Cooling Vest for Heat Stress

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You didn't feel it at all, then it hit you all at once, that's dangerous.
exactly, I knew it was hot out but I knew I was sweating and staying cool

I thought I knew
now I have a headache and shakes, hopefully its not too bad, went after 5 glasses of water and some food and feeling a lot better
 
We had a wonderful cool winter. I wish I had done more outside then, because now I can't wear long pants to block the thorns, and unless I'm in the shade, I have to quit in a couple of hours.
 
exactly, I knew it was hot out but I knew I was sweating and staying cool

I thought I knew
now I have a headache and shakes, hopefully its not too bad, went after 5 glasses of water and some food and feeling a lot better
Hit the cold shower! Too much water washes out the Electrolytes, use Gator Aide or the equivalent!
 
I took a rifle class in what may be the hottest, steamiest part of the Deep South. It was summer, with blazing heat and horrible humidity. I got dehydrated and didn't know it. We had a hot range, and I walked off for some reason, failing to notice that the area I entered, while off to the side, was not shielded. A really incredibly horrible shot could have reached me. They were nice enough not to throw me out.

I would never have done that on a cool day. I shocked myself. Heat and dehydration don't just affect people physically.
 
I took a rifle class in what may be the hottest, steamiest part of the Deep South. It was summer, with blazing heat and horrible humidity. I got dehydrated and didn't know it. We had a hot range, and I walked off for some reason, failing to notice that the area I entered, while off to the side, was not shielded. A really incredibly horrible shot could have reached me. They were nice enough not to throw me out.

I would never have done that on a cool day. I shocked myself. Heat and dehydration don't just affect people physically.
It cooks your brain.
 
My line is when I get a chill. Hot and sweating then get a chill, job is done. I put down my tools and walk away. Whatever isn't done yet isn't getting done and whatever part of the event is left I'm not seeing. By the point I get to that line, I've pushed it too far already.

My line used to be when I stop sweating, I knew I needed to get home before the trainwreck headache and vomiting started. Would be unsteady for weeks afterwards and wouldn't feel "right" again until winter. Didn't realize how serious that was, now I understand it was a medical emergency. Never again, unless there's another more dire emergency to handle.
 
It cooks your brain.
literally

I was working with a guy a few years ago that got overheated, he went full stupid mode, couldn't spell his name or walk

I had some of that going on earlier, totally forgot to shut the pintle hitch on my truck, atleast I was only moving the trailer 10 feet and had chains on it but still, not good, I NEVER forget to shut that, and I double/triple check everything before moving a truck or trailer
 
For hydration I use Nuun tablets . Seems to work well for me .
Never seen those before but they look like just the thing to have.
A couple of days ago I saw Gatorade Water for the first time.
For the last week it's been bumping 100 with heat index over that and I've got siding I need to get on the roof to do. Been knocking off 1100. I'm not getting paid so I'm not killing myself on it.
 
Another thing to keep in mind is that the old turtle was right, slow and steady wins the race. Know your limits, and stay within them. Just because I could tear a roof off like an adrenalin fueled mad man for 12 hrs a day when I was 20, doesn't mean I can do that when I'm 50 (or 35 as it turned out). Over time, your body grows accustomed to performing at a certain level. For many of us, that level is lower than it should be because as we've aged, we've learned to work smarter and not harder and now spend more time on our rear ends than on our feet. So if your body isn't accustomed to hard work in the heat, go slow and pace yourself, and maybe try doing it with a little more frequency to stay more acclimated to it.

I don't like the heat, never have, but I also always seem to be out working in it. Stay hydrated. Water is best. If you can add some occasional electrolytes with Gatorade or something similar, that's fine, but your body NEEDS the water a lot more than it needs the electrolytes (primarily salt). You can do hard, strenuous work outside in 95 degree heat for a couple of hours and not really need any more electrolytes. Obviously, if you are going to work outside all day long, electrolytes should be considered, but they are still secondary (by a LOT) to water. Personally, if I'm not planning on drinking AT LEAST a gallon of water (8 bottles) while I'm working, I don't worry about the electrolytes, and if I'm planning on drinking more than a gallon, I take some king of small snack which helps with both the electrolytes and blood sugar. A large percentage of the world still survives without air conditioning or Gatorade, and with minimal mechanization compared to what we are accustomed to.
 
Another thing to keep in mind is that the old turtle was right, slow and steady wins the race. Know your limits, and stay within them. Just because I could tear a roof off like an adrenalin fueled mad man for 12 hrs a day when I was 20, doesn't mean I can do that when I'm 50 (or 35 as it turned out). Over time, your body grows accustomed to performing at a certain level. For many of us, that level is lower than it should be because as we've aged, we've learned to work smarter and not harder and now spend more time on our rear ends than on our feet. So if your body isn't accustomed to hard work in the heat, go slow and pace yourself, and maybe try doing it with a little more frequency to stay more acclimated to it.

I don't like the heat, never have, but I also always seem to be out working in it. Stay hydrated. Water is best. If you can add some occasional electrolytes with Gatorade or something similar, that's fine, but your body NEEDS the water a lot more than it needs the electrolytes (primarily salt). You can do hard, strenuous work outside in 95 degree heat for a couple of hours and not really need any more electrolytes. Obviously, if you are going to work outside all day long, electrolytes should be considered, but they are still secondary (by a LOT) to water. Personally, if I'm not planning on drinking AT LEAST a gallon of water (8 bottles) while I'm working, I don't worry about the electrolytes, and if I'm planning on drinking more than a gallon, I take some king of small snack which helps with both the electrolytes and blood sugar. A large percentage of the world still survives without air conditioning or Gatorade, and with minimal mechanization compared to what we are accustomed to.
Water washes electrolytes away, you need electrolytes in the heat ! Salt isn't a bad idea either! A little bit of it.
 
Water washes electrolytes away
Kinda. Your body looses electrolytes as you sweat, so by adding more water so you can sweat more, I guess you could say that the water is washing the electrolytes away. My point is 2 fold. First, you're not loosing electrolytes nearly as fast as the marketing executives would have you believe. Second, your body is loosing more than just its electrolytes. If you're doing enough work to warrant taking into account the lost electrolytes, there are several other things that you should also be concerned about, all of which can be addressed by a simple snack (or stopping to eat lunch).

It's been a decade now, but on my last trip to Haiti, we spent about 10 hrs a day for a week mixing concrete on the ground with shovels. Temperatures were generally just over 100 degrees. Two of us would shovel the lime and stone into a pile, mix it dry, then a 3rd guy would start adding water while we continued to mix. Then we'd shovel it into buckets for others to carry off while we started a new batch. The only thing we drank during the day was clean water. We took a break mid morning and mid afternoon for a very light snack, and had a simple bologna sandwich for lunch. Nobody had any issues with heat exhaustion. Of course, we were staying on the beach and we all enjoyed a dip in the ocean at the end of every day :) By all means, do what works best for you. Just don't think that you need some kind of special drink or additive in order to put in a hard days work in the heat. .
 
My experience with ice vests is that you feel freezing on your chest and back, but are still burning up everywhere else. It feels unnatural and just icky. If you are lucky enough to live in the arid west, an evaporation vest can be a lifesaver. If you live in the humid south like I do, you're SOL, and you need water to pour on you as well as drink. Don't mess with heatstroke,

Just to be clear, Morton Lite Salt is a mixture of KCl and NaCl: 1/4 tsp contains 350mg K and 290mg Na.
 

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