Dehydration prevention advice?

[SStrecker]

In reading the threads on DCS dive accidents, the subject of "dehydration" comes up again & again, as a contributing factor. I was wondering if SB regulars have any suggestions or guidelines on the quantity & type of liquids to be consumed. Fresh water seems like a natural choice. However, has any consideration been given to sports performance drinks, that claim to address issues of electrolytes and carbohydrates? Would that make products like Gatorade, a better choice? Do you have any recommended practices on volume of liquids that consumed on a range of SI situations? Obvious it is possible to drink too much for comfort; not to mention having awkward peeing timing & location concerns?

 

[Dive_Girl PNW]

Before a big dive weekend - I make it a goal to drink a gallon of water (regular old water - no need to be fancy) each day for five days preceding the weekend. If I drink coffe, soda or alcohol during those day, I match each ounce with an additional 2ozs of water.

Often people make the mistake of tryhing to "hydrate" the day before of the day of a dive.

That's just my personal rule of thumb.

 

[AndyNZ]

Sports drinks are, in my opinion, a waste of money. There was a classic law suit a few years ago in the UK where one manufacturer was sued as their drink was actually a diuretic!!

In my youth I was obsessed with running marathons - we used to make our own "electrolyte" drinks. Just a spoonful of sugar and a spoonful of salt into warm water. Tasted foul, but at the end of the day it's pretty close to what you get with Gatorade etc at a fraction of the cost.

As Dive_Girl has pointed out, hydration is really a way of life - not a quick fix the day before or day of a dive. I aim to drink at least four litres of water a day (in summer, three i winter) as well as eating "water rich foods" (salads, tomatoes, avocados.... easy when you've got an avo tree in the garden!).

 

[jeckyll]

I agree that trying to hydrate right before any sports activity is not smart. I used to do alot of serious mountain biking, and I would always make sure that I started my hydration well in advance of any big rides (read: days, not hours ).

As far as gatoraid vs. water, I drink alot of water at work. Just keep a 500 ml bottle by my desk and keep sipping .... and sipping ... and sipping ... you get the idea. But when it comes to post excercise drinks, I keep some gatoraid handy. Someone has to support corporate america

Bjorn

 

[CameronMartz]

In reading the threads on DCS dive accidents, the subject of "dehydration" comes up again & again, as a contributing factor. I was wondering if SB regulars have any suggestions or guidelines on the quantity & type of liquids to be consumed. Fresh water seems like a natural choice. However, has any consideration been given to sports performance drinks, that claim to address issues of electrolytes and carbohydrates? Would that make products like Gatorade, a better choice? Do you have any recommended practices on volume of liquids that consumed on a range of SI situations? Obvious it is possible to drink too much for comfort; not to mention having awkward peeing timing & location concerns?

Sports drinks are *not* electrolyte replacement drinks, and you do not usually see them being marketed that way anymore. They are water and carbohydrate replacement drinks- the electrolytes are there to aid in the absorbtion of the water and carbohydrates under exercise conditions.

Your body's stores of electrolytes, that are constantly replenished by the food you eat, are plenty to cover you for as much as 3 hours of intense sweating. If you were to attempt to keep up with sodium loss with Gatorade, for example, you'd need to drink several gallons an hour.

When diving, we become dehydrated in three ways, primarily:
1. Exposure to the sun and sweating on the surface. This is the one area where you might be losing sodium, but again, you'd have to be sweating a lot for hyponatremia to be an issue.
2. Breathing dehumidified gas. Our lungs rapidly hydrate each breath to 100% humidity, and that water is lost each time we exhale. This is a process that does not really affect your electrolytes, but it can be a big draw on your hydration level.
3. Pee reflex. Our baroreceptors get tricked into thinking our blood volume is too high, so we pee. Again, this should not result in loss of electrolytes to the degree we should be worried.

There is one problem that sports drinks present us when used without exercising- the carbohydrates can cause rebound hypoglycemia, which in turn, can cause a reduction in blood flow to peripheral tissues. This is in addition to the other symptoms of hypoglycemia- poor concentration, dizziness, etc., that can affect the safety of your dive.

People differ on their susceptiblity to rebound hypoglycemia. Many people are very resistant, though others are not. While fitness helps, genetics seem to play a larger role in this unpredictable phenomenon.

In any event, water is what a diver's body needs to maintain good capillary blood flow. If you think you are in need of sodium, eat something salty rather than play with your blood sugar by pounding a sport drink.

Cameron

 

[ajames54]

Simplest way of avoiding dehydration ..listen to your bladder.. if you don't have to pee you do have to drink.

things that help (in my not so scientific opinion) .. Try Drinking V-8 on a regular basis it has all the electrolites in most "sports" drinks and is actually good for you. Be careful which fruits/juces you eat/drink, some are diuretics, cranberry is really bad, supposedly pineapple is not too far behind.

 

[TSandM]

This is probably going to be a lot more than anybody wants to know about this . . .

The body basically regulates two things about its fluids: total volume, and concentration of solutes. (For simplicity, and because it's the biggest one involved in regulation, I'm going to call solutes "salt".) Rather counterintuitively, total volume is regulated by the flux of salt, and concentration of salts is regulated by the flux of water.

The system that adjusts the rate at which water is lost is a very fast system. If you, for example, drink alcohol or caffeine, both of which reduce the levels of the hormone that causes you to retain water, or eat salt, which increases it, you can see the effect within fifteen minutes. Therefore, there is little rationale for starting hydrating with water days before an event.

The system that adjusts the loss of salt is a little slower, but still capable of adjusting to changing conditions fairly quickly (minutes to hours).

If you want to maximize your volume status, therefore, it is ideal to drink generous quantities of fluids which do not contain diuretics (no caffeine or alcohol) and consume a little bit of something salty. This is the rationale behind "electrolyte drinks", which contain water and salt . . . but the actual makeup of such drinks is sometimes faulty, in that they are MORE concentrated than body fluids, and therefore leave you water-poor. Better to drink water or juices and eat a few potato chips!

In the absence of a diuretic, urine specific gravity is a good indicator of what the body thinks of your hydration status. Since most of us don't carry urine test strips around with us, urine which is light in color and being produced in quantity is a good gross measuring stick.

 

[LavaSurfer]

I am in the plain old water camp.
If you eat decent food you are getting enough electrlytes there.
Like dive girl stated, start early on your hydration plan but in reality if you are living healthy you are hydrating every day and need not even think about it except on a plane or during extreem excersise.

 

[Wayward Son]

I firmly believe in staying hydrated. It's a daily thing, but I do make an extra effort at dive time to make sure I get plenty.

Mostly water. Coffee is a diuretic, but even for casual drinkers there is a small net gain with it. I have read about studies that indicate that for habitual coffee drinkers it is not that much of a diuretic. So I do drink some coffee on the mornings of dives, but I also make a point to suck down plenty of water. It's not unusual for me to drink a 20oz coffee when I hit the road (it's over 2 hrs to the dive boat), then 2 bottles of water before the 1st dive, with another bottle during the SI, and a 4th bottle after that dive, & yet another after the 3rd dive if we do one.

Gatorade, Poweraid, any of those I think would be fine. Just make sure you get enough in you. You should be peeing regularly & it should be clear & light in color, for a crude way to evaluate.

 

[pickens_46929]

Wow lots of stuff to absorb here from a technical / biological stand point.

So I'll just add my $0.02 as to what I do... I drink (ok try to drink) at least 2 of the bottles of water that fit into my cup holder on the way to the dive site... so something like 24 to 32 oz. of water... then I drink about a bottle's worth of water after each dive... don't worry too much about the salt intake and I don't shy away from munching on people's chips that they pass around either... (I personally bring candy like jolly ranchers or lifesaver gummi savers)

I judge hydration by 2 things:

If I'm not warming my wetsuit... I'm not hydrated enough.

And, just like TSandM said... if it's not colorless or nearly so, I'm not getting enough.