Hot weather , humidity & salt intake

[superal]

I have had a few incidents recently of hand cramps that occurred whilst working outside or playing golf in hot & humid weather . After Google searching I find that the over 45 year olds  are more prone to health problems in hot temperatures . I wear the appropriate clothes , hat , sun cream etc and drink water every 20 minutes or so . However I am reading that because I am sweating the skin is losing many minerals and the intake of water alone is not helping . The body needs to replace the lost salts and drinking water alone is flushing out  important minerals . So the search showed that a salt intake plus a sports drink such as Gatorade should be taken . My cramps were caused by drinking water only . The UK medics discourage the addition of salt intake but does that rule apply to hot climates ?

                  

[hugh2121]

Recent research (can't remember which site I saw this on) indicate that salt free was a big error and now recommend adding salt to food or taking salt tablets. More so in hot climates.

[Tracyb]

Adding Salt, e.g. Sodium Chloride, does little to aid in replacing lost minerals which the body uses as electrolytes.  Sports drinks like Gatorade offer little more in terms of minerals but are better than salt.  Suggest looking at the ingredients of items such as pedialyte, which is an electrolyte replacement beverage for small children, you will find the type of electrolytes you should be replacing when dehydrated.  Salt alone may cause more problems than it is worth!  

[Anythingleft?]

Go to any pharmacist and get a box of electrolyte powders in the sachets, very cheap, and for me at least, very effective. Had terrible headaches and energy issues while drinking lots of water but after using these no problems since


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[Pinot]

18 minutes ago, Anythingleft? said:

Go to any pharmacist and get a box of electrolyte powders in the sachets, very cheap, and for me at least, very effective. Had terrible headaches and energy issues while drinking lots of water but after using these no problems since


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I go to Supercheap and buy DeChamp Electrolight Sports drink by the box (120baht). I swim a mile a day and I can't complete half of the swim without drinking two big glasses of water with DeChamps. I also drink another couple of glasses of water right before I start. I flood my system or my feet cramp. I can also feel it in my hands. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with leg cramps and have to drink the sports drink.

 

DeChamps is much better for you than Gatorade. Take a look at what's in Gatorade some time. There are a number of different kinds and you can go with and there is the baby electrolyte version but it's more expensive. There are a number of electrolyte drinks available at 7/11 but the Dechamps is the way to go. Lots of sugar in many of the brands. 

 

The other thing that helps is Magnesium. There are a number of different kinds. I buy Magnesium Malate online from the US. Keep the order under $50 and you don't have to pay tax. It's expensive buying locally.  

 

One other thing that works is having a coconut. The juice has natural electrolytes. Available also at 7/11 is the coconut juice drink. Stay away from the added sugar variety. 

 

Potassium can also be a factor. Eat a banana or look at what foods are high in it. 

 

You need to hydrate for any activity in this climate. 

[Autonuaq]

Just add coconut to your diet and most problems are solved.

whole coconut is even cheaper then the stuff they sell to you and that only is a patch on a small issue.

Coconut you can get for 10 to 25 thb

The water and the meat. Both adding more to your health and recovery then only the small electrolyte problem.

 

There are many good receipts about drinks that you can make yourselves

 

Just do a search with:

make sport drinks

Already more then 17.100 hits.

Or search with

make your own isotonic sports drink.

Search with to understand what kind of drink you are to use with the following search:

Make your own sports drink - BBC news.

This explains when to use 

Isotonic Drinks

Or

Hypertonic Drinks

Or

Hypotonic Drink
 

Good luck.

Edited November 19, 2017 by Autonuaq
Forgot the explaination of the three types of drinks

[impulse]

1 hour ago, Tracyb said:

Adding Salt, e.g. Sodium Chloride, does little to aid in replacing lost minerals which the body uses as electrolytes.  Sports drinks like Gatorade offer little more in terms of minerals but are better than salt.  Suggest looking at the ingredients of items such as pedialyte, which is an electrolyte replacement beverage for small children, you will find the type of electrolytes you should be replacing when dehydrated.  Salt alone may cause more problems than it is worth!  

 

What's the thinking on sea salt, which (I would figure) matches the electrolyte content we evolved with? 

 

Seems sea salt is even more easily available here than refined NaCl.

 

 

[robertthebruce]

Don’t worry about Salt in Thailand.

 

its Spooned in like there is no tomorrow in all there Food...

 

plus, Soy Sauce, Which is just,liquid Salt......

 

 

[Ulic]

Drink coconut water instead of sports drinks.

[sometimewoodworker]

As a PADI professional I learned long ago from a doctor who specialised in hyperbaric medicine to drink mineral water as a minimum between meals. This stoped the need to dash to the toilet immediately after every dive.

 

If you drink the cheaper (pure) water when you exercise you drop the salt levels in your blood which your kidneys then bring back up by making eliminate water through urinating. 

 

So you dehydrate yourself and reduce the salts in your blood as some is lost through both urine and sweat.

[geisha]

Who can tell me the best mineral water that doesn't cost a fortune for daily drinking ? Are the regular waters, like Nestles, Minerai , no good ?

what is in these waters ?

[partington]

3 hours ago, Tracyb said:

Adding Salt, e.g. Sodium Chloride, does little to aid in replacing lost minerals which the body uses as electrolytes.  Sports drinks like Gatorade offer little more in terms of minerals but are better than salt.  Suggest looking at the ingredients of items such as pedialyte, which is an electrolyte replacement beverage for small children, you will find the type of electrolytes you should be replacing when dehydrated.  Salt alone may cause more problems than it is worth!  

This is completely contrary to basic human physiology. The primary mineral content of sweat, by far, is sodium (and chloride)  and this is most of what you lose when you sweat.

 

Replacing this with salt, that is common sodium chloride or table salt, is by far the most useful thing you can do.

 

Other important ions that are lost are potassium and magnesium, but these are lost in far lower amounts than salt, and hardly ever enough to cause problems of any sort.

 

[All of these are "electrolytes" , this simply means dissolved ions or charged particles, and sodium and chloride are by a very huge margin the most abundant electrolytes in the human body.]

 

It is sodium that is the crucial electrolyte, because if you lose sodium then your body gets rid of water to keep your plasma concentration of sodium at the right level, and this dehydrates you. It is sodium levels that the body is measuring to regulate this, so it is sodium that is crucial to replace.

 

This is central in sports medicine:  eg

J Sports Sci. 2004 Jan;22(1):57-63.
Fluid and electrolyte needs for preparation and recovery from training and
competition.
Shirreffs SM(1), Armstrong LE, Cheuvront SN.
Author information: 
(1)School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough
LE11 3TU, UK. [email protected]

"Other electrolytes

The importance of including magnesium in sports drinks has been the subject of much discussion. Magnesium is lost in sweat and many believe that this causes a reduction in plasma magnesium concentrations, which has been implicated in muscle cramp. Even though there can be a decline in plasma magnesium concentration during exercise, it is most likely to be due to compartmental fluid redistribution rather than to sweat loss. There does not, therefore, appear to be any good reason for including magnesium in post-exercise rehydration and recovery sports drinks.

Sodium is the most important electrolyte in terms of recovery after exercise. Without its replacement, water retention is hampered. Potassium is also included in sports drinks in concentrations similar to those in sweat. Although there is strong evidence for the inclusion of sodium, this is not the case with potassium. There is no evidence for the inclusion of any other electrolytes. "

 

So a drink with a comparatively large amount of salt and a little bit of dissolved magnesium and potassium ions is fine, ie Gatorade or a sachet of soluble electrolytes described above.

Edited November 19, 2017 by partington

[GTgrizzly]

I also suffer from cramps

Try some magnesium tablets, I take one per day and they work fine

Don't take to many or you will find yourself sitting on the toilet more than normal

Good luck

[Lincsman]

6 hours ago, Anythingleft? said:

Go to any pharmacist and get a box of electrolyte powders in the sachets, very cheap, and for me at least, very effective. Had terrible headaches and energy issues while drinking lots of water but after using these no problems since


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As Anythingleft said electrolytes work well, most golfers I know mix a packet up in a bottle water to help with the cramps.

Some taste better than others, try Royal D from 7-11 sold in single packets.

 

[thaiguzzi]

Just drink more Chang.

Sorted.

[elgenon]

I googled a comparison of the benefits of a sports drink with coconut water.The coconut won.

[superal]

Many years ago I worked through the night in a boiler house  in very hot conditions . At the end of the shift in the morning I was not well having sweated all night and felt almost lifeless . A nurse was called and I was given 2 bottles of salt water to drink . This did the trick and was OK in a short time . 

                   In these hotter climates where most of us sweat it must be asking a lot of our western bodies to continually replace the lost salt / nutrients and so a little help , as pointed out in these posts ,  has to be a good thing . Thanks to you all for some interesting information . 

[sometimewoodworker]

On 19/11/2017 at 5:03 PM, geisha said:

Who can tell me the best mineral water that doesn't cost a fortune for daily drinking ? Are the regular waters, like Nestles, Minerai , no good ?

what is in these waters ?

Minéré is OK, Tesco Mineral water is also OK, if you can find it in stock and is a little cheaper. They are the only 2 that I have found that are easy to find.

 

There is also a report that Chang are producing one, though I know nothing about it.

 

You will know if you are drastically low on salt with cramps, lassitude and headache.

 

To keep your potassium levels up, make sure to include banana in your diet.

Edited November 21, 2017 by sometimewoodworker

[sometimewoodworker]

On 19/11/2017 at 10:43 PM, thaiguzzi said:

Just drink more Chang.

Sorted.

You do know that it is a diuretic and will dehydrate you. But then of course you will think that the headache is only from the alcohol.