Avoid Summer Dehydration

  Here we are in the middle of summer 2014. The weather has been a little crazy. We’ve had multiple thunderstorms in the northeast, and in my neighborhood we’ve lost power a couple of times. It’s still better than snow and ice, though, so I’m not complaining. Especially not after this past winter.

 One of my kids is about to start her senior year of high school, so this summer we have started visiting colleges. A few days ago we were walking around touring a college campus. It was a beautiful warm sunny day. Glancing around at the dormitories and the other parents, one of the mothers seemed a bit uncomfortable. She was wiping her forehead a lot and looked very pale. She said something to her husband and suddenly collapsed. Fortunately he caught her and lowered her gently to the ground. She was unconscious for a minute or two. I walked over, told him I was a doctor, knelt down, and asked him if she had a history of seizures. I also asked if anything like this had ever happened to her before. No, she didn’t have seizures, but yes, she had fainted before in hot weather. She had a bottle of water sticking out of her bag, so I told him to put some on her forehead. The daughter of this couple asked if she should call 911 and we said yes. Since we were all visitors, we had no idea where we were. Fortunately the student tour guide realized there was a problem and came over. She called the campus police. During this time the woman began to wake up. She started telling us she was all right and she tried to sit up. (Take my advice. If you pass out and find yourself lying on the ground, don’t try to sit or stand up right away.) Eventually she was able to sit, and she took a few sips of water. She stood up with some help, and walked to some shade under a tree. There she sat waiting with her family for the police to arrive. This summer you may be visiting colleges, hanging out at amusement parks, hiking, lying on the beach, etc. The place you don’t want to spend even a minute of your summer is in an infirmary or emergency department getting treated for dehydration! How do you avoid dehydration? For one thing, you can’t wait until you feel thirsty to start drinking. Our bodies are 50% to 70% water. The average woman has less water than the average man. This is because women’s bodies have more fatty tissue which contains less water than lean tissue. Dehydration occurs when we lose 1% to 2% of our body weight. For young adults, thirst may be an accurate guide of when to drink fluids. Unfortunately by the time we reach our late 30s, our thirst indicator has become delayed. You don’t want to wait until you feel thirsty. By then you may have already lost 2%, even 3%, of your body weight. Meanwhile, your mental and physical abilities can be impaired when you are just 1% dehydrated. Instead, follow these tips:

• Drink water throughout the day. Water is what you’re losing. You sweat in the heat and that cools you down. That’s how you’re losing water.
• Sick of water? Drink all natural juice with no added sugar. It provides important nutrients along with hydration.
• Stay away from sugar. Sweetened fruit juices, soda, and beer often contain a lot of sugar. In addition to packing on calories that you aren’t even aware of, the sugars give your stomach and intestines more work to do. Because of that, those fluids don’t get absorbed into your body as quickly. They don’t provide optimal hydration. (At the same time they make you fat!)
• Alcohol will often make you more dehydrated. Not only that, but it can make you less likely to realize you’re dehydrated. If you have to have that cocktail while you’re lounging on the beach or by the pool, drink a bottle of water before the next one. (And let’s face it — who doesn’t like a well mixed margarita, mojito, pina colada, glass of sangria, _____________ (fill in your alcoholic beverage of choice), while enjoying the summer sun with friends and family?)
• Want to know if you’re drinking enough? Look at your urine. That’s right. Check out your pee! If it’s light, you’re all right. If it’s dark, start drinking.
• Coffee is not as dehydrating as we once thought. You can drink it, but it isn’t the best fluid to rehydrate quickly. Drink water!

Remember, your brain doesn’t work well when you’re dehydrated. Taking care of your body will take care of your brain. And you don’t want to miss even a moment of this summer being treated for dehydration!

Every day…..Say No To Stroke!

AB Fraser, MD