Mayo Clinic Hydration Formula . . .

In 1999 I was diagnosed with Diabetes (runs rampant in the family). My wife and I then moved to Oregon for 2 1/2 years (now back in Texas). During that time a friend of ours - a cardiovascular surgeon - helped me understand the proper amount of hydration needed for the human body. He showed me the Mayo Clinic's Hydration Formula for adults.

1) Take your weight in pounds.
2) Divide that by half.
3) Add your age in years.

That is the MINIMUM # of ounces of WATER per day that most humans need to consume for proper bodily functioning. This helps in maintaining fluid pressures, satbilizing metabolism and filtering out toxic wastes in the body.

Modifications.
1) Any caffine consumed has to be replaced ounce-for-ounce with water.
2) Increased work = increased need for more water.
3) Environmental temperature conditions (hot or cold) increases the need for water consumption.

Example (personal).
I weigh approximately 180 lbs and am 32 years old. I drink about 3 sodas (sugar free) or coffee per day (12 oz each).

180 / 2 = 90
+32 = 122
+ 36 (sodas & coffee) = 158

So far that is 158 ounces (1.234 gallons). If I play paintball in Texas in the summer (and I do) then I need to add more water for both work and temperature.

When I started drinking enough water I noticed several things. My blood sugar was a little bit easier to manage. My metabolism leveled out and I could start loosing weight (also helping my blood sugar). I started feeling better and recovered faster after paintball games and other athletic endevours.

Just some more info to consider . . .

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As a team mate of Jako's I can vouch for what that info has done for him.

I think that we as the more experienced shooters need to constantly check anyone around us.

My team has a rule that is absolute - if we notice a team mate, guest or other person under our authority getting dehydrated, we can ORDER them to go off-field and re-hydrate. We would rather have them miss some game time, because heat-related injuries are too punishing.

--TAG--

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I want to pass on a little advice I got from a guide while I was on a trek in New Mexico. He told us that Gatorade was made after studying the sweat that athletes lost. They wanted to put into the body exactly what was lost. They did it but guess what it tasted like: Sweat. They had pretty much made artificial sweat, so they laced it with sugar and artificial flavoring. In the end the sugar from the gatorade ends up dehydrating you just as much or more than it hydrates you. He recommended that you water down the gatorade by 50%, you still get your electrolytes but without as much dehydrating sugar and flavoring. I've been doing it ever since, it works great for me and you don't have as much gatorade after taste in your mouth.

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Wow, I had no idea. Thanks for that little tidbit, I'm going to try it out. Learn something new everyday.....

This is a great thread with lots of useful info. I wanted to add something to the list of symptoms: loss of field of vision.

When running around the field in the midst of action (quickly changing positions from standing to kneeling to prone and so forth), a person may feel lightheaded and feel rapid heart rate for a bit. But one symptom that definitely will be a clear sign of trouble is losing field of vision.

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I'm hearing a bunch of rumors about sports drinks and dehydration. Let me clear some of this up.

1. sugar and sports drinks. First of all, the sugar isn't just for flavor. In extreme sweat situation when salt(sodium) is lost. Sugar is required for transport of the sodium from the gut into the blood stream. Now Gatorade does have more sugar than is required to do this. However, it will not make you more dehydrated, unless you area diabetic and it inreases your blood sugar. It is acually a good source of rehydreation fluid. The WHO(world health org) makes a rehydration solution with the actuall required amount of sugar in it. It doesn't taste as good as gatorade.

2Hyponatremia: this is only likely to happen in extreme sweat and rehydration situations. More than just an afternoon at the paint ball field. The amount of water and sweat has to be significant over a period of time. So water is still a great source of hydration during exercise and paintball. Don't go out and buy the sports drinks just because your afraid of low sodium. water will do 99.9% of the time. The people most likely to suffer from hyponatremia/water intoxication are not athletes but schitzophrenics.

3. Heat and dehydration. You are just as likely to get dehydrated in the cold as in the heat. Your are less likely to get thirsty in the cold. So drink plenty of water or sports drink regardless of the time of year. I went on a hike with a group of teenagers a while back and they did fine while it was warm. It started to get cold in the evening and so they quit drinking the H2O and they started dropping like flies. What did I use to rehydrate them. Sips of water and gatorade.

I do agree with the advice of seeking medical help at the field. Let the proffesionals deal with it. You can let whoever you want fix your car. It can be replaced. You can't be, regardless of what you spouse and boss say.

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I was trying to look it up and it appears that "an athlete's sports drink should have less than a 7 percent carbohydrate solution (sweetner). Alternatively, he recommends it be diluted with equal parts water. Gatorade contains a 6 percent carbohydrate solution."

It looks like Gatorade does not need to be diluted. Other sports drinks may need the dilution so I guess you just need to find the facts for each separately.

Sorry...this is BS. Sugar (and sodium) in solution INCREASES the absorbtion rate of water in the intestines. Remember that things are absorbed through the intestines via osmosis (and therefore move from an area of high concentration (your guts) to an area of low concentration (your blood)). Since the concentration of sodium and sugar in your guts is higher than in your blood especially when you have been sweating and working out, sodium and sugar (i.e. glucose) quickly move across the intestinal walls co-transporting water with it.

Disclaimer...I'm not a chemist or biologist, but the people who wrote this paper are:
http://www.annalsnyas.org/cgi/conten...15/1/54?ck=nck

By the way, here is the history of Gatorade along with a receipe from the World Health Organization (WHO) for a drink to combat dehydration:
http://www.inspirationline.com/Brainteaser/gatorade.htm

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Yeah, Gatorade and other sports drinks have been getting bad rap regarding sugar content for a while. Gatorade has even developed a lower-sugar version called "Rain". While there doesn't have to be a LOT of sugar there does have to be some. As mentioned in above posts the actual content in Gatorade isn't too great.

Even for people with diabetes - such as myself - the sugar content in sports drinks is manageable with other life-style changes INCLUDING the physical activity involved with paintball. If you are expending enough work to loose that much fluid then you are also expending a significant amount of energy. This means that your blood-sugar level is dropping - which ofsets the amount of sugar in the sports drink you are drinking to replace the fluid.

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Open mouth, insert foot.

Listen, I'm just going by what I was told a guide. I personally would rather water the gatorade down than drink a couple bottles of normal gatorade. I'm not recommending that everyone do it, I'm just throwing it out there.

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