Summer didn't officially begin until June 20, but we've been feeling it since well before then. The days are long, the afternoons hot. Swamp coolers gurgle and whir. Runners and walkers take advantage of the early morning cool. As the day rises, so does the temperature, with the mercury pushing toward triple digits. Oh, but it's dry heat, we reassure our Eastern relatives. It's much more comfortable than the suffering they endure when heat and humidity are equal - this is true. However, what we often forget about dry heat is that it is, after all, drying. It dries us out.
My grandmother used to say, with her nose in the air and a grin on her face, "Horses sweat. Men perspire. Women glow." The truth is, of course, we all sweat. Sweating is our body's response to heat, because as the moisture evaporates from our skin, we are cooled. You may think you don't sweat as much here as you did back home in Virginia, but you do. The sweat dries from your skin and clothes more quickly in our thirsty air. You lose as much water here as you do in humid climates; the loss just isn't as obvious.
So what to do? Here comes the age-old medical advice: Drink plenty of fluids! You've probably heard this "too many times," as my then 5-year-old daughter pouted, but you know what? I bet you still don't drink enough. This is something for which we can all use reminders. Water is the stuff of life. Our bodies are 65 percent water, containing an average of about 96 pints. While you can live without food for months, you'll die in less than two weeks if you don't have water. Your muscles, brain and organs depend on it, and when you get dehydrated, you feel weak, dizzy and fuzzy-headed. Would you believe an actively exercising human body can lose up to two liters of water an hour? This maximum rate wouldn't last long before you died of dehydration, but I'm telling you just to give you an idea of the quantities involved.
How much is enough to drink? Most people need eight-10 cups of water on an average day to maintain good hydration. If you exercise or sweat heavily, you'll need more. A good rule of thumb is drink before you get thirsty and drink "'til the water runs clear." If you're dehydrated, your kidneys hang onto as much water as they can, resulting in concentrated, dark urine. If you're taking in plenty of water, the extra will come through clear, and probably loud, too.
Your skin is another indicator of hydration, although it's less sensitive than your kidneys. Most skin hydration happens from the inside out, but a good moisturizer can help. Make sure it has at least 15 SPF.
I had a professor in college who never drank water. "Do you know what fish do in that stuff?" he used to joke. Personally, I think it was just his excuse to drink more beer. But if you're like him and find 10 cups of water a day to be too much of a good thing, you do have some options, as you may know from cruising your local grocery store or sports outfitter. You could spend your entire food allowance on fancy bottled power drinks. Or, you can opt for fruit or vegetable juices, or even make your own sports drink with the following recipe:
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one level teaspoon of salt
eight level teaspoons of sugar
dissolve above ingredients in a quarter cup hot water, and add:
one quart of water, juice or mixture of same (3c water and 1c juice)
By the way, it is possible to get too much of this good thing. Over-hydrating can actually kill you by upsetting your delicate chemical balance. Keep it under two gallons a day on a normal day.
Drink up, and have a great summer.
Peggy Spencer has been a UNM student health physician for 16 years. E-mail your questions to her at Pspencer@unm.edu. All questions will be considered, and all questioners will remain anonymous. This column has general health information only and cannot replace a visit to a health care provider.
