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Hyponatremia - Can You Really Drink Too Much Water?
Published by admin | Filed under Travel and Leisure
For years, visitors to the Grand Canyon have been told to drink lots of water while hiking, and with good reason.
Dehydration — a condition where the body loses too much water due to sweat — is the most commonly treated illness below the rim of the canyon.
During the warmer months, Preventative Search and Rescue rangers (PSAR) hospitalize hikers daily due to dehydration. However in the last few decades we’ve discovered that too much water can also be a bad thing.
Hyponatremia is the condition opposite of dehydration. It’s often called water intoxication, meaning there is too much water in the body when compared to the amount of electrolytes (or salt/sodium).
Why haven’t you heard of hyponatremia before?
You have probably never heard of it because for a long time, this condition was usually associated with professional and competitive athletes.
Athletes tend to be conditioned from early in their training to drink lots of water and not eat big meals on the days of competition events — hence not replacing the valuable electrolytes that they are loose through their sweat during the day.
Signs and symptoms
The symptoms are nausea, vomiting, altered mental states and frequent urination.
As the illness worsens, symptoms increase to include confusion, slower reflexes, convulsions and eventually a coma.
Treatment
Treatment is simple: have the victim eat salty foods.
If mental alertness decreases, seek help immediately from the nearest ranger station or emergency phone!
Ever since my own encounter with hyponatremia, I now recommend adding some high sodium soup flavor packets to your hiking first aid kit (the kind from Top Ramen works well) since they dissolve quickly and don’t take much effort to eat.
Preventing hyponatremia while hiking
For every 50 minutes that you spend hiking, take a 10 minute break. Sit in the shade, elevate your feet and if you have been drinking plenty of water, sprinkle in a salty snack or two.
Granola bars and salty trailmix are my personal favorite. Make sure to pack plenty of snacks for your trip, even if you are only going on a day hike.
To learn more about hiking safety tips and get the inside scoop on what to see and do when visiting the Grand Canyon, go to http://beckysbackyard-grandcanyon.com.
Tags: grand canyon hiking, hiking safety, hyponatremia, prevention, signs and symptoms, treatment
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