Hydration

[FLOUNDER]

Everybody knows that the best and easiest way to help prevent decompression sickness is to keep hydrated. I was wondering how much I should be drinking on a daily basis.
Thanks

[dry suit diver]

Originally Posted by FLOUNDER

Everybody knows that the best and easiest way to help prevent decompression sickness is to keep hydrated. I was wondering how much I should be drinking on a daily basis.
Thanks

minimum of 8 glasses a day.
If diving in a warm climate you need more as you will sweat more out of you, a fairly reasonable guide is the colour of your urine. clear to pale yellow is OK sunflower and darker is dehydrated. remember if you are dehydrated due to sweating then you ma well need to replace the salt you have leached out of you, otherwise it is cramp city.

I try to consciuosly drink 2 litres per day when diving and about 1-1.5 normally.

[SoggyFox]

the great game, how much should i drink to how badly will i need to pee during the last 10 minutes of stops.

swiftly followed by the fast removal of drysuit and the loud ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[uwila]

as has been said, it's the colour of your urine which has to be the guide. Also, quantity is a good measure. If you don't pass water copiously every 1-2 hours, with the pale straw colour already mentioned, then you are not properly hydrated.

If you're diving, then 2 litres per day is probably not enough. Consider that the air you breathe on the dive is very dry (most of the moisture in it was lost when it was compressed) and is also very cold (it looses temp when it expands in the 1st stage). This cold, dry air goes into your warm, moist lungs and absorbs a lot of water which you then breathe out. From memory, I believe that we can loose up to 2l of water on a single dive in this way, but I suspect this is only if you're properly hydrated in the first place!

Most of us are moderately dehydrated most of the time, and it just gets worse when we're on holiday.

[Dick Barwell]

There are not many people these days who are not dehydrated.......probably down to coffee,tea,fizzies,and alcohol nearly all of which dehydrate you.
The Health check guru's are on to a good one with a health check that shows you are dehydrated......... because something like an estimated 70% of the population are?

The 'doctors' told me 2 litres of WATER a day minimum, and to watch the urine colour, nearly colourless is good!!! (All came about after potential liver failure due to infection!!-I was expected to drink 4 litres a day !!!)
Oh and IMHO drink regularly and well in advance .......10 minutes before getting in the water is not much good UNLESS YOU INVEST IN NAPPIES!!

In practise the pull of a few beers with the dive crew the night before ruins good intent ..........2 pints of water before the ZZZZZZZZZ sorts it (or it might be the beers so bleeding close to water anyway?)

Oh Check on the 'salt content' of the water dispensers that proliferate offices these days...........quite disturbing!!!!

db

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by dry suit diver

minimum of 8 glasses a day.

Now I always struggle with this type of advice because I never know whether it refers to the shot glasses in my cupboard or the litre ones?

Originally Posted by dry suit diver

If diving in a warm climate you need more as you will sweat more out of you, a fairly reasonable guide is the colour of your urine. clear to pale yellow is OK sunflower and darker is dehydrated. remember if you are dehydrated due to sweating then you ma well need to replace the salt you have leached out of you, otherwise it is cramp city.

I try to consciuosly drink 2 litres per day when diving and about 1-1.5 normally.

Now that is more like it, proper advice with clear quantities and guidelines.

Cheers, Paul

[Marky Mark]

On the subject of tea, some companies now say on their packaging that their tea counts towards the 2 litres you should drink, is it that the tea is less diuretic or or they lieing skumsuckers.

What about Red Bush (tea)?

Is there a spell cheque on this thing?

[EdHornby]

tea and coffee don't count - they both have diuretic properties, all soft drinks are the same (regardless of what the Coke company says about diet caffiene free zero whatever - it's all rubbish that aint good for you)

mango and apple juice are great as they are electrolytes and will replace the sugars

but beware this '8 glasses a day' stuff, the research that this is based on isn't as conclusive as the water companies would have you believe. Remember that food has a part to play in hydration, fruit and veg especially; so the levels are diffeernt for different people, but the urine test is the best one, and you need to drink regularly (for hot countries regular intake is very important)

[Okeanos]

There are so many factors to look at, the only answer is the colour of your urine, as said above it should be pale.

After exercise you generate a lot of toxins and they need to be flushed out, so you would need even more fluid, not just to replace the ones expired.

I carry a 1L bottle of weak squash with me everywhere (mixed with 25% fruit juice, red grape at the mo), sometimes it gets refilled 4 times a day, sometimes only once.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by EdHornby

tea and coffee don't count - they both have diuretic properties, all soft drinks are the same (regardless of what the Coke company says about diet caffiene free zero whatever - it's all rubbish that aint good for you)

This used to be the conventional wisdom on the subject, until it was pointed out that some people only drink these things (I mean exclusively). Conventional wisdom would mean that they should be dead from dehydration, and they're not. Research is on-going.

Cheers, Paul