Post by Dive Bunnie on Aug 22, 2009 7:01:35 GMT
Dehydration really is a serious issue when it comes to diving. Put into very basic terms, if you don't have enough fluid in your blood, it becomes thicker and less fluid as it flows around your body. As a result, the gas exchanges that happen during diving, become less efficient and potentially can result in an increased risk of decompression sickness (the bends).
In fact here in Egypt, a high percentage of our decompression cases are as a direct result of dehydration, not of exceeding dive limits.
Ok, we do live in a desert, so even without diving it is very easy to start feeling quite rough if you don't drink enough water. Factor in the diving, and the fact that you generally use an extra litre of water per dive due to breathing bone dry compressed air, you could be asking for trouble if you do not drink enough water.
I have become victim of this on more than one occasion (no, not decompression sickness, but dehydration). I have never got to the severe stage, however twice now, over the last couple of years I have ended up having to take a day or two off work, simply because I had failed to keep hydrated, and ended up feeling completely rotten as a result.
The most recent was yesterday. I think over the past couple of weeks, I had got fed up with drinking rehydration salts (which have been proven to be even more beneficial than water) and kept thinking "I'm small so surely I don't need to drink this much" as it seemed that I was drinking more water than my colleagues.
Well, it soon bit be in the back.... as I ended up feeling sooo tired I could have slept for days, thirsty and scratchy eyed (you know that feeling when you get off a long haul flight). Total dehydration. It only took a day of relaxation, drinking (water and rehydration salts) to bring me back to normal, but it is a lesson learned.
Don't get me wrong, I had still been drinking a fairly large amount, just not enough, and not any rehydration salts for a couple of weeks.
I have since found out that, contrary to what you would think, children and smaller people actually need more water, as they tend to process it quicker!!! Ahh! That explains it.. I guess it is a surface area issue.. just like the fact that we tend to get cold quicker too...
So.. I am loaded up with my bottle of diluted rehydration salts (hmmm yummy) and have promised myself to drink them daily, at least for the rest of the summer.
In fact here in Egypt, a high percentage of our decompression cases are as a direct result of dehydration, not of exceeding dive limits.
Ok, we do live in a desert, so even without diving it is very easy to start feeling quite rough if you don't drink enough water. Factor in the diving, and the fact that you generally use an extra litre of water per dive due to breathing bone dry compressed air, you could be asking for trouble if you do not drink enough water.
I have become victim of this on more than one occasion (no, not decompression sickness, but dehydration). I have never got to the severe stage, however twice now, over the last couple of years I have ended up having to take a day or two off work, simply because I had failed to keep hydrated, and ended up feeling completely rotten as a result.
The most recent was yesterday. I think over the past couple of weeks, I had got fed up with drinking rehydration salts (which have been proven to be even more beneficial than water) and kept thinking "I'm small so surely I don't need to drink this much" as it seemed that I was drinking more water than my colleagues.
Well, it soon bit be in the back.... as I ended up feeling sooo tired I could have slept for days, thirsty and scratchy eyed (you know that feeling when you get off a long haul flight). Total dehydration. It only took a day of relaxation, drinking (water and rehydration salts) to bring me back to normal, but it is a lesson learned.
Don't get me wrong, I had still been drinking a fairly large amount, just not enough, and not any rehydration salts for a couple of weeks.
I have since found out that, contrary to what you would think, children and smaller people actually need more water, as they tend to process it quicker!!! Ahh! That explains it.. I guess it is a surface area issue.. just like the fact that we tend to get cold quicker too...
So.. I am loaded up with my bottle of diluted rehydration salts (hmmm yummy) and have promised myself to drink them daily, at least for the rest of the summer.
