Be careful with the heat

[Glenn]

Be careful with the heat.  Next 10 days here are 87*F (30.5*C) or above.  And summer just started.

There are several threads on the site as how to deal with the heat. 

And do not forget the animals as they need relief from the heat also.   

[George N. M.]

It is real easy to get involved with what you are doing and forget to keep hydrated.  Next thing you know everything tips to one side and you go over.  Not a good thing if you are holding a piece of hot iron.  Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.  And watch your electrolytes too, Gatoraid and other sports drinks are your friends.  And once you have had heat stroke you are more susceptible to it in the future.  Heat stroke can kill and cause brain damage.  It is a subtle injury that can sneak up on you and is much more serious than some folk realize.

Here, this has not been a problem this summer.  We are having a cool, damp summer.  The highs are in the 60s and 70s with it going down into the 40s at night.  I don't think we have broken 80 yeat here at the house, probably have at the Laramie Airport, the official recording station, but we are about 400' higher and a few degrees cooler.  Had a thunderstorm pass through a bit ago and the current temp is in the 50s.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Les L]

I just checked the temperature in my shop, 102 with high humidity, I have 3 fans running that only moving hot air around. I have to shut down all forging by 11:00 am and do easy tasks in front of a fan the rest of the day, while drinking plenty water.

I hope everyone pays attention to the advice Glenn and George N.M. have given and realize that it’s too late when you think you can keep going instead of shutting down heavy work and do something easier.
Mother Nature is meaner than any person ever born, so don’t think you can win if you go against her. She will sneak up and get you any time you ignore a hazard or drop your guard.

[BillyBones]

Put the gatorade in the freezer for a bit to get slushy. That is my preferred way of having one. 

[Frosty]

An old desert rat boy scout troop trick to tell if dehydration is sneaking up on you is to pinch the back of your hand. The skin should "snap" back into position, if it stakes a second or more to return or doesn't you're dehydrating or dehydrated. I agree, it's best to keep ahead of dehydration but there's a such thing as too much electrolytes, we've spent a few million years evolving to drink water not a mix of sugar and salt. 

If you've gone a long time drinking water and it doesn't seem to quench your thirst a bottle of electrolytes might be what you need, especially if there are salt stains on your shirt. Another good indication is the color of your urine, if it's clear white you might need salt. 

I don't drink Gatorade or similar, I'm diabetic and don't need a shot of sugar every time I take a drink and I don't even know if it comes sugar free, if so it's not an electrolyte beverage. If I need salt I'll eat a dozen potato chips or lick a sprinkle off my palm.  

Of course that's my experience and take on it. What with and how you deal with staying hydrated is your call.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Steve Sells]

as a type 2 myself I drink Body Armor. the sugar free and its low carb

[lary]

I'm not diabetic but I cut out sugar about a year and half ago. I avoid drinking calories. This electrolyte powder has helped eliminate the evening leg cramps. The flavor is strong enough I mix in more water than the instructions suggest. Salt has been demonized so much yet it is essential.

[Frosty]

Being water soluble the body can flush excess easily provided you're hydrated. I haven't had a cramp since I started taking magnesium daily, forget or run out and I start getting leg cramps at night. I take one 400mg every morning, sometimes another at lunch if I'm really exerting myself. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Back in the '60s I worked several summers at Inland Steel in East Chicago, IN.  Because of the frequency of heat injuries in the summer in a steel mill in IN the drinkig water had salt added to it and there were salt table dispensers at every drinking fountain.  One of my jobs was about once per week I had to dump several hundred pounds of salt into the brine tank which added the salt to the drinking water.  The drinking water was nice and cold, being refrigerated, but did tast salty.  Adding it to dry lemonade or iced tea mix pretty well masked the saltiness.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[JHCC]

22 hours ago, Frosty said:

I don't drink Gatorade or similar, [...] and I don't even know if it comes sugar free

They do, and it tastes horrible. There are better alternatives.

I'm a big fan of switchell (aka haymaker's punch): water, molasses, cider vinegar, and ginger.

[BillyBones]

Frosty, they do indeed make sugar free gatorade. Now about the electrolyte levels i have no clue. My Dad is diabetic as well and he swears by the fruit flavored water, Clear Fruit i believe is the brand he drinks. 

I have not bought any for years, about 25 now as my youngest is turning 28 this year, but what about Pedialyte? 

My middle daughter her favorite drink when she is out in the hot sun in 95* temps is milk. Yes milk, i cannot imagine how sick i would get drinking milk in the heat. 

I will stick to lightly sweetened tea with lemon and maybe a twist of fresh mint. 

[Frosty]

What a person drinks to stay hydrated is up to them, not me. I drink water or Splenda sweetened ice tea. Until the diabetes became acute I drank unsweetened ice tea and had since before I can remember. We lived in the high desert, 100sf in the summer was normal with the summer average probably mid-high 90s and desert dry. We drank water and there were usually salty snacks available if you needed salt. 

I'm not taking shots at anybody who likes an electrolyte beverage, I prefer some flavor over plain water but that's all it is to me, flavoring. I have a couple of those little squeeze bottles to flavor water but they're not of a suitable strength for a 20oz. bottle of water and I don't need a beverage strong enough to drink ME! 

I don't know of anybody outside of a hospital, 1st. aid class (Dad was an instructor and I was his demo dummy) and EMTs who knew about electrolytes. The only thing the average desert rat knew was what you saw on Dr. Kildare or Rescue 8 and they didn't do anything but bag the victim. 

The only times I've "consumed" electrolytes is when I've been bagged in an ambulance or in the hospital and that's as much to administer meds as it is to keep a person hydrated and eliminate a chance of choking on a drink. 

Yeah, we learned about various degrees of electrolyte imbalance (heat stroke) in Boy Scouts and 1st. aid classes and the solution was a salt tablet dissolved under the tongue if the victim isn't lucid enough to swallow or salt licked from a clean palm. Oh, a little salt under the tongue works too. Recognizing the symptoms of (heat stroke) were drummed into us. Salt and water were the cure. Every once in a while all summer long stories of a Boy Scout administering first aid to a heat stoke victim were  in the news a couple few times. Girl Scouts took the same courses but were never in the news for anything. 

My free of charge opinion for what it's worth, is the current "need" for electrolytes to stay hydrated is the result of a very successful marketing campaign. If it were a REAL necessity evolution would have chlorinated our end of the gene pool a couple few million years ago.

Of course that's just my opinion I could be wrong. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

John, do you have the recipie/proportions for switchel?  It sounds interesting.

Thx.

G

[JHCC]

Take a quart mason jar, add about 1/8-1/4 cup of dark molasses, an equal amount of apple cider vinegar, and a tablespoon or two of ground ginger. Add about a cup of boiling water and swirl everything around to dissolve. Top up with water. This can be consumed either refrigerated or at room temperature. If you want to be fancy, add the juice of half a lemon and/or use fresh ginger.

Like all historical recipes, this can be tweaked to suit one's individual taste. If you're using ground ginger, give the jar a good shake before drinking, so that the last swig or two isn't too gritty.

[Frosty]

Sounds good. I'd have to go with ginger root instead of dried, the difference in flavor is distinct and IMHO better.  Have you tried fresh? What are your favorite tweaks?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I used to take salt tablets, until "they" banned them. Now I carry a few Medi-Lite electrolyte packets and take with a bottle of water or thermos of black coffee.

 

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails.

[Frosty]

Banned? by who(m?) and where were they banned? I just called the local Fred Meyer and they can be found on the supplement and first aide isles.

The last thing I'm going to say in this thread is. Drink what you like. 

Frosty The Lucky.