Stay Hydrated in Thailand

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ceejay
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Re: Stay Hydrated in Thailand

Post by ceejay »

fountainhall wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:15 pm I happened to notice this in the Hong Kong paper this morning. The 2nd para is of interest. I assume it refers to external body temperature. I wonder if anyone knows what precisely this means? Should we be carrying around wet towels to keep the skin moist in extreme heat?
It relates to the measurement of relative humidity. When RH = 100% the air is fully saturated with water and wet towels, sweat etc. cease to have any cooling effect because their water content cannot evaporate.

RH is conventionally measured by comparing the readings on two thermometers in an air stream. One is wet, the other dry. If the temperatures are the same, then RH is 100%. If they are not (it will always be the wet bulb that is cooler) then RH is worked out from the difference in a way that I cannot remember, and am too lazy to look up.

35 degrees wet bulb temperature is just that - the wet bulb shows 35 degrees. This can be 35 degrees in the shade with an RH of 100% or some higher temperature with an RH lower than 100% with sweating still having some cooling effect.

The machine I have used was rather fun to a schoolboy, which I was at the time. It was for all the world like an old fashioned football rattle with two mercury thermometers, one with its bulb wrapped in a wet rag, which you waved for a minute or or two around your head before taking the readings.
deanagam

Re: Stay Hydrated in Thailand

Post by deanagam »

windwalker wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 12:12 pm How far is a stone's throw? A "stone" weighs 14 lbs so it might be difficult to throw it very far.
It all depends whether you are David or Goliath...
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Re: Stay Hydrated in Thailand

Post by Dodger »

ceejay wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:02 pm
Jun wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:28 pm Whilst Ceejay is correct regarding replacement of electrolytes, a couple of other points need to be considered:

1 I checked the ingredients of one of the commonly sold Thai electrolyte packages: Glucose, sodium citrate, potassium, natural orange.
Effectively sugar, salt and some orange. [I presume the potassium is supplied as a compound, considering how it behaves as an element]

2 I would suspect the average person here gets more than enough sugar & salt from their standard diet and would be better off not touching electrolytes.
Quite possibly true most of the time. Not true if you are out of doors in very hot weather, sweating profusely, and drinking copious amounts of pure water. That leaches the electrolytes out of your system very quickly. You do not, generally, have much in the way of reserves because your body's homeostatic mechanisms eliminate any surplus pretty rapidly.
The potassium is usually present as chloride. It prevents muscle cramping.
I think this is exactly what my doctor friend in the U.S. meant when he first recommended electrolytes for use in Thailand - but never once recommended electrolytes for my family members living in Chicago.

Not being a chemist, I'll leave the better judgement on this to you and ceejay, but for years athletic coaches and their medical staffs have insisted on their athletes taking electrolytes during outdoor games played in hot climates for replenishment purposes (thus came the fame of Gatorade). For this reason, I have always thought that the same would apply to living in a scorching hot tropical climate like Thailand. Granted, most of the sports we play are indoors, but those deep knee bends, squat thrusts, and repetitious head bobbing at our age can be every bit as enduring.
Jun

Re: Stay Hydrated in Thailand

Post by Jun »

Dodger wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 2:55 pm .....for years athletic coaches and their medical staffs have insisted on their athletes taking electrolytes during outdoor games played in hot climates for replenishment purposes (thus came the fame of Gatorade). For this reason, I have always thought that the same would apply to living in a scorching hot tropical climate like Thailand.
Athletes get a LOT of exercise.
Your average Thai tourist or expat gets very little exercise. Roughly 70~80% of them eat too much (estimate). [ I get quite a bit of exercise, but not enough & eat slightly too much, so I count myself on the "bad" side]. I would think people in this category should drink water, not sugar drinks like electrolyte.

As for living in a scorching hot tropical country like Thailand, I imagine it makes a big difference how much time you spend out exercising in the tropical heat.
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ceejay
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Re: Stay Hydrated in Thailand

Post by ceejay »

I think you have rather missed my point, Jun. You are (correct me if I am wrong) talking about the average long term requirements of people in typical circumstances. Let me quote myself, from the very first sentence of my first post:
Water is not enough when outdoors in very hot weather.
I am not referring to normal or average circumstances. I am talking about circumstances where there is a risk, and people need to be aware of it.
You do not need to be exercising as such. One time I have been close to a real problem was at the Yasothon Rocket Festival. I was only walking around - you could not possibly call it exercise - but it was in an open field with no shade at all, and the temperature was over 40 degrees C. After about 3 hours of that, my companion told me I needed to go back to the hotel - he could see I was starting to have a problem.
Your body does not have electrolyte reserves. Your normal diet, the fact that you were OK when you got up in the morning, none of that matters. Go out into the heat for a few hours, drink pure water and you will need electrolyte replacement.
The one I use has 5gm of dextrose (glucose) in it. That represents about 1% of the average daily energy requirement of an average adult male. Sure, anyone who is overweight should not be consuming any sugars at all - but 1% is trivial. The problem that they have cannot be addressed by foregoing electrolyte solution when they need it.
(Incidentally, for healthy people, the glucose is not actually necessary. The original ORS formula was developed for patients with tropical dysentery and cholera who have requirements beyond electrolyte replacement)
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Re: Stay Hydrated in Thailand

Post by Dodger »

ceejay,

Thank you for clarifying this.

The electrolyte sachets I take daily also have about 5 mg. of dextrose which has never concerned me. I am not overweight, nor do I consume a lot of sugar in my normal diet.

I spend a considerable amount of time out-of-doors and used to feel drained all the time before taking electrolytes on a routine basis. In my earlier years in Thailand I would often feel a bit lethargic, low on energy, headaches, lack of appetite, etc., but after consciously increasing my daily water intake (3 liters/day) and started taking electrolytes, those symptoms have all but disappeared. To me, the proof is in the pudding.

Is there a particular brand of electrolytes that you would recommend over the others?
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Re: Stay Hydrated in Thailand

Post by ceejay »

Dodger wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 12:18 pm Is there a particular brand of electrolytes that you would recommend over the others?
Not really - the ingredients are pretty generic. Personally, I usually use X-L Oreda ORS powder, white packet with orange, blue and dark red print, which you can get from Watsons. I just mix that with half a litre of water in an old coke bottle.
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Re: Stay Hydrated in Thailand

Post by Up2u »

If you have diabetes like me then be careful of electrolytes with dextrose as they could raise blood sugar levels. For most people using electrolyte powders sold everywhere, when dehydrated is beneficial in replacing sodium and potassium lost through excessive sweating.
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