Beating the heat!

[benjo75]

Glacier Tek. Cooling vests. Takes about 15 minutes to re freeze. Lasts around 4 hours. I have 2 vests with 3 sets of packs. Around 60 degrees. People will laugh until they try them then they will have one in a few days. I used to love the heat but had a heat exhaustion about 10 years ago. I can still take the heat but don't enjoy it anymore and pour sweat constantly. The vest makes my day a lot more enjoyable. I'll usually work about 3 hours without it then around 10 am I'll dig the packs out of the ice chest ard put it on. Buys me 4 more hours of comfort. They'll re freeze in the ice chest on the way to another job if you don't have an extra set with you. I don't work in the snow without gloves and a jacket so why stay out there in the heat and be miserable if you don't have to.

It works good on those jobs where your brushing out a tree til noon. Get down, swap to a bigger saw, put on the cool vest then head back up and start blocking down the rest of the day.

 

[biggerstaff94]

Pretty much what’s said, I drink lots of water with a bottle or 2 of Gatorade, really the issue with me is having sun contact, if I can manage working in the shade, I got the heat half beat. I rotate shirts, within 15 mins I’m pretty soaked, I’ll let it dry on a branch and use the next shirt for 2 hour or so then repeat. Sweat rag is needed too it gets to the point I’m pouring sweat into my eyes and it makes it hard to see

Sweatbands may look stupid but they work.

That sound exactly like me yesterday!

How about Squincher? Anyone use it? I see where it's kinda the equivalent of Gatorade but more potassium, more for working guys as opposed to athletes.

Squinchers are good (taste wise). Not sure about the how good they are compared to gatorade hydration wise. Landscaping job i worked at had them.

 

[Leeroy]

No idea if it would work with with climbing gear, but have you considered a small CamelBak style hydration pack for drink of choice?

 

[PithFreak]

Sweatbands may look stupid but they work.

Squinchers are good (taste wise). Not sure about the how good they are compared to gatorade hydration wise. Landscaping job i worked at had them.

Can’t be looking like a tennis geek. I put a big rag under my hardhat keeps flies and sun off my neck too lol

 

[JRM]

A big part of this is being properly hydrated prior to the start of the day. Most people don't drink the recommended amount of water in a 24 hr period to begin with and are by default starting the day at a deficit. Best to stay away from Caffenated beverages. Eat light meals, stay away from trans fats and processed foods. Drink smaller amounts more frequently. When ya stop sweating, start paying attention!

 

[biggerstaff94]

Can’t be looking like a tennis geek. I put a big rag under my hardhat keeps flies and sun off my neck too lol

Absolutely lol. Thats what a rolled up bandanna is for.

 

[PithFreak]

A big part of this is being properly hydrated prior to the start of the day. Most people don't drink the recommended amount of water in a 24 hr period to begin with and are by default starting the day at a deficit. Best to stay away from Caffenated beverages. Eat light meals, stay away from trans fats and processed foods. Drink smaller amounts more frequently. When ya stop sweating, start paying attention!

Working under intense load with lots of heat while 1-2 coffees in is the worst feeling ever. I get a sick feeling from it. The gut feel stops me in my tracks

 

[JRM]

I'm a pretty big coffee drinker in the colder months. Summertime I back way off and feel better for it.

 

[MMG]

I just looked some of those powders/tablets prices, pretty expensive.

The mixture I make up with Tang costs about $7-8 to make 3 gallons.

I remember working on a farm as a teenager, baling hay in this kind of weather/heat. Worst part was stacking the bales inside the barn/hay mall.

I came up in a hay field. My Dad would do between 15k & 25k a year of small square bales. Grass hay only, no alfalfa. Mom saved milk jugs all year as did some of the crew. Fill a milk jug half full of water, put it in the deep freeze until hard frozen. Fill the jug with water and you have cold water for several hours. The ice cold water, while hard to drink sometimes, helps keep your body temp down. Keep the jugs in the shade and the ice lasts for a surprisingly long time. Take extra water to refill the jug as needed until the ice is gone.

 

[PithFreak]

I'm a pretty big coffee drinker in the colder months. Summertime I back way off and feel better for it.

Do you know the feel I describe though? Feels like my stomach is bone dry and grinding itself up. I try to avoid much coffee but I just love it otherwise

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I put a shade on mine helps a lot. But not as much as an a/c cab. I also make homemade pickles and mix in drinking a little pickle juice on days I am drinking gallons of water.

90's at 9! tv weatherman said this morning ~

i built shade for mine, too! made all the difference. still in place and doing its job well after many hot Texas summers! water is still hard to beat to stay hydrated. on hot days out on pasture... when i get back, i even drink the community water! lol

yesterday. i like pickled onions, too. from home garden

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

we had been just sitting around below the fan... a/c running. but alas, so hot... this is what happened! ~

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

other day i was up at the ranch... couldn't get any water in the kitchen... then i noticed.... even the windmill had melted! ~

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

A big part of this is being properly hydrated prior to the start of the day. Most people don't drink the recommended amount of water in a 24 hr period to begin with and are by default starting the day at a deficit. Best to stay away from Caffenated beverages. Eat light meals, stay away from trans fats and processed foods. Drink smaller amounts more frequently. When ya stop sweating, start paying attention!

down here, on hot days up at ranch or here... for me... no food! or i cannot go out and work! i am quite aclimated to this heat and can stay out in it all day. but, not if i eat. color of pee says a lot, too! light yellow is ideal. during hot days and sweating... may hardly need to go. 3 qts water dramnk in an afternoon is not unusual for me... on really hot, hot days.

water, light duty and shade! at all costs, if possible... plenty of shade!

 

[Jonathon Masters]

Ran out of time to read all the post so someone may of said it already but I use Himalayan Pink Salt all summer. I have a water bottle I can clip to my harness. Bartlet was giving them out at a climbing competition. I fill that with half water half Gatorade and maybe a teaspoon of the salt. My chiropractor recommended it for muscle spasms.

 

[RMB]

You Guys have a lot of good and experience advice on this Heat topic. I want to say about 20 years ago while helping build a new Church from an existing old lumber building I received a heat stroke. I didn’t know what was going on I didn’t ask for help I just told them I didn’t feel good and went home. First thing I did (probably not the best to do) was go and take a cold shower until I felt better. Then drank a lot of water. Well, I found out later that wasn’t good but I guess it worked for me. I have to say I almost forgot about that until today. As for Gatorade, (just a tip) I found that it cost you less if you get the 51 oz. canister powder mix instead of the bottles. I like to squirt some lemon in it for a finer taste, hey that just me.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Ran out of time to read all the post so someone may of said it already but I use Himalayan Pink Salt all summer. I have a water bottle I can clip to my harness. Bartlet was giving them out at a climbing competition. I fill that with half water half Gatorade and maybe a teaspoon of the salt. My chiropractor recommended it for muscle spasms.

i don't take salt during these hot dogged days. but, good idea. when my Dad was in USAF and we was at a SAC base... down close to the line where all the B-52's were parked... inside one of the buildings by the water fountain was a pill dispenser. i asked my Dad what they were for. as we stopped to get a drink...

salt tablets for help with all this heat. retains water...

 

[SCHallenger]

Just for a medical perspective: heat stroke is severely dangerous, and has completely different symptoms than heat exhaustion. One is a medical emergency, and the other can become one quick enough.

Look 'em up and study for yourselves. I haven't found a good comparison article yet that isn't very accurate except for technical medical articles.

Basically, heat exhaustion is characterized by what many here have described such as feeling weak, dizziness, nausea, & dark urine. At this point in time your blood glucose & electrolyte levels are dangerously low. If you do not rest & rehydrate (many excellent recipes & recommendations have been given here), this can progress to HEAT STROKE in which your body temperature rises uncontrollably. This can lead to brain damage & death if not treated quickly by covering the victim with ice & getting IV treatment ASAP!!

 

[Mad Professor]

I came up in a hay field. My Dad would do between 15k & 25k a year of small square bales. Grass hay only, no alfalfa. Mom saved milk jugs all year as did some of the crew. Fill a milk jug half full of water, put it in the deep freeze until hard frozen. Fill the jug with water and you have cold water for several hours. The ice cold water, while hard to drink sometimes, helps keep your body temp down. Keep the jugs in the shade and the ice lasts for a surprisingly long time. Take extra water to refill the jug as needed until the ice is gone.

I worked at a few farms growing up. My grandparents/uncle, a neighbor's helping out him and his sons ( our pay/reward was getting permission to fish the farm pond full of bass and perch), and full time/overtime the last few summers of HS years at another nearby farm.

Sometimes we were equipment poor: (no kicker on the bailer) so we'd have to follow the bailer and toss the bales into the hay wagons, another time the conveyer broke and a storm/rain was brewing, so we had to toss the bales up into the barn.

All the farmers were pretty good at giving us breaks and providing plenty of water/liquids.

 

[Robxander]

I've been through 8 litres of water in a 5 hour day on the forestry. Soaking wet with sweat dripping off me.
I get real bad cramps in my hands and arms so Ive started using rehydration tablets in the water and it seems to help.
Also keeping the sun off my neck with a cape attached to my helmet helps too.