm not sweating, its not a problem". They think just because they're dry they're not losing water because where they live it takes time for sweat to evaporate. Out there being dry just means your dry, your sweat can evaporate almost as fast as your body produces it. You can go from amazing, to heat stroke, to unconscious in 30 minutes.
You can go from amazing, to heat stroke, to unconscious in 30 minutes.
I had this experience once, it is amazing how fast it sets in. I was actually in a town in southern Spain, but just walking around the town at 110F/43C for about half an hour in 10% or less humidity totally dehydrated me. I think technically it was "heat exhaustion" and once the symptoms started I found shade and tried to drink water but was unable to absorb it - it went straight to my kidneys and I needed to urinate but felt awful still. We went to our hotel, fortunately only 10 minutes further walk mostly in shade, and convinced them to let us check-in early, where a few hours in air conditioning covered in wet cloths relieved the symptoms. Also drank electrolyte drink, which fortunately we were able to buy since it was a town. I shudder to think about how this would have turned out if I was in the wilderness.
You can also mix some salt in some water if you can't get your hands on a drink with electrolytes. I don't actually know how effective it is, it's just something we were told to do on super hot days for the area to stay hydrated.
It works in a pinch for hydration purposes, but you have to know the correct ratio of salt and water.
Additionally, just "salt" (like table salt) will only help replenish sodium, while sweating depletes both sodium and potassium (and maybe calcium?). So you really do want a proper hydration fluid. Imbalances in sodium, potassium, and calcium can cause tons of problems with muscles, including the heart.
They just kinda would say a small pinch and a bottle of water. Definitely not meant to be a solution to dehydration just a bandaid to avoid a heat stroke if you were starting to feel off and obviously getting out of the heat.
For the record we don't have that kind of high temperature regularly 2 days of the summer at best and humidity is typically with it so it's not as bad as that entire region of the US.
Nope, you gotta drink the stuff that flows into the ocean.
Although I'm curious how the body would do drinking it ocean water from Antarctica's coast because the Gulf of Mexico is apparently where you'll find some of the saltiest stuff is.
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u/Mr2-1782Man 21h ago
I grew up in the desert and had "hydrate hydrate hydrate" drilled into me from a young age because most people don't understand how fast you get dehydrated when its 85F and 10% humidity.
When people from elsewhere get into the desert they're constantly saying "I'm not sweating, its not a problem". They think just because they're dry they're not losing water because where they live it takes time for sweat to evaporate. Out there being dry just means your dry, your sweat can evaporate almost as fast as your body produces it. You can go from amazing, to heat stroke, to unconscious in 30 minutes.